The ECB recently announced England’s 17-man squad for the upcoming five-Test Ashes series 2021-22 to be played in Australia with the first Test match to be held in Brisbane from December 8th. However, former captain Michael Vaughan doubts England has the bowling power to blow Australia away.
The Ashes-winning skipper in 2005 also expressed doubts whether England pace bowler Jimmy Anderson would be able to take the rigors of the tour given his age.
“The last Test that England played against India at The Oval (in September), Jimmy Anderson was England’s quickest bowler. That is a concern, the age that he is,” Vaughan told SEN’s Gilly and Goss on Monday.
“The way that those two (Anderson and Stuart Broad) can be successful in Australia and the way that England can put a huge amount of pressure on Australia is if the battling line-up arrives and scores 500 runs in the first innings to put that Australian team under huge pressure.
I don’t think England have an attack that’ll blow Australia away, I don’t think they have that skill level, pace, or expertise of spin in their armory, but if they get good runs they certainly have an attack that can wear the Australians down and potentially force the issue by building dots and bowling maidens,” Vaughan added.
Talking about the Aussies, Vaughan said that Steve Smith and David Warner haven’t look at their best in the IPL 2021 and said that the opposition batting isn’t imposing enough this time.
“You look at the Australian batting line-up; David Warner, how much longer is he going to play? In Australia, we know how much of a threat he is, but he’s certainly not the player that he once was. I guess Will Pucovski will open the batting with him, a huge amount of talent but he’s got that problem with the short stuff.
Then you’ve got the quality of Smith and Labuschagne, but beyond that, you’ve got Travis Head, Cameron Green looks a superstar in the making but he’s young, and Tim Paine at number seven is yet to get a first-class century," added Vaughan.
“I do look at this Australian side and think, ‘Wait a minute. They are obviously on home soil, they’re a talented bunch, but they can certainly be beaten’," Vaughan said.
(IANS inputs)
