Pitches, balls and back-ups – where the Ashes will be won and lost

There are still two days.

Friday morning, England’s first test match in Australia begins.

Batters on either side of the Ashes borderline might be wondering why they should show up. The perceived difficulty of scoring runs, especially for the first Test on a Perth pitch, which the West Australian newspaper has described as a “green monster,” has been the focus of a lot of the buildup.

No nation has been harder to score runs against pace bowling in Australia over the past five years, especially against it (we’ll come to spin later). The pitches and balls are the two causes of this.

The surfaces created in Australia have recently emerged as the fastest, bouncy, and most inconsistent in the world when viewed collectively. The ideal combination for tough batting is ace and inconsistent bounce.

The Kookaburra ball, which is used in this country as a pointless tool, is portrayed in an old English cricket story as a ruse. Six years ago, a new Kookaburra version was released, increasing seam movement. In this country, seam is a much bigger weapon than swing.

Pace bowlers in Australia have an average of 25 runs per wicket since the introduction of the new Kookaburra.

Problem-solving is the essence of test cricket. The difference can be between the batters’ performances when the ball is on top, and vice versa.

For once, England have arrived in Australia with a mostly intact pace attack, while the home team has suffered injuries.

Josh Hazlewood will miss the first Test for an undetermined amount due to a hamstring issue, while Captain Pat Cummins will miss at least the first with a back injury.

For the 2017-18 Ashes series, Cummins, Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc first formed a trio. Together, they have since claimed 81% of the wickets that Australian pace bowlers have taken in their own Test matches. Due to the “big three’s success” and resilience, Australia has hardly ever needed to look elsewhere.

Other Australians’ supporting cast members have stepped up, aside from Boland. In home tests, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, and Michael Neser all average under 30.

Australia last lost in a home Test in 2012 without Cummins and Hazlewood. They have won by a combined 694 runs, including against England in Adelaide four years ago, the last two times they have played at home without the pair.

Remember the days when England was unable to locate an opener for Alastair Cook? Watford’s managers were faster than Watford’s partners, according to Sir Chef.

No longer. No batting duo in the world has ever scored more runs as a pair since Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were one at the top of the England order at the end of 2022.

Their combination’s success has contributed to Crawley’s stability during some shaky times. The Kent man has been identified as having played for Australia and rememberably hit the final ball of the final Ashes series for four. His batting average rises as the bowling is faster.

In contrast, Australia’s top order is constantly changing, yet David Warner’s gap is still there. Usman Khawaja has walked out of the Tests with five different partners following Warner’s retirement at the beginning of 2024.

On Friday, the uncapped Jake Weatherald looks set to become the sixth in 16 for Australia, which will undoubtedly grab leftie hunter Jofra Archer’s attention.

Problems have been experienced for Australia not just by the opening pair. Australia’s long-term top three, Marinus Labuschagne, was moved to the World Test Championship final and then completely withdrawn. He has been recalled due to his dominance, likely three years old.

There is one area where Australia is unquestionably superior for two teams that are so evenly matched: spin.

One of the best finger-spinners in the game is Australia’s Nathan Lyon, who has taken all 562 Test wickets. Will Jacks, a batter, is primarily a batter, while Shoaib Bashir, an English selection punt, is a moderately successful selection punt who looks in poor shape after a broken finger.

The hosts would seem logical to want Lyon in the spotlight, but bowling spin has been a particularly difficult sport in Australia for the past ten years. In that time, spinners in this nation have averaged almost 44, but Lyon’s record largely outweighs the difficulties faced by visiting tweakers.

Another problem Lyon has with attempting to bowl physically. Keep in mind how effective pace bowling is. With a ball in hand, it is reducing Lyon’s time. Lyon averaged 50 overs per Test during the 2017-18 Ashes here. In five Tests against India last year, that number was twice as high.

Before Father Christmas has loaded his sleigh, England has a depressing habit of being beaten in an away Ashes.

Since 1986, the series hasn’t won since Brisbane, where it has traditionally started. In Adelaide, that was followed by a day-night test recently. England have won 13 of their 14 pink-ball matches while Australia have won 13 of them.

Then there’s Perth, a city where England have only won once since 1970 when they face Packer-raped Australia in 1978. England has visited the city 14 times since 1970.

The first three stops on the tour are identical this time, but in a different way and under different circumstances.

Perth has hosted an Ashes opener before, but this will be the first time it won’t be at the infamous Waca, home to many English humblings, but the brand-new Perth Stadium. Despite having no historical baggage, it continues to be a challenging task for tourists to complete.

The day-nighter takes place in Brisbane during the second Test. West Indies stunned Australia at the Gabba the last time they played a pink-ball Test. The Aussies are no longer used to playing day games in Adelaide, which is the traditional daytime venue. Australia lost one red-ball game to India in 2018, which was the first of two that were held in the City of Churches since 2014 in 2018.

England makes a fresh Ashes debut thanks to the re-jigged schedule, but with some pitfalls.

Australia has won four of its five Test matches at Perth Stadium, despite the only defeat being against India last year. The team that batted first in each Test at the new venue has won it all.

When statistics suggest that the pink ball performs little differently from its red counterpart, day-night games in England frequently become more difficult.