Ashes Gets Underway

In a few hours one of the greatest sporting events gets underway in Brisbane, Australia and for the first time in my adult life there is a genuine belief that England can triumph against their antipodean foes on Australian soil.

There are numerous reasons for this sense of optimism, not least that England have been achieving success in all forms of cricket over the last couple of years whilst Australia appear to be a team in transition, after the retirement in recent years of many of their so called "Golden Generation".

On this basis, the sense of optimism appears justified but it fails to take into account two important factors. Firstly, the series is taking place on the Australians home soil, meaning the majority of support will be for them and secondly many of the Australian players have an uncanny knack of raising their game against the old enemy, not least the captain Ricky Ponting who if Australia do lose the series will be the first Aussie captain in more than a century to lose three Ashes series.

Trying to take an unbiased view on the teams (which is difficult) my view is that the English bowlers should have the edge but they have the disadvantage of being inexperienced in Australian conditions and with the Kookaburra ball. Whilst the English batsmen are undoubtedly talented I think the Aussie batsmen are better are building big scores and so may just have the edge in that department, particularly if Ponting and Hussey find some form.

One of the big talking points in the media has been about England approaching the series with a team containing only four specialist bowlers. Personally, I imagine the England management agree, this is a red herring as these guys are professional sportsman who should be capable of bowling 60 or 70 overs each during a five day test, whatever the weather. It should also be noted that support can be provided by other players in the team such as Collingwood and Pietersen who will be able to bowl a few overs if required. The final point on this subject and another reason why I think it is the English bowlers who have an edge, is because they all know one end of the bat from another which hasn't always been the case with English bowlers. This resource should not be overlooked as an extra 50 runs at the end of an innings can make a big difference to getting a positive result.

Many pundits appear to be predicting a fairly easy English win (at least the English ones) in the region of 3 - 1. Personally, I'd be happy with a win by one game scoring the winning run or taking the last wicket in the last couple of overs of the last game!! If I am honest I'd probably be fairly happy with a 2 - 2 draw but I am going to predict a 2 - 1 win to England.

Let play commence.