Oh, what a bashing! England beaten in three days in Barbados

I think quoting past history is silly. What Aus did even in 09 is largely irrelevant now. England have decent batting but problems at the top of the order, rely heavily on Anderson to bowl teams out, and bugger all spinners. People are saying only Clarke will handle conditions, but Rogers is being taken due to his familiarity, also Smith got a century in his only test in 2013 and is a significantly better player now, so why he's being written off is beyond me. To base how Mitch goes on 09 is simply daft. Plus eng are devoid of confidence as the recent rest showed. A bad start will be hard for them to overcome, especially is the Kiwis give them a touch-up first. The Windies will give us trouble at home, but should be beaten reasonably easily. I'm yet to see any convincing argument as to why this wouldn't happen? Our recent crap record in the sub-continent is irrelevant to this.

Well, if discussing what sort of pitches your administrators will decide to serve up on a sports discussion website constitutes bleating, well then bleating it is. Given that each pitch in the last Ashes series was dustier than anything in the subcontinent by day 2, I think it's a topic worthy of much interest and discussion. Evidently so do you - you clearly believe England would be mad to add 'extra juice' to any of their pitches. Rich, you and I agree on something me old China - England would be nuts to deliver anything else but low slow pitches again. For that and a few other reasons, I agree with Ronan - we should beat the Windies, but it will be a tight series in England. Our guys really do not play those conditions well. Thankfully there is nothing approaching Swann when he was in form and at times unplayable last series in England. Still, with Anderson reverse swinging I think it's game on.

True. I would say we will go fairly well. We play pace ok and the Windies do not have great spin options. If we get through Taylor, the rest of the attack may struggle to bowl us out. Our bowling may struggle on those pitches, but I think we will win maybe 2-0.

Most of the comments are on how Australia will go in England. But Australia's first hurdle is in West Indies. How will they fare in the Caribbean is of utmost importance now.

Anderson has plenty of teeth, but he also has plenty of miles in the legs. England would be desperate for him to hold up for 12 more months. If he is injured then England are in a world of hurt. In my opinion, Anderson is the single most important player for the Ashes from either side. That's a fair point

ZimSaffaPoms, HAHA love it

To be honest, I think partly the bleating comes down to the fact that Australia just won a World Cup, the team is doing well and people need something else to complain about. Broad's edge was too long ago and everyone is sick of the sledging debacle, so England's pitch doctoring it is. It would be a bit of a shame if all the wickets in England were low and slow, simply from the perspective of monotony. You'd love to see five different wickets to make five different Test matches. I like the fact that in Australia you traditionally get bounce at the WACA, pace at the Gabba, a road at Adelaide and usually something more spinner-friendly at Sydney, so the pitch becomes a talking point in a more interesting way. Having said that, this summer they pretty much just turned out roads everywhere and they missed a trick there, the India series lacked a bit of extra life and intrigue for it. At the end of the day, the Aussies will go to England and try to win on whatever pitches they get, and I'm just looking forward to watching some Test cricket.

The Windies won't trouble Australia, because we are significantly better at the basics, and their players are often unavailable because they can make ten times their salary by heading to the IPL and other competitions on the slogathon circuit instead. So we'll probably face a second XI, which England were correct to describe as mediocre. But what does that say about the Poms? Well, the soap dodgers are rubbish away from home, and have been for ages, but last northern summer, they flogged India in England. Just as we've recently done. So they present a very different challenge at home. Our major problem against the ZimSaffaPoms will be our batting. Apart from Clarke, the rest of our top eight are basically clueless against the swinging ball, and the Duke will hoop around even in the most benign conditions over there. Clarke himself is at best a match-to-match proposition these days with his failing body. I expect to see some currently inflated test averages take a dive this winter. As for our bowling, unless we can keep Ryan Harris fit, and get better work this time around from Johnson, Lyons and Starc, we will struggle to take 20 wickets per match, even against a lineup as overrated as England's top six (Joe Root aside, who is a class act and the Poms' captain-in-waiting).

That's certainly the other possibility pitch-wise - and probably the more likely one!

Best thing for us would be if England win the first toss, bat first and fall to pieces. That will set the tone. I worry about our batting line up on a first morning pitch in England, overcast skies, Duke ball, and Jimmy swinging it around corners.

Anderson has plenty of teeth, but he also has plenty of miles in the legs. England would be desperate for him to hold up for 12 more months. If he is injured then England are in a world of hurt. In my opinion, Anderson is the single most important player for the Ashes from either side.

We know England will likely go for low and slow, whether seaming or not. And England have every right to do so. And in fact, they would be stupid not to. The reason it keeps getting raised by Australian fans is because we genuinely do not know if our team can handle that situation yet. They appear the better team, but it has been many years since Australia have looked comfortably overseas, except in South Africa. It might be my pessimism speaking, but given we haven't won a series in England for something like 14 years, I think many are being a touch overconfident. And good on the Windies. Cricket needs them to be competitive. They bring something different and unique to world cricket. To me for the past 3 years or so they seem on the verge of stepping up a level, only to be shot down by administrative problems. fingers crossed this time.

Looking forward to seeing the Black Caps take them on. If NZ roll them will England have the fortitude to bounce back against the Australians? Somehow i think not. Could be an ugly summer and autumn for English sport - getting spanked in the cricket and then in the rugby. On the other hand, it could be a golden few months - beat NZ and Aust in the cricket and win the RWC at home. Think the 1st scenario is more likely.

Agree with the assertion of not going in too confident in the Ashes, it needs to be noted ad nauseum that we have not won in blighty since 2001. That is a very poor record. Under estimate England at home at your peril. I don't think Boof will let it happen.

Classy Jarijari.

England have some pretty significant questions to ask about both their batting and bowling; batting lacks resilience and bowling bar Anderson has lacked teeth -- Broad has wasted the new ball repeatedly, Jordan has lacked penetration, Ali is not a test match bowler, and Stokes shouldn't be bowling anywhere near as many overs as he is.

Broad is in the same boat with his batting. Mitch roughed him up so badly two summers ago his confidence in the middle is lower than Tony Abbott's approval rating. Broad expects every ball to be a bouncer and is always on the back foot. His dismissal two days ago was a prime example. First ball - Broad moved back and across and started crouching to a yorker on off stump. The stump was knocked out of the ground. Pathetic and sad. It left the Poms 9-98. Anyway - who's opening alongside Cook? And don't the Poms get pummelled by the Kiwis before we turn up? Hope they leave us something.

Absolutely Kersi, there's a bit of overconfidence among Aussie fans about the Ashes in particular. I think they'll be too good for the Windies but winning in England will be a big task.

You have to love the bleating from Aussie cricket fans over the past few months re the sort of pitches England will 'serve up' Should we be adding extra juice to our pitches to help the Aussie quicks then??? I suppose at least you're all not still whingeing about Stuart Broad's edge in the last Ashes series in England!!! :)

Their batting isn't bad at the moment. Root, Ballance, Bell and even Cook are doing well. You're right in saying their bowling is weaker, but I don't think their is anyway in the world that they will serve up spicy pitches. They poms are too conservative and are too worried about our pace bowlers. Even Lyon would love to see a dodgy deck. They'll serve up flat dry pitches, hope to bat first and put on a massive first innings score, and then rely on us beating ourselves on a docile strip. I expect to see a lot of Ali bowling.