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The task which confronts the Australia Test team is colossal. Amid tremendous upheaval to its playing and coaching group, it must reverse its dire form and topple a settled and assured opponent.
Over the course of up to 25 days of cricket, a smattering of remarkable individual efforts will not suffice if Australia is to record a monumental upset.
To achieve what many fans and pundits consider unthinkable, and bridge the obvious gap in talent between the sides, the Aussies will have to execute the fundamentals of Test cricket with unerring consistency.
They will need to form effective partnerships – not just between batsmen, but also among bowlers and in the field.
There are five uncomplicated yet decisive facets of the game they must master to vanquish the English.
1. Unspectacular but patient bowling
New Zealand have done Australia a rare favour by laying down the blueprint to fracturing England’s strong batting lineup.
During the five Tests the sides played this year, New Zealand thrice carved through England’s top order, reducing them to 5-71, 5-72 and 4-90 on separate occasions.
The Kiwis also managed to trigger several mid-to-late order collapses, including periods where they took 5-24, 4-35, 4-38 and 3-16.
These sustained periods of success for New Zealand were not the result of mesmerising bowling reminiscent of Wasim Akram or Shane Warne.
Rather than attempting to castle the English batsmen with the perfect delivery, the Kiwi bowlers’ approach bore greater resemblance to those which proved so fruitful for the likes of Courtney Walsh, Shaun Pollock and Stuart Clark.
Patience, persistence and accuracy were to the fore as they bowled on a good length just outside off stump ball after ball, gradually frustrating the English batsmen into playing ill-conceived strokes.
Consider some of the ways in which England’s best batsman Alastair Cook lost his wicket against New Zealand: Caught by the keeper down the legside; chipped catch to midwicket; caught at gully from a weak looping cut shot; edged to slip trying to thrash a rank delivery from a part-time spinner; caught at slip chasing a wide swinging delivery.
These are not the modes of dismissals one would typically associate with Cook, a masterful batsman renowned for placing a lofty price on his wicket, grinding down bowlers and coercing them into errors with his patient approach.
The Kiwis proved you need not swing the ball wildly nor spin it prodigiously to dismiss Cook and co. A disciplined line and length is adequate.
This is a strategy as old as the game itself, but one which is so often neglected by overzealous bowlers seeking a quick kill.
2. Aggressive but intelligent running between wickets
For years a hallmark of the Australian side, clever running between wickets has been scarce of late.
Australia’s legendary openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer evoke memories of commanding drives and horizontal bat shots. But sandwiched in between those imperious strokes were frequent quick singles and hard-run twos and threes.
As much as they keep the scoreboard in motion, singles also deny the bowler the opportunity to work over one batsman, and give the batting a sense of urgency which can prompt the opposing captain to make unwanted changes to his field.
Shane Watson, Ed Cowan and Phil Hughes have all been notably culpable of failing to turn over the strike.
Watson and Hughes habitually try to end a run of dot balls by reaching the boundary. Cowan, meanwhile, can become hyper-cautious when the bowlers hit their stride, leaving or dead-batting each delivery without seeking respite at the non-striker’s end.
England stars James Anderson and Graeme Swann are as cunning are they are talented. If allowed six balls in a row at a batsman, their guile will often overwhelm an opponent.
3. Don’t lose wickets in clumps
This is simpler in theory than practice. Every side wishes not to lose wickets in quick succession.
But with alarming regularity the Australian batsman have failed to consolidate in the wake of a dismissal.
Instead of shouldering arms to probing deliveries, deflecting straight balls for singles and unfurling big shots only when offered a gift, the Aussies have many times sought to counter-punch.
Against poor attacks this can reap rewards, rapidly deflating the fielding side and swinging the momentum back in to your favour. A canny unit of bowlers, however, will more often than not exploit this aggression and translate it into back-to-back wickets.
4. Survive the first session of batting by any means
Only seven times in their past 20 Test innings have Australia made it through the initial 25 overs with the loss of less than two wickets.
Momentum in sport is a curious beast. So often when a side loses a string of wickets, batting seems to become greatly more challenging than it was just half an hour previous – the pitch appears spiteful, the bowlers quicker and more deceptive, and the fieldsman impassable.
The fielding side, meanwhile, gain a sense of invincibility. Bowlers exude confidence and cease to fear failure, while captains brashly set offensive fields.
When England get their tails up in this manner they are a ghastly proposition.
Broad and Finn in particular are confidence bowlers. When denied early breakthroughs both can strive for extra pace and attempt to bowl a miracle ball, in the course offering up deliveries which comfortably can be dispatched to the boundary.
Of course, batting is unlikely to become effortless against England after the initial 25 overs as they possess both the ability to reverse swing the old ball and a classy, wicket-taking spinner in Swann.
But for the sake of building their own confidence and ensuring that England’s does not soar, Australia must scrap their way through the early part of their innings.
After 25 overs, a crawling score of 1 for 50 would be preferable to a swashbuckling return of 3 for 100.
5. Dynamic fielding
Similar to running between wickets, fielding was one a source of enormous pride for Australia.
For years in Ashes contests they effectively started with a 20-to-30 run head start over England due to their superior athleticism and skill in the field.
But the Poms turned the tables in the last series. They were alert and nimble in the infield, pouching difficult catches, creating run outs and stopping countless shots which appeared destined for the boundary.
The Aussies, by comparison, were cumbersome and shoddy.
The challenge before Australia in this series is as big as the gulf in fielding standards last time around. Their margin for error will be slim.
If they are to cause an upset they simply must snare the half chances and cause confusion in England’s running between wickets through swift fielding.