The contrast in Australia and England’s Ashes preparation couldn’t be greater, but the home side’s lean lead-in may just give it the physical and mental edge over the course of the series.
Fears an underdone Australia might struggle early in this year’s Ashes series are genuine.
From now until the Ashes opener on 8 December Justin Langer’s side is set to play just one Test while England is set to play seven, each against the world’s top two nations.
The Aussies will face an Afghanistan side playing just their seventh ever Test match on 27 November.
Chief selector Trevor Hohns recently said he was “very concerned” about the build-up.
“England certainly are playing plenty of Test cricket and we haven’t got much in the way of anything going,” Hohns said in April.
But former captain Ricky Ponting flipped that narrative this week.
He argued that, contrary to Hohns’s concerns, the shorter lead-in will work in favour of Tim Paine’s men.
“I honestly don’t think it matters that much,” Ponting, who played in eight Ashes series, told cricket.com.au.
“If they (Australia) get a bit of first-class cricket in and they get that one Test match in against Afghanistan, are you better off going into the Ashes series with not a lot or going in with a lot (of Tests)?
“Ashes series are so physically and mentally draining; you might be better off going in with less. But it doesn’t matter what you’re going in with, it’s about what you do in those big moments, as we saw with the India series.”
The question is really whether Australia’s ‘freshness’ at the back-end of the series will offset and even outweigh England’s apparent head start on preparations heading into the Gabba.
It’s a tricky question, but mental energy is set to be a huge factor later this year.
(Photo by Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images)
Players report that Ashes series are by some margin the most mentally draining.
Steve Smith said that by the end of the most recent Ashes series in 2019 his body had “shut down”.
“It was probably a bit of everything: mental, emotional, physical,” he said weeks after The Oval Test.
“Towards the last Test match it got to Day 2 and my mind was saying keep going, but my body had shut down and wouldn’t let me do anything.”
The 2020-21 series is set to be all that and potentially more.
COVID restrictions could still be in place in summertime in one form or another, which have contributed to player exhaustion in the last 12 months.
India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane and coach Ravi Shastri spoke of the “mentally draining” experience of life inside the biosecure bubble during last summer’s epic Test series.
And while England have committed to rotating players this winter, the busy schedule may well catch up with them.
Further, while Australia’s Test schedule is lean, the majority of players won’t suffer from a lack of red-ball cricket.
As many as eight players in the box seat for the Gabba Test could be available for their respective states from the start of the season — Will Pucovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – provided none are selected in the 15-man T20 World Cup squad.
Only three players – David Warner, Steve Smith and Pat Cummins – guaranteed to play the Gabba Test will go into it with little long-form cricket under the belt.
They’re also the three players perhaps best equipped to shift from one format to the other.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Jeff am actually scratching my head again . Do you know why there isnt any good reason we couldnt schedule a 3 to 5 test cricket series v sth Africa if our players vaccinated there's little to no chance they'd get I'll if vaccinated. of course it would be down to the players on whether they want to be vaccinated but it makes sense given the data . Probably too much pc and fear over making public statements on vaccination and bias for players that won't vax but it seems simple now
JamesH
Roar Guru
What are you even talking about?!? We were ranked number 1 in the world in tests around this time last year. That's a simple fact you can verify with a Google search. A couple of poor tests against India and a general lack of cricket due to COVID has seen us drop down the rankings. Remember, if we'd won that game at the Gabba vs India we would have been playing off for the WTC title in a month or so. As for our test ranking against NZ, it's historically very rare that we are ranked below them. Right now they have a generational team - arguably the best they've ever had - with the likes of Williamson, Taylor, Latham, Watling, Boult, Southee and Wagner. They deserve their ranking because they are playing exceptional cricket, but that doesn't mean it's somehow a regular occurrence. Literally the only sport where NZ is routinely ranked above us is Rugby Union, and that's because it's their national game. Cricket, Netball, Rugby League, Soccer... look at our rankings in those sports over the last 10 years and you'll see we are far more often than not ranked higher. I have no idea why you think otherwise. Sure, NZ punch above their weight as a general rule. But that often happens in world sport. We have about a