So I am not sensing much confidence from England fans on here...what a surprise
It is true winning in Australia has been anything but easy for England for a long time ; but I do think this group have a chance. Partly because this Australian team has a fair few question marks of its own - which may or may not be all settled ; we will see. And partly because I do believe the Stokes/McCullum spirit might have endowed this group , for all its occasional costly lapses of common cricketing sense , with a resilience not seen much in recent squads. I
think - - and hope , of course - this may enable them to handle likely reverses and remain competitive , unlike previous touring groups which have tended to fall apart under pressure.
We can speculate all we like about the possible impact different players on either side will have ; but until the action starts on the field we are basically just guessing. Key players on both teams have had issues (injuries , form slumps , apparent weaknesses against particular opponents which they have tried to address) and others are more or less untried at this level or in these conditions. As a general judgement , I would say Australia has one huge advantage in the variety of bowling attack because they possess a proper spin bowler (and even a potential back up superior to anyone of England's). But on the other hand they have relied on a small group of excellent pace bowlers for several years , with the result that age and injuries
might now be threatening to reduce their effectiveness. Granted England's pace men have had their own issues with injuries (!) ; but they do seem to have brought a few options this time , who , if they get their lengths right for local conditions , might actually prove superior - a rare occurrence but one that has in the past heralded England victories (think Tyson , Snow, Willis etc) . But all this just speculation too.
I reckon the big question is how the batting on both sides shapes up. Australia has a bit of a query around its opening pairing - and a lengthy tail which could prove significant at times. England has an apparently settled top seven , but most are essentially untried in Australian conditions. All of which means I haven't a clue how the series will go : just hope it brings us a proper contest rather than one of those "all over before Christmas" routs we have seen too often these last dozen years...
