The England cricket team is now touring Australia to play the oldest rivalry series in cricket history, The Ashes. The five-match Test series between the two teams are set to start tomorrow. The first match will be held in Gabba, Brisbane. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Test matches of the series will be played at different venues from December 16 to January 14.
Australia and England have played 351 Test matches in the Ashes series since 1877. The Aussies have won 146 matches, and England has won 110, 95 of them ended up in a draw. The last Ashes series held in England was drawn, where both Australia and England won 2 matches and drew 1 of the five-match Test series.
However, Australia played their last 4-match Test series against visiting India. Where they lost the series (2-1) against India. On the other hand, England played their last Test series against visiting India, and they were trailing (2-1) in the series against India, and the last game of that series is still to occur.
Out of the last five-Test series, Australia has won 3 series, lost 1, and drawn 1. On the other hand, England has won just two of their last five-Test series. However, both teams have made an excellent team for the oldest series in history. So this series is expected to be a very competitive series.
On the other hand, with Australia leading the way in terms of statistics and this time the series was held at home, the players of the Australian team have now become strong mentally. So they will try their best to make the series memorable.
Australia is ranked 3rd, and England is ranked 4th in the ICC Test rankings. So both teams have to work hard in this series to get a higher rank in the points table.
Test Squad of Ashes:
Australia – Pat Cummins (c), Marcus Harris, Steven Smith, Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Travis Head, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson
England – Joe Root (c), Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Zak Crawley, Daniel Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Dominic Bess, Jack Leach, Mark Wood
Test match schedule for Australia and England:
1st Test – 08-12 December, The Gabba (Brisbane), 06:00 (GMT +6)
2nd Test – 16-20 December, Adelaide Oval (Adelaide), 10:00 (GMT +6)
3rd Test – 26-30 December, Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne), 05:30 (GMT +6)
4th Test – 05-09 January, Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney), 05:30 (GMT +6)
5th Test – 14-18 January, No Final Yet, 08:30 (GMT +6)