Australia wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey replied back to Stuart Broad's blunt remark about the team with The Ashes around the corner. The former England pacer had claimed that the current Australian team is the worst that he has seen since the 2010/11 Ashes. Notably, Australia had lost that series at home to their arch-rivals by 3-1.
Carey wasn't in agreement with Broad's comments and remarked the team has achieved quite a lot of success in the past few years and have a bunch of experiened players as well. He pointed out how the team won the World Test Championship (WTC) title in the second edition and made it to the final of the tournament in the next edition.
"Is that what he said, did he? We'll wait and see. We've got a really experienced cricket team who have had a lot of success over the last three, four, five years. To win a World Test Championship, retain the Ashes [in England] and make another World Test Championship final was pretty good recognition,' Carey told reporters.
"All the guys have played against Stuart in the past and we know how big a competitor he is and how much he's done for Test cricket. When you see players transition into the media, they're absolutely open to their opinions and the playing group doesn't hold any comments against anyone," he added.
Broad's comments on Australian team
Here is what Broad had said about the Australian team while reacting to David Warner's Ashes prediction of 4-0 in favour of the Baggy Greens.
“Don’t know what I make of it. The prediction 4-0 (with one wash-out), it is quite difficult to win in Australia for any side. Australia have to be massive favourites. The question really was which team is under pressure, and I guess that is Australia because they have question marks over their team, their captain and his fitness,” Broad had said on his podcast with Jos Buttler, ‘For The Love of Cricket’.
“It is probably the worst Australian team since 2010, and it is the best England team since 2010, and those things match up. Australia have been so consistent with their plans and approach, and they don’t have that anymore. It is quite a similar situation to 2010/11, when Australia were confused,” he had added.
Australia and England on WTC standings
Meanwhile, the upcoming five-match Ashes series will commence from November 21 and the first match of the series will be held at the Optus stadium in Perth. Australia have had a great start to the new WTC cycle and currently sit at the top of the table having won all their three matches in the series against West Indies. On the other hand, a defeat to India in the final Test saw England be denied of the series victory and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. They currently stand sixth on the WTC points table with a PCT of 43.33.