Australia names its Ashes squad

Australia has announced its 15-man Ashes squad for the first test in Perth (starting on November 21).

Has New Zealand exposed England's greatest Ashes strength as its biggest weakness?

India wins its first ever Women's ODI World Cup after defeating South Africa in the final. But where did it all go wrong for Australia and England?

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Ashes to Ashes podcast where we delve into everything related to the Australian and England cricket teams, both men's and women's, as they gear up for another Ashes campaign, and they're always gearing up for an Ashes campaign. I'm your host, NewsQuest journalist and avid cricket fan, Patrick Glover, and we're back after a couple of weeks off with plenty to get through. The Aussies have finally named their Ashes squad for the first test, ending months of speculation. The Women's World Cup came to an end on Sunday with India winning that tournament. And has New Zealand exposed England's greatest Asher strength as one of its biggest weaknesses? All that and more on today's episode. But before we get started, as always, be sure to give us a rating and a follow wherever you listen to your podcast, whether it be on the likes with Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music, and also follow us on Instagram and TikTok. Has England's greatest strength just been exposed as its biggest weakness just two weeks out from the ashes following their white ball campaign over in New Zealand. England and Basbol, after winning the T20 series 1-0, which was rain affected, lost its one-day international series against New Zealand 3-0. Now, the main takeaway, I think, from that one-day international series was their batting and it was horrific. So let's just break it down a little bit and see exactly where it went wrong. So England failed to bat more than 40 overs in the entire three-match series. They were bowled out inside 36 overs twice and managed to make it to 40 overs in the final match. Their highest score for the series was 223. Harry Brooke was the only English batsman to make it past 50. The only other was Jamie Overton who made 50 in game three. So Harry Brooke was the leading run scorer with 175 runs in that series, which included 135 in the first game. The next best was Jamie Overton with 156. And then after that, it drops away fairly steeply. You've got Joss Butler who scored 51, and then it's Sam Current and Bryden Cass after that with 40 and 39, respectively. So let's look at the top five from that series. So Duckett, Smith, Root, Bethel, and Brooke, who are all going to play a major part in the upcoming Ashes series. So Duckett scored 11 runs for the series with scores of 2, 1, and 8. Jamie Smith only scored 18, which included a Golden Duck 13 and 5. Root scored 29 runs for the series with scores of 2, 25, and 2. Bethel 31 runs for the series with 2, 18, and 11. And then as I mentioned, Harry Brooke led the way with 175. But after that first 135 in the first game, he then scored 34 and 6 after that. So that doesn't exactly bode well heading into an Ashes series where all five of those batters are going to play an important part, and and their batting has been built up to be their strength. You look at their bowling as potentially a little bit fragile, with the likes of Archer and Wood having not played much test cricket recently, and there's obviously going to be a heavy reliance on the batters to make big scores. And yes, while it's a a white ball series and tests are obviously different, the pressure in an Ashes series is going to be a lot more intense than a white ball series against New Zealand. And the other thing that would worry me as an England supporter is the fact that they're so nonchalant about these kind of issues. I saw an interview with Harry Brooke during the one day series, and he was defending a rash shot that Jamie Smith had played. They just continue to support this storyline that England don't mind losing as long as they look entertaining doing it. But I think ahead of a big Ashes series in in tough Australian conditions, there should be alarm bells going off at this point in time. You've got your top four batters, none of them have scored past 32, and that's against New Zealand. And that's not taking anything away from their bowling attack because they've obviously got some quality bowlers. But England are just about to come up against the best bowling attack in the world. I know that Patty Cummins isn't playing, but you've still got Stark Hazelwood, who is looking incredibly dangerous, and Scotty Bowland is would still be one of the first bowlers picked in any lineup around the world. I think England batters need to take a good hard look at themselves before the start of this Ashes series in a couple of weeks' time. Especially if their batting is supposed to be their strength for this Ashes series. You've also got to look at it from the the point of view that you've got two quicks that you're coming into this series with that in Wood and Archer