The Ashes: England’s need to score big, David Warner’s form, rest and rotation – pundits assess where the urn will be won and lost

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Which Australian hitter holds the key for the hosts? How can England better attack Australia on their own terms? Should Tourists Plan To Rotate Their Bowlers? Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Rob Key discuss key issues before the start of The Ashes

Will England’s Owls be subject to rest and rotation during The Ashes?

“There is a cricket test. Then there is the Ashes cricket. “

It’s that moment again. The Ashes is almost upon us and those words from Joe Root can be added to a long list of quotes that tell us that when England take on Australia, there is something extra special about it.

For an England Test cricketer, a series of Ashes in Australia is considered the biggest challenge you can face.

Sky Sports experts Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Rob Key know all about that as they have taken on the great Australian side that includes Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in their own patch during their playing days.

On the Sky Cricket Ashes preview podcast, the trio look forward to another eagerly anticipated series and highlight some of the areas where the urn could be won and lost …

David Warner had a steamy time at the last Ashes series in England

I think David Warner is very important. If I look at his team, the lynchpin of his hitting is Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne and I’d say they’re both kind of bankers for getting runs and having good series. Of course, you never know, there is uncertainty in the game and you never know, but they are the best, the best players.

Warner has been a top-tier player and he just had a great T20 World Cup, but he had that problem with Broad in England, very different conditions, obviously. [The] Kookaburra [ball], Australian fields are very different from [the UK] But it’s been declining a bit

I think he’s got such an important position because if he’s struggling early on and you can get into Labuschagne and Smith early, then Australia’s hitting doesn’t look great if Warner has a dodgy moment.

If all of a sudden he comes in well and shows that he is still a world-class player in test cricket and you put him alongside Smith and Labuschagne, a very different Australian team starts to look like.

I think the delicious battle between Warner and Stuart Broad, if he plays early, will be significant. All the talk about who opens with Warner, I know they have made a decision now, but they are betting on Warner to return to his best level.

At the start of the series, England will be desperate to clear up some uncertainties that could be there from the last series he had against them. If they do, Australia’s hitting doesn’t look absolutely fantastic. They have some top-notch players there, but I think Warner is key.

Broad enjoyed great success against Warner in 2019

We all know Broady well, he’s worked with us and we always talk about Australia: the bowling attack, the Kookaburra ball and having a point of difference, playing Mark Wood and having that extra pace, and Broad always says’ yeah, that. It’s a good point, excellent but, really, you need racing. ‘

You need big, big runs in the first inning. I always remember when I woke up the first morning in Brisbane on the last tour, and England was doing great, they were 145-2, James Vince was hitting wonderfully, Ian Chappell was getting lyrical about him, and then Vince is out and England is going for it. bowling for 300. England lose and continue to lose series heavily.

In England, if you get 300 in your first innings, against the Dukes ball, you will win most of your games with Broad, Anderson, Woakes, Robinson and the conditions that we have seen in the last decade. There is a weather pattern in Australia now, but in your normal Australian conditions if you get 300 in your first innings you will lose more games than you win because the opposition will carry on and you will get 400 or 450 and then you are chasing Him. Then it starts spinning and it gets a little bumpy.

The way to attack Australia is big runs in the first inning and you go back to 2010-11 and players like Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell and Prior, they got massive runs in the first innings and then you have a bowling attack that can to compete.

That, to me, is the big racing mentality and it can’t just be Joe Root. You don’t get 450-500 with just Root.

The last thing I want to hear after last winter and summer is rest and rotation. For this Ashes series, you probably don’t want to try to be too smart and think ‘we’re not going to play Jimmy Anderson on the third test anymore. Do it on the go.

So if you show up for the next test and, for example, Stuart Broad feels like he’s struggling a bit, then he leaves them out. You don’t have this preventative plan to rest and rotate players. You just go to every Ashes Test game and say ‘who’s our best team? What is our best attack for the conditions to win this game of cricket?

Forget about those things we had last winter. I know we won’t take people home and give them a test. This is The Ashes, surely we don’t want to hear about the break and rotation?

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