England Ashes Squad Is Big On Speed As Archer Leads Cavalry

England has named its Ashes squad in the quest to win back the urn in Australia for the first time since the 2010/11 tour. Coach Brendon McCullum likes his troops running towards the danger. Now they can do that with five bowlers who reach 90 mph and more. Jofra Archer’s bodyline burst against Steve Smith in 2019 could be about to get a delayed sequel.

Ben Stokes’ side will arrive at the Optus Stadium in November for the first Test, hoping they can blow the hosts out of their home bunker. Australia has won the last eight Ashes matches at Perth. During the captivating Indian series, the returning Archer found bite and backed it up with a sledge or three. That kind of fire in the belly will be required to survive the Antipodean bearpit.

The mean machines are lining up a duck shoot against Australia’s batsmen in the hope that they can extinguish the bitter memories of those 2017/18 and 2021/22 thrashings. These series saw eight painful losses in ten matches with only the express pace of Mark Wood in the latter taking the fight to the old enemy.

Archer, Wood, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson are all included in the squad announced on Tuesday. If nothing else, the prospect of stumps flying if England hit and Australia miss is more comforting than the sight of a thirtysomething Chris Woakes opening the bowling as he did in 2021. Woakes will take no part here after dislocating his shoulder in August.

Both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad were overlooked for the opening Test in Brisbane four years ago. Mouths dropped, as did team spirit, with England avoiding the whitewash through one last stand at Sydney. The joke going around was that Australia won ‘4.9-0.’

The most recent Ashes series was the 2-2 draw in 2023. England had opportunities to dominate both opening games at Edgbaston and Lord’s, but contrived to lose both. They clawed back to 2-2 at the Oval with Broad signing off from international cricket with the last wicket. Anderson followed against the West Indies last year, triggering a renewal that was overdue.

In other news, Harry Brook, the white-ball skipper, takes over the vice-captaincy from Ollie Pope. It’s a move that is further validation for the Yorkshireman’s remarkable self-assurance on the international stage. Pope is a more fidgety character and his record against Australia is poor.

ECB managing director Rob Key said Brook was “a better leader” than Pope, although he did add that the Surrey batsman was in possession of the crucial No. 3 spot. Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Bethell is the man – or young adult – in waiting.

Pope will be targeted, much like Ian Bell was in the 2005 Ashes two decades ago. The Surrey batter is more mature now and led the side in Stokes’s absence last summer, but he needs to find his feet down under against the relentless pace of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. There is some doubt about whether Australia’s captain will be fit for the series premiere after a lumbar bone stress. Cummins’s absence could open the door for Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley to climb into the lesser spotted Scott Boland.

England has only given spin a very thin lick of paint, taking Shoaib Bashir, still in early apprenticeship, and Will Jacks, who has two Tests and six international Test wickets to his name. The Surrey top-order batsman gets the nod over Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach and Liam Dawson because he can generate more bounce and score useful runs. Joe Root can also twirl his arm, but will be more interested in securing a first ton down under.

The psyche and hype surrounding McCullum and Stokes’s commitment to go forward into the barbs ensures that England won’t hesitate. The trick is to start as they mean to carry on. A delivery drawing blood from Ricky Ponting or a Zak Crawley cover drive would be infinitely better than a Steve Harmison wide.

English cricket’s record in Australia over the last 40 years is a recurring nightmare with only a solitary window of winter wonder. Stokes is about to shoulder the hardest task as his body continues to take more hits than Jonny Wilkinson. If anyone can carry a team, he can.