that have played very little Test cricket recently. Archer has only played two Tests since 2019, so that's in the last six years. And Mark Wood's coming back from an injury and hasn't played Test cricket in in at least 12 months. So the batters are gonna obviously they're gonna need to put runs on the board to put pressure on the Aussies, but they're also gonna need to try and stay out there for as long as possible to keep the likes of Archer and Wood off their feet and minimise their loads a little bit or give them time to recover. Because the more that the more time they spend out in the field, the more fragile they're gonna become. And it's and Aussie conditions are very different to English conditions. That the weather's gonna play a part, it's gonna be extremely hot and and the pitches are a lot more abrasive than than what you get over here in the UK. So that's obviously something they need to consider as well. But at least Brendan McCullum has come out since the the one day series lost New Zealand and and maybe for the first time ever has admitted that this current English side are nothing but flat track bullies. So he came out and was quoted as saying, I think when we're confronted with good flat wickets, we're a very, very good cricket team. I think we play a high octane style of cricket and those conditions suit us. When the wickets have a little bit in them and they're a bit more challenging, whether that be spin or seam or swing, we probably can't quite adapt our tempo quick enough. That's all well and good. Anyone can bat well in a flat wicket, but that's the whole point of being a good batting unit is being able to adapt to challenging conditions. You look at someone like Steve Smith, he almost changes the way he bats completely in different conditions to to counteract the problems that he's going to come up with. So if he's playing in in turning decks in Sri Lanka or India, he'll bat one way, and then when he gets home to Australian conditions where the the pitches are a bit more bouncy or or pace friendly, he'll he'll obviously adapt his batting technique to suit those conditions. So that's something that England need to need to look at. Instead of all these England players walking around puffing their chests out, sledging oppositions and acting like they've created attacking cricket and and saying, Oh, how good are we? Go away and work on respecting the opposition. Good deliveries, and and rather than trying to whack every ball out of the park, having some accountability to go, you know what, that's a good delivery. I'm gonna keep that one out and wait for a bad ball. You can't just continually getting out to crap shots and going, oh, you know what, it looks entertaining, so it's okay, and brushing it under the carpet. Because I can guarantee you, when the English team gets to Australia, they're gonna get a very rude shock. The Aussie decks aren't the classic sort of flat batting friendly decks that they used to be with a bit of extra bounce, they're gonna be very seamer friendly. I can give you the hot tip. You look at that the Indian series last summer, and and all the Aussie decks did something, and you throw in a pink ball test in there as well, where Mitch Starts can have the ball swinging round corners, they're gonna get a very rude shock when they get down under, I can tell you that. As for their bowling stocks, I think Joffrey Archer looked good in game two. He he took three for twenty-three from ten overs in that game, and and cast bowled well in patches as well. He took three for forty-five in in the first game from his ten overs. So those guys uh will will be better for for having a run around over there in New Zealand. And and it looks like Mark Wood is back bowling again. I believe he and guys like Atkinson Tongue and Crawley have all been over in New Zealand with the English squad sort of getting a bit of prep in before they head over to Australia. But I I still think there's there's a bit of concern there for their depth. Archer and Wood need to combine and play at least the first two tests to give England the best chance of getting off to a winning start. But even those guys have Joffra Archer, maybe not as much because he's obviously been building back into Test cricket through white ball cricket, but Mark Wood hasn't played any form of competitive cricket in in over 12 months. And then you've got guys like Atkinson shown that he he can do a job, and and Bryan Cass as well, but guys like Josh Tung and and Shoei Bashir is the other one who yeah, he's taken he's taken some wickets since he's come into this England side, but he's also cops a bit of tap as well. So with these Aussie batters playing in home conditions, uh, I'm expecting them to probably target him in this series as well. So a few issues for England heading into the uh what's going to be a hotly contested Ashes series in just a couple of weeks' time. Now, after months of speculation, finally Australia have announced their Ashes squad for the first test. The 15-man squad will consist of Steve Smith, who