With the World Cup over, hosts England and Australia are all set to renew their rivalry in Test cricket as the Ashes gets underway with the first Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday, 1 August.
Last time when Ashes was played in 2017-18, hosts Australia had thrashed England 4-0. But with England hosting this edition of the five-match Test series, the newly crowned World Champions will look to return the favour.
After a disappointing last year in Tests, Australia are back to their usual strength with the return of David Warner and Steve Smith.
With very little to differentiate between the two Test powerhouses, here’s a list of factors which could make this edition of the Ashes a thrilling contest for the cricket fans.
Start of World Test Championship
The much-awaited Test Championship gets underway with the first Ashes Test on 1 August 2019 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The Ashes will be the opening series for the championship.
Out of the 12 Test-playing nations, only the top nine sides will be involved in the competition. These nine teams will play six series each, three at home and three away.
With 120 points riding on the series, both England and Australia would look to start the championship on a good note, accumulating as many points as possible.
For a five-match Test series, a side will get 24 points for a win while a tie will give both sides 12 points and a drawn Test would mean 8 points to both teams. The two teams with the most number of points at the end of the league stage will play the final in England in June 2021.
“ICC World Test Championship is another brilliant initiative for the sport, adding context and relevance to every Test series. Every Test matters, but even more so now,” said English pacer James Anderson.
During the duration of the championship, England will play 22 Tests while Australia will play in 19 Tests over a two-year cycle.
The Return of Warner and Smith
Australia’s Test side will bear a familiar look after 16 months since the ball-tampering scandal hit Australian cricket.
After serving their one-year ban, the duo of David Warner and Steve Smith returned to international cricket earlier this but are yet to play any Test. They will make their Test cricket comeback with the first Ashes Test on 1 August 2019 at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
Out of the two, it has been David Warner who has been at the top of his game since his international comeback. After finishing the IPL as the highest run getter, David Warner was number two on the run scorer list in the World Cup.
Warner will now look forward to a grand Test comeback also. Despite his absence, Warner will continue to be England’s biggest threat, a fact that has been acknowledged by English all-rounder Ben Stokes.
“Warner is a player who can take games away from you. He is a phenomenal batsman and a very dangerous opener so to tie him down and not let him establish his authority against us would be a really big plus for us for the rest of the series,” Stokes told The Times.
As far as Smith is concerned, averaging an astonishing 61.37 in 64 Tests, with 23 centuries, Smith will continue to be Australia’s main man with the bat. Apart from his four half-centuries in the World Cup, Smith scored a total of 687 runs when the teams last met, hitting three centuries in five Tests.
Ben Stokes’ Ashes Comeback
When England faced a 4-0 drubbing at the hand of Australia during the last Ashes, all-rounder Ben Stokes was missing in action. Stokes had missed the 2017-18 Ashes after his involvement in a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub in September 2017.
But times have changed for the English all-rounder, who will be playing in his first Ashes series since 2015.
Stokes led England to their first World Cup win with a match-winning 84 not out in the controversial final against New Zealand. When the match went into a Super Over, it was again Stokes who the scored important runs.
Deputy to captain Joe Root, Stokes will be crucial for England, both with the bat as well as with the bowl. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting also believes that a "matured" England all-rounder Ben Stokes will be England’s key in the Ashes.
In fact, Ponting compared him to former English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and how he can be the 'heartbeat' of the English side.
“He’s a key man and more a key man because I think he’s that real heartbeat for their team, a bit like ‘Freddie’ Flintoff in Ashes series gone by - whenever they were in trouble and they needed something, they tend to go to those sort of guys, and Australia need to keep him quiet if we’re going to win the series,” said Ponting.
Only thing that might spoil Stokes’ party is his recent Test form. He is yet to score a century or take a five-wicket haul.
It would be interesting to see whether the Australians let him find form early in the series.
First-time World Champions
In the history of Ashes, for the first time England will go into the series as World Champions. With the maiden World Cup win under their belt, the pressure will be on England to continue their good run.
England’s recent achievement might be in a different format but winning, nevertheless, is a good habit and England would like to continue doing it.
The number one ODI side and the World Champions will now want to stamp their authority on the longer format as well. However, currently at number four in the rankings, England has both the batting and the bowling prowess to take their game a notch higher and make it the perfect ‘English Summer’.
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