Australia’s Test batting lineup is the best in the world but in a head-to-head comparison England have the strength to match them pound-for-pound, writes Katya Witney.
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Looking down at Australia’s batters ahead of the Ashes series, there seem few weak points. Their numbers three, four and five are currently ranked by the ICC as the three best Test batters in the world. Usman Khawaja completes four Australians in the top ten. They dominated India in the World Test Championship final and have been a relentless juggernaut as a batting machine over the past couple of years.
England are at a different point in their development. As a batting unit, the audacity they have played with over the last year has been made successful by the talent which underpins it. What they have achieved so far should stave off questions of where the runs will come from. They are far less polished than Australia, but a look into the stats shows how evenly matched they could be.
Since the beginning of 2022, Australia have averaged 69.56 runs per wicket. England have averaged 68.71, less than one run’s difference. England’s run-rate per over (5.17), compared to Australia’s 3.82, shows the scale of what they have achieved through their approach. Before it’s pointed out that England’s numbers have come against sub-par bowling attacks on flat decks, it’s worth remembering Australia’s home series against South Africa and West Indies last winter. Like England, they also toured Pakistan in that period on pitches that were possibly flatter than the ones England forced results on.
None of this is to say England’s batters will be able to emulate the performances they have put in over the last 12 months against Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon and the rest. It is a different challenge. But if the last 12 months have shown anything, lack of ability wasn’t England’s problem before their management change. A head-to-head between the two batting sides illustrates how closely fought this series could be.
Top order
Both sides come into the series with parallels between the successes and failures of their opening partnerships. David Warner and Zak Crawley are in equally runs of dismal form – they averaged just over 30 each last year (30.05 and 30.14 respectively). Khawaja and Ben Duckett also have similarities in that they have both made themselves integral parts of winning units since returning to their respective sides.
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As partnerships, the Warner-Khawaja combination has scored 730 runs in 24 innings since the start of 2022, while the Duckett-Crawley partnership has scored 605 in 12. England’s opening partnership average (55.0) is the fourth best of any that has combined more than twice over the last 18 months.
Marnus Labuschagne v Ollie Pope will also be pivotal. After he solved England’s decade-long search for a No.3, Pope’s next task is to forge the kind of career he’s been long-earmarked for. Labuschagne is the No.1 ranked batter in the world. His appetite and ability to score a frightening weight of runs is well established. In the four Tests he played in England in 2019, he showed he could score runs in English conditions, and whether England can find a way to keep him quite will be a crucial factor in series victory for both sides.
Middle orders
Steve Smith and Joe Root’s pedigrees precede them. Two all-time greats, this will be the fifth consecutive Ashes series in which they are direct comparison. However, while Root has been England’s most crucial batter in the past, the pressure has been somewhat taken off him in the last year. While he’s often been England’s sole source of runs, he now has others for company. True, England’s best home wins in 2022 came when he scored centuries, but they no longer continuously rely on him for rescue. But, as ever, England’s best batter must still deliver. Root and Smith match each other for class and ability, and however many runs one can score, the other can match.
Travis Head’s century at The Kia Oval elevated his standing to more than a home-track basher. He’s a different player than in 2019, when he scored his runs at a strike rate of 48.84. Since 2021, his strike rate has been above 80 in Tests and his average above fifty. His match-up with Harry Brook will be one of the most interesting of the series. They are arguably the two most like-for-like players in the two squads.
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Jonny Bairstow will, in all likelihood, not repeat his achievements of last summer. It was an outrageous five-innings spree, arguably the best the game has seen. But he doesn’t need to score half the runs he did against New Zealand and India to have played a pivotal role in the series. Alex Carey opposite him is in a different place. Two continuous years in the side have yielded one century and he showed his utility batting with the tail in the WTC final. So far, however, he has not shown himself as the run-scoring powerhouse Bairstow is.
All-rounders
Cameron Green completed Australia’s Test side. Their four-bowler attack served them well for a long time, but it’s not coincidence that they found more sustained success when Green found his footing. A gun in the field who scores centuries and takes five-fors, he’s added the final piece to Australia’s lineup. Stokes comes into the series at an interesting point as a player. It’s unknown how much he can bowl, and his batting over the winter was frustrating. While his approach at the crease has been important in leading England’s approach, he has to find a balance between doing that and giving the best of himself to his side.