will lead the team, Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazelwood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Kowaja, Marnus Labershane, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Stark, Jake Weatherald, and Bo Webster. So a few new faces in there. You've got Jake Weatherald has been called up for his first Aussie squad. So congratulations to him. Thoroughly deserved. He was the leading run scorer in Sheffield Shield cricket last season. He's made runs for Australia A and he started this summer well too with 350. So deserves his place in that squad. And hopefully we see him open the butting in that first test as well. Brendan Doggett's been around the squad for a little bit now. He was the reserve for the the Aussies in the World Test Championship final against South Africa. And he was also selected to head over to the West Indies for that series over there, but unfortunately was uh forced to pull out due to injury. You look at the rest of the squad, and I don't think there's too many surprises there. Obviously, Patty Cummins misses out due to that back injury. So a solid squad there from Australia. I think the starting 11 for the first test in Perth is all but sordid bar, maybe one or two positions. I I think it now comes down to how Cameron Green goes bowling in round four of Sheffield Shield action, which kicks off on Sunday. If Cameron Green can bowl, it then becomes a three-horse race between him, Webster, and Weatherold. If he can't, I think it it then becomes a full gone conclusion that Weatherald opens the batting and Webster slots in at six and and Green misses out. I think if you look at it, Minus has earned his spot back in the team. For me, I think he needs to bat at three. He's made all his runs for Australia and Queensland this summer at number three, and I just think the Aussie lineup looks a lot more settled and a lot more solid with him at three. He's had a fantastic start to the Aussie summer, amassing 679 runs across Sheffield Shield cricket and the one day cup as well at an average of 84. So he definitely deserves his spot back in there. Weatherold for me opens the batting. I think he deserves his spot in the Aussie side based on his recent form, which I mentioned before. I think he'll also complement Uzi quite well at the top of the order. He's an aggressive batsman without being overly aggressive, but I think that that attacking style of cricket suits Uzi. It takes a bit of pressure off Kowajer and he can just build into his innings. There's no pressure for him to score quickly because it's happening down the other end. So you just need to look at how successful Kawajer and Warner were together, and I think that's a good sort of a good blueprint going forward for Australia to use if Usman's going to be at the top of the order. So I think whether old and Kowaj open, you've got Marness at three, obviously Steve Smith four, Travis Head five. And then I think for me, I think even if Green is fully fit in bowling, I think it's really hard to force Webster out of that Aussies side. He's played some really important innings with the bat against everyone that he's come up against since coming in last summer. So India, South Africa, and the West Indies. And he's he's been more than handy with the ball as well. I know Green can bowl some gruntovers for the Aussies. He can obviously give the big three quicks a rest and but still be quite dangerous. He he bowls reasonably sharp and and can put in a good barrage of bounces as well. So he obviously gives that aggressive option with the ball that Webster might not. But I just think it would be harsh on Webster to miss out. And the other thing is it gives Green a another couple of weeks to get a few more overs in in shield cricket or in the nets and and be Cherry Wright for when he does get back into the side. It could be an option for him to come in later in the series because it's obviously going to be quite a gruelling and intense five-game test series. So there may need to be some chopping and changing as the series goes on. Constas is the other big name omission from that squad. He obviously burst onto the scene last summer with a 60 in the Boxing Day test against India. But since then has sort of really struggled to find his rhythm at international level, he missed out on the on playing in the Sri Lanka series. He wasn't picked in the World Test Championship final and then really struggled over in the West Indies as well. He hasn't then exactly bashed the door down this summer as well. He's he's scored a couple of 40s, but hasn't really been convincing for New South Wales. So the Aussie selectors have opted to go away from him. I think it's probably a good call. He's still very young. There's still going to be plenty more opportunities for him, and he's going to be a fantastic player for Australia in the long run. But I think you can he it just looks like he's still working out his game. He still looks susceptible to the ball that's coming into his stumps and attacking the pads and his and his