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Legendary England cricketer Alastair Cook believes that the side's current batters can prove to be a handful for the Australian bowlers in the upcoming Ashes series. Though the Three Lions haven't recorded a Test victory in Australia for almost 15 years now, Cook is hopeful that the batters will help the team in finally ending their drought.
Notably, Cook was one of England's star performers in the 2010/11 Ashes where they recorded a historic 3-1 series triumph over their bitter rivals. However, since then, England's record Down Under has been nothing short of abysmal and they have lost their previous three series to Australia by 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0.
Cook names Australia as the favourites
Cook pointed out how Australia are clearly the favourites heading into the series, but England batters do have the potential to do something special in the upcoming assignment.
“We’d be naive to say Australia aren’t favourites. But the way this England side plays you think they’ve got a really good chance. Look at the batting line up, England’s top seven. On their day they score runs at a tempo and pace to knock Australia off their lines and lengths. Everyone who plays England knows if you’re not on it every minute, they can change games in an hour or two," Cook told reporters on Tuesday at The Oval.
Cook on the importance of openers
The former batter further pointed out that England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett will play important roles in the upcoming Ashes series. He stated that they can provide England with some much-needed strong starts and this can help the team in building momentum.
“That’s a big competitive advantage the way that England’s top order can go hard. If you look at Australia, (Usman) Khawaja and (Marnus) Labuschagne and maybe one other, that’s not a fearful top order in terms of getting on the front foot," Cook stated.
“I think Australia will be so respectful of Crawley and Duckett. Crawley’s a different opening batter to what history says you need; very inconsistent and averages 30. But on his day, he plays innings which I don’t think anyone else in the world can play at the top of the order. If he has three or four good days against bowling which should suit him, he is a real danger. They’re definitely fearful of him. An hour and a half of Duckett and Crawley playing well on a first morning, England build huge momentum,' he added.
England's squad for The Ashes: Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.
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