Broad brands Australia’s team as their worst since 2010 as pre-Ashes barbs fly

The pre-Ashes barbs continue to fly, with Stuart Broad saying that England will face “probably the worst Australian team since 2010” on tour this winter.

The former England bowler’s claim was in response to David Warner – an Ashes foe of Broad’s – predicting a 4-0 victory for the hosts. “If the captain [Pat Cummins] doesn’t play, they might win one game,” Warner said.

Australia have not lost a men’s Ashes match at home since England’s 3-1 victory in 2010-11. Their 5-0 win three years later – on the back of seven defeats in their previous nine Tests – was followed by 4-0 Ashes triumphs in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

However, the No 1-ranked Test side, who have lost only one of their past 13 bilateral series, enter the upcoming assignment with uncertainty over the makeup of their top order and the fitness of Cummins, who is unlikely to feature in the first Test at Perth because of a back injury.

“It’s very, very difficult to win in Australia as an England side, or any side,” said Broad on his podcast, For The Love Of Cricket. “Australia have to be massive favourites.

“Australia are under the most pressure because they’re expected to win, they’re brilliant at home, but they’ve got question marks over their team and question marks over their captain’s fitness. You wouldn’t be outlandish in thinking – it’s actually not an opinion, it’s a fact – it’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010 when England last won. And it’s the best English team since 2010. So those things match up to the fact that it’s going to be a brilliant Ashes series.

“Australia have been so consistent for a long period of time that you just knew who was going to open the batting, who was going to bat, what bowlers there were, and they don’t have that. It’s very much a similar situation to 2010-11 when England went and won there. The fact of the matter is Australia generally have to be bad to lose in Australia and England have to be very good. England have a great chance of being very good and Australia have a decent chance of being bad.”

Alistair Cook (left) scored 766 runs in the 2010-11 series in Australia during England’s last Ashes victory away from home. Photograph: Dave Hunt/EPA

A question for England remains their choice at No 3, with Ollie Pope and Jacob Bethell contesting the spot. Alastair Cook, whose 766 runs set up the tourists’ series win 15 years ago, believes it would be “strange” for Ben Stokes’ side to move away from Pope, who has been a regular at first drop for the last three years.

“I would bat Ollie Pope at three,” said Cook. “I think it’s quite an easy decision. You’ve got someone who’s been part of this buildup for three or four years. He’s captained the side, he’s played some extraordinary innings for England and he’s a hundred-maker. He knows how to score hundreds in first-class cricket. If you get rid of him now, I think that changes the whole dynamic of what they’ve built up over the last few years, of how settled they’ll feel, that top seven.”

While hailing Bethell as “an incredibly talented player”, Cook said: “It would be a big, big gamble [to pick him] because if that doesn’t work where do you move back to, someone you’ve just got rid of? They’ve invested so much in people like Pope and [Zak] Crawley that it would be such a strange thing to change it now.”

Pope has been replaced by Harry Brook as England’s vice-captain but, according to Cook, that will “take the pressure off” the Surrey right-hander.

“They’ve been proactive on that, thinking if there is an injury to Ben Stokes, they’ve got a guy in Harry Brook who has taken the [captaincy of the] one-day side and everyone has seen that he seems to be well suited to it. That will just take the pressure off Ollie Pope. I don’t think it will undermine him. I’m sure it will have hurt him because anytime you get taken off a leadership thing it wouldn’t be ideal, but I don’t think it undermines him.”

Cook will be in Australia as part of TNT’s coverage of the series, and will be joined by fellow Ashes winners Steven Finn and Graeme Swann as on-the-ground pundits. The channel will provide its own audio feed but will operate a hybrid model, with commentators Alastair Eykyn and Rob Hatch to work off-site in the UK, while Cook, Finn and Swann provide co-commentary from Australia. Ebony Rainford-Brent is also part of the commentary team working off-site, with the on-ground coverage to be presented by Becky Ives.

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