The former Australian captain Ian Chappell has pointed out these young and promising batters of the England team who could earn success during their next Ashes trip to Australia in 2025-26. The Ben Stokes-led side didn’t get their desired result in the country since winning the urn in Australia back in the 2011 series.
They are currently facing the West Indies team at home during the final Test of the three-match series, where they have already taken an unbeatable 2-0 lead. They will lock horns with Sri Lanka for another three-match Test series in the rest of the summer, before making a trip to Pakistan and New Zealand before Christmas.
Despite that, the preparations for the Ashes have already begun as the England captain mentioned in many of his recent press conferences. With a young side being involved in an exciting ‘Bazball’ trend, the veteran believes they could do well as a team in Australia.
‘England is more accomplished than…’- Ian Chappell
In the last Ashes 2023 in England, Australia began with two back-to-back victories in Edgbaston and Lord’s and looked in a great position to win the series. However, they lost the third Test in Headingley, while the fourth game of the series in Manchester ended in a washed-out affair.
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They were in a great position to win the last Test of the series at the Kennington Oval in London, but couldn’t hold their nerve till the last moment after a tiring two-month stay in the United Kingdom. In their last Ashes series in 2021-22 in Australia, England lost the series by 4-0, with the final Test in Sydney ending in a close draw.
The former top order batter of the Australia side, Ian Chappell felt that the inclusion of wicket-keeper batter Jaime Smith had powered the batting line-up of England’s side, and if their captain could find a little more consistency with that, then his side would be a strong unit.
‘England has an attacking batting line-up, which they’ve bolstered with the inclusion of a solid wicketkeeper-batter in Jamie Smith.’ Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo.
The Surrey batter- Smith had a fantastic series against West Indies where he managed to 207 runs in four innings, at an average of 51.75 and a strike rate of over 70.
‘The players who could cause Australia concern are Joe Root for his sheer ability, and Zak Crawley and Harry Brook because of their aggression and capacity to score quickly.’ The 80-year-old penned down. ‘If Stokes recaptures his batting form he would fall into that category, especially as he’s bowling again and taking important wickets.’
Joe Root, recently, became the seventh-highest run-getter in this format, as he now has 12027 runs in 261 Test innings, at an average of over 50. The opening batter Crawley, since the introduction of ‘Bazball’ has looked in a different touch, as he has smoked 2690 runs in 85 Test innings, at an average of 32.40, with 15 fifties and four hundreds.
Harry Brook is another young Yorkshire batter who is expected to break so many records in the future. The 25-year-old has nailed 1376 runs in just 23 Test innings, at an average of 62.54, with five centuries and eight fifties.
The Adelaide-born batter also advised the arch-rivals to learn the skill of getting out the lower-order cheaply and in that process not to focus only on the bouncers.
‘If Stokes is fortunate enough to have a full contingent of fit fast bowlers in Australia, this will be a confidence booster. However, he needs to make dismissing lower-order opponents via good bowling a priority rather than relying on incessant overuse of a bouncer barrage.’ The veteran added.
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‘It’s one thing to know England is more accomplished than the inexperienced West Indies and that sooner or later they’ll wilt.’ Chappell concluded in his column. ‘Choosing the right type of player to succeed in Australia is imperative. However, the only way England can win a tough series is if their fast bowlers perform and they hold their chances.’
England hasn’t won a Test match in Australia since 2011, having lost the 2013-14 series by 5-0, the 2017-18 and 2021-22 series by 4-0 margins.