Michael Atherton believes England can take encouragement from the recent Test series between Australia and India as Ben Stokes’ side prepare to face both teams in the next 12 months.
Australia were handily beaten by 295 runs in the opening Test in Perth before fighting back to win the series 3-1, but Atherton saw vulnerabilities in the hosts’ batting line-up, in particular, that has the former England captain “optimistic” of a first Ashes win Down Under since 2010/11.
Travis Head and Yashavi Jaiswal were the only top-order batters on either side to average over 35 – 56.00 and 43.44, respectively – and though scourge of England in Ashes’ past, Steve Smith, matched Head’s two centuries for the series, he averaged a modest 34.88, with other big-name players, Virat Kohli (23.75), Rohit Sharma (6.20) and Marnus Labuschagne (25.77) faring even worse.
India captain Rohit Sharma sat out the final Test against Australia after averaging only 6.20 in his three appearances
England host India in a five-Test series from June 20 this summer, live on Sky Sports Cricket, before travelling to Australia for the Ashes in November.
“The lack of form for India’s top players, Rohit, Virat and others, allied with an over-reliance on [Jasprit] Bumrah, in the end was the difference,” Atherton said on the latest episode of the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“From an England perspective, I felt that they would have taken some encouragement… from both sides, actually.
Steve Smith hit two hundreds but otherwise struggled with the bat, as did most batters during the Australia-India series
“Both sides’ batting looks vulnerable. Australia struggled as well; Usman Khawaja at the top, Smith got two hundreds but didn’t quite seem like the player he was, and Labuschagne really struggled. Mitch Marsh was dropped, and [Alex] Carey looked vulnerable to the ball coming back into him.
“Unlike perhaps 20 or 30 years ago, when we were playing – and you’d look down the Aussie line-up and think, ‘how are we going to get 20 wickets here?’ – I can see an avenue for England, if their bowlers are fit, where there might be some possibilities.
“I think they’d have been reasonably encouraged by what they saw, even though both sides played good, hard, competitive cricket and it was a fantastic series.”
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On the Sky Sports Cricket podcast, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain review how good England have been in Test cricket in 2024.
Another reason for optimism in the England camp could be the age profile of their Australian counterparts.
With the introduction of eye-catching teenage opener Sam Konstas for the final two Tests of the series, Pat Cummins’ side contained zero players in their 20s, with the rest in their 30s – including a bowling attack that is aging, with the captain the youngest by a couple of years at 31.
“[Mitchell] Starc, Cummins and [Josh] Hazlewood have held sway for so long, and [Scott] Boland as back-up, but they’re no spring chickens, are they?” Atherton added.
Mitchell Starc is now 34 years old and Australia captain Pat Cummins the youngest of their seam attack at 31
“Looking ahead another 12 months, they’re at that stage where they’re in what you’d think would be the twilight of a fast bowler’s career, although Jimmy Anderson [retiring at 41] may suggest that you can stretch that a bit more now.
“I suppose you could argue that with Konstas coming in, Beau Webster coming in, [Nathan] McSweeney had a go, they’re starting to regenerate that side, but for the Boxing Day Test, it was a weird age profile for the team.”
All that said, Atherton still gives Australia the slight edge as favourites for the Ashes next winter.
“I think England are favourites to beat India at home,” he added. “For the Ashes, you have to say Australia are favourites – because very few England teams have won and regained the Ashes Down Under – but, for the first time since 2010/11, I’m relatively optimistic.”
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