third the population of England but generally speaking we more than hold our own against them. What you're failing to recognise in all this is that England aren't that great in test cricket. They are ranked just one point higher than us in tests, despite having played much more cricket in the last 18 months. Their recent record in Australia is god-awful and they couldn't even reclaim the Ashes on home soil despite Stokes pulling out an all-time innings at Headingley. Right now, they don't really know what their best lineup looks like. They have about 5 or 6 positions up in the air. Literally nothing about recent history points to them having "little trouble in putting our mediocre lot to the sword". And what ordinary performance vs the Kiwis are you talking about? The recent evenly-fought T20I series on their soil? Not sure how that's remotely relevant to a test series vs England. Last time we played tests against NZ we obliterated them.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Can we even have rankings during covid years , so little test cricket , seems a bit moot for now.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Yep the true test jeff where players like paine warner who failed in the ashes will be truly tested if the selectors are silly enough to select them away from home soil . We need to prepare carefully for foreign tour but of course ashes win takes priority. I doubt the selectors will be so wise
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Not sure there has been a year like this one to support pontings comments. We’ve had a long drought between drinks for test cricket. Its actually hard to speculate how it will go down but there is no doubt the ashes are draining mentally and australia has home field. The more red ball practice they can get in the better . It may be that simple and quite hard to predict but with timmy prone to numerous decision making blunders on field the selectors prone to sticking with incorrect rotations for the mcg and scg according to suited players after pink ball tests who knows what to expect. Home advantage will work in our favor as will an earlier test at the gabba.
Republican
Guest
Number one last year in what version of the game? I believe NZ, population 5 plus million are ranked higher than us in both ODI and Test Cricket. Our population is 25 mill plus. How do you explain that? Why is NZ ranked above nations with larger populations as well as boasting a supposed higher cultural status in the game? This is the case across most sports when its Oz v NZ, while Cricket is by all accounts our national game yet NZ are superior. League is another good example of the Kiwis superiority despite population disparity and the respective cultural status of that code. I reckon we are a mediocre sporting nation that rest on our historical pedigree across most codes. So again, I reckon Mother Albion will have little trouble in putting our mediocre lot to the sword given our ordinary performance v the Kiwis in the last series. We are more competitive at home, perhaps relying too heavily on home ground advantage to inflate our international ranking.
JGK
Roar Guru
Personally I would have been fine with it. We probably would have won the Ashes if that had happened. But they were already in the country and did get a chance to play some red ball games after the WC anyway.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
All of the Aussie players that weren’t picked in the World Cup squad, or playing county cricket we’re picking to play for Australia A in some warm up games, while the World Cup was going on. https://www.cricket.com.au/news/australia-a-squad-list-uk-england-tour-fixture-ashes-hazlewood-paine-handscomb-head-pattinson/2019-04-15
JGK
Roar Guru
What red ball cricket was there?
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
Would you have left Smith and Cummins out of the 2019 World Cup team, so that they could play more red ball cricket to prepare for the Ashes?
Clear as mud
Guest
Cool. Let's give Dizzy 3 years and unstinting support despite middling results, see what the feedback is?
Brian
Guest
Pakistan if it goes ahead.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Who against?
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Difficult for Afghanistan as they have serious player cross over with the WC
Jeff
Roar Rookie
And they may want Gillespie to be more Langer-like, which would make Gillespie a cheap Langer impersonation.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
I think Australia’s next Test tour is in Mar next year? That will be about 2 and 1/2 years not playing o/s. Incredible.
JGK
Roar Guru
Because the Ashes are more important.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
Why on earth would you pay 2 of your best players to not play in a World Cup? What a ridiculous idea.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Can we get the quote "Aren't quarantine excemptions great?" to trend?
Tom
A good purple patch of in a career averaging about 20 with the bat lol. Give me Renshaw, Inglis (one of him or Carey to field) or Maddinson any day of the week. Actual batsman with a good body of work behind them