stumps. Plus, he's still playing some rash shots to good deliveries, and I think he just needs to work out which ones to go after and which ones to sort of pay a little bit more respect to. So yeah, I'm sure, as I say, I'm sure we'll see a lot more of Conscience in the future. Patty Cummins, as I mentioned, is the other one that misses out. He has been ruled out due to a back injury. Coach Andrew McDonald said the other week that he just he'd simply run out of time to be fit for the first test. But they were they're still hoping that he might be right for the second test in Brisbane, which starts on December 4th. For me, you've got a world-class bowling lineup even without Patty Cummins. So you look it it consists of Stark, Hazelwood, and Scott Bowland. So why not, if those guys are bowling well, why not give Pat an extra few weeks to rest up and aim for the third test? He can miss the first couple in Perth and Brisbane and then and then come in for the third test now late on on December 17th. It just gives him that extra few days to make sure he's cherry ripe. While on the topic of bowlers, Brendan Doggart, good to see him get another chance in the Aussie squad. I think he's peaking at the right time. He's he's coming off a sixth for South Australia against WA in his return to shield cricket last week. Plus, as I mentioned, he's been around the Aussie squads recently as well and had a fantastic Sheffield Shield season last year, which included it being named man of the match in the final as well. So good to see him in there as a backup option for the domain three quicks. The other one that there's been a lot of talk about Maddie Renshaw and Mitch Marsh potentially coming into this Aussie squad, and people seem to have forgotten a little bit about Josh Inglis. He's obviously had a a calf injury which has kept him out of the White Ball series over in New Zealand and then the start of the White Ball series against India over in Australia, but he's obviously quite a capable batsman as well. We've seen what he can do at international level with the white ball side. He got his chance in Sri Lanka as well in the test setup and scored 100 on debut. So he's a he's almost a bit of a Mr. Fixer in that squad. He can bat in the middle order, he was touted as a potential opener when they were looking for one in the World Test Championship final. And he's obviously a backup option there as well if anything happens to Alex Carey. For me, the Aussie starting lineup for the the Perth test on November 21 would be Kawaja, Weatherald, Lava Shane, Smith, Head, Webster, Carey, Stark, Lyon, Boland, and Hazelwood. That would be my 11 from that squad. While we've had guys jostling for test positions in Shield cricket, there's also been a white ball series or a couple of white ball series going on over in Australia as well between the Aussies and India. So Australia won the three-game one-day series 2-1. So some major takeaways from that one-day series. Cooper Connolly finally living up to his potential. I know that I said a couple of weeks ago that the Aussies selectors had picked him purely on potential and he hadn't managed to deliver on the big stage. Well, now he has. So quite happy to be proven wrong. He played a fantastic match-winning innings against India down in Adelaide in game two, finishing unbeaten on 61. Matt Short was the other one, definitely silenced some critics in that series, cementing his spot in the top three in Australia's one-day setup with 74 in Adelaide. Xavier Barler is another one that will be a fantastic player for Australia in probably not just the white ball size, but probably the test setup going forward as well. He looked dangerous in the one game that he played in Adelaide, taking three for and dismissing the dangerous Virat Kohley for a duck. Speaking of Virat, him and Rowitt Sharma have have just showed again why they are two of the best, not just batsmen but cricketers to ever play the game in the shorter formats. Rowitt Sharma scored a big hundred in game three and also scored a 50 in Adelaide as well. While Coley, after starting the series with two ducks, came back and made a 50 in game three, um, getting his side over the line in that match. So those guys obviously, while they've retired from T20 Internationals and Test cricket as well, they'll be aiming for the World Cup in 2027, no doubt. And if they can keep that form going, then they'll they'll be dangerous players in that tournament even in a couple of years' time. But the big takeaway for me from the one day series and the start of the T20 series as well was Josh Hazelwood, and England really should be concerned. He looks in fantastic condition. He was simply unplayable at times throughout the the one day and T20s uh games against India. He's now gonna head back and play shield cricket for New South Wales in in round four, along with Stark and Nathan Lyon. So that's gonna be quite a dangerous bowling lineup assembled there for New South Wales. But he just looks like he's peaking at the perfect time and is going to hit