AUS v ENG, 1st Test Preview: Stokes-less England confront their oldest rivals at the Gabba

Every expert believes Ben Stokes’ absence will hurt England big time and history explains it’s needless to argue against that fact. It’ll be interesting to see how infuriating that battle will be because, in such a historic clash where a plethora of emotions keeps loitering in one’s mind, it’s hard to curb one’s rage. Neither of these players on both sides backs off from a verbal tussle and the fans will be thoroughly entertained in the next couple of months.

In the previous three occasions when England traveled to the land of Kangaroos, two times they got whitewashed, in 2006/07 and 2013/14. The promising point is that they managed to win on their turf in 2010/11 with a gigantic 3-1 margin, but that victory came during a time when the Aussies were in a transition phase and were quite vulnerable.

Sometimes, sportsmanship is jeopardized to ensure the intensity doesn’t dip and it won’t be different this time around. Both teams have certain hot heads, who might not mind taking a tussle to the next level on occasions. It is this rivalry that made Test cricket worthwhile for watching and there’s no away it’ll shy away from breaking TRP records.

Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (C), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Bancroft, Tim Paine (WK), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Patrick Cummins, Nathan Lyon

England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root (C), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, James Anderson, Jake Ball, Stuart Broad

Focus will be on

Mitchell Starc (Australia)

Mitchell Johnson ripped apart the English all by himself and pulled off one of the greatest individual performances in the modern day history. Many believe Mitchell Starc has enough potential to pull off something like that this time. He has been in stellar form and he’s been doing a lot of damage at the domestic level. He has the experience of playing big matches and it would be hard to get him under pressure. Who knows, this might very well be Starc’s Ashes.

Moeen Ali (England)

Ben Stokes missing out came in as a blessing in disguise for Moeen Ali, who will be England’s mainstay through out the series. He usually does well with the ball on tracks that provide bounce and with the bat, he’s always brilliant. The balance which Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali provide together is invaluable and that is what they’ll miss in the series. Nevertheless, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime for the 30-year-old.

Playing Combinations

Australia

The home side boast of having two of the greatest batsmen of this generation, one of them, David Warner, will be opening the innings alongside Shaun Marsh. With Usman Khawaja taking the number 3 spot, their talisman and skipper Steve Smith will take guard of thenumber 4 slot. Peter Handscomb, Cameron Bancroft, and Tim Paine will follow in respectively.

Australia don’t have a regular all-rounder in the squad currently, which leaves them with no option but to go with the 7 batters and 4 bowlers combination. Nathan Lyon being the lone spinner in the side, three fast bowlers will be taking charge. Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc will haunt their opponents with their pace and Josh Hazlewood’s variety will make things tricky.

England

Arguably the finest English batsman in the generation, Alastair Cook was the game changer in the 2010/11 series where they won the series 3-1. He will be opening the innings alongside Mark Stoneman, with the youngster James Vince taking charge of the all important number 3 spot. Joe Root will be next at number 4, followed by Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, and Chris Woakes.

James Anderson will be the talisman leading the English fast bowling line. Stuart Broad is another experienced campaigner in the unit and these both will have a definitive role to play. Jake Ball is all set to make his Ashes debut and Chris Woakes will be the fourth pacer in the side. Moeen Ali is the lone spinner for the English.

StatAttack

18 – Australia have won 18 times and lost 14 times when playing in Australia and England have won 18 times and lost 14 times when playing in England.

25 – Alastair Cook ranks 25th in the list of all-time highest run-scorers in Ashes history (With 2,117 runs). Of all the cricketers present in this series, he has the most Ashes runs.

35 – This is the 35th time (70th overall) Australia will be hosting the Ashes.