that first test in Perth, cherry ripe and ready to go. The T-20 series as it stands is currently locked away at one all after three games. The first game was was washed out, and there is still two games to go in that series, with one currently underway as we record this. So we'll have more details on those T-20 games next week. We now turn our attention to the Women's World Cup, which concluded over the weekend with India winning their first ever title, beating South Africa by 52 runs in the final. It came after both Australia and England were knocked out in the semifinal stages. Australia by India and England by South Africa. India managed to chase down a record 338 in their semi-final to beat Australia, turning the tables on the Aussies from their earlier world record chase in the round robin stages. The Aussies will probably think that that was one that got away from them. There were a few drop chances in the field, particularly a relatively straightforward chance by Alyssa Healy when Gemma Rodrigues was on about 80 odd. She went on to finish unbeaten on 127 and guide into your home in that run chase. So that potentially would have changed the game. And they probably left a few runs out there as well. Phoebe Litchfield batted superbly at the top of the order with um scoring 100 um in that file in that semi-final. But I think a few of the middle order batsmen probably left some runs out there in the field and probably could have pushed that total to a little bit higher to make it a little bit more difficult for India. I think Australia's batting depth shone through in that tournament. Definitely there were hundreds to Lichfield, Healy and Gardner who scored two each. Beth Mooney and Annabelle Sutherland scored a fantastic 96 as well. But I think what what probably cost Australia in that tournament, they just lacked potency in their bowling. At times, Annabelle Sutherland bowled fantastically throughout the tournament and finished as the the second leading wicket taker for the World Cup with 17. And Alana King as well bowled fantastically in the middle overs when she was called upon, and that was highlighted by a seventh against South Africa in the last round robin match. Gardner was good in parts. Molyneux also popped up and took wickets in at different stages, but I just felt that there lacked another sort of dangerous option. In the past, it's been Megan Schu at the top of the order. She didn't quite have the potency that that she's had in in past tournaments. And and that might come down to the conditions. Some of the wickets they did play on in India were a little bit flatter and maybe didn't suit the likes of Megan Schu and Darcy Brown as well, who who didn't really feature at all through this tournament. So they're obviously a couple of handy options at the top, and and Kim Garth as well sort of came in and out of games. Yeah, that there were just times when Australia looked like they they weren't able to sort of penetrate or break a partnership, and uh and that was definitely the case, obviously, in the semi-final and and even when they played India the first time in the round robin stages. As for England, they've definitely made some improvements from where they were 12 months ago when they looked like they were in absolute shambles. I think there's been a big change under Charlotte Edwards, who's come in and done a fantastic job as head coach, but I still feel like they struggle to get it done against the big teams in important games, and they're still reliant on a few key players. So Sophie Eccleston again showed why she is one of the best spin bowlers in the world at the moment and potentially ever with 16 wickets for the tournament. Lindsay Smith also contributed with 12 as well, so she did it, she did a good job with the ball. With the bat, it was Heather Knight and Nat Siver Brunt leading the way with 288 and 262 runs respectively. Tammy Beaumont also chipped in with a few good innings, but apart from that, there there wasn't really many other batters that sort of stood up on a consistent basis. And and when pressure was applied to that top order, they faltered. A classic example was the semifinal where the top three were all out for ducks and England were were really struggling at at three for one. So I think while they've made some improvements, that there's still a long way to go for England, and and they probably need to get a little bit more out of their the rest of their players. They've obviously got a few at the top there that are that are dragging the team along, but they need others to sort of chip in and help out as well. So that brings us to an end of another edition of the Ashes to Ashes podcast. Once again, thank you very much for tuning in. And just a quick reminder before you go to give us a rating and a follow wherever you listen to your podcast, whether it be on the likes of Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music, and also follow us on Instagram and TikTok. I will be back at the same time next week with more cricket news. So see you then.