A lot has been made of whether England really made great use of the Test summer against West Indies and Pakistan in terms of preparations for what is the ultimate goal of regaining the Ashes in Australia in 2021-22 winter.
The team management started off by resting Stuart Broad in the first Test, something the player was baffled by after a prolonged COVID-19 break, and instead tried to encourage out and out pacers in Jofra Archer and Mark Wood by playing them together alongside James Anderson.
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However, as the cramped season progressed, it became clear that England continues to rely on the high skill of Anderson, Broad to win them games at home and can't just look at the future when the likes of Archer aren't yet offering the team a lot of control and consistency with the addition of pace.
Still, it is felt by many, though, that England will be better served breaking the renowned pair of Anderson and Broad ahead of the next Ashes and hope that in the build-up to the marquee series, Archer and those in his ilk become more robust options.
For Broad, however, there is no doubt that pace as a factor is being overplayed and it is actually the batting that England selectors and management should be concerned for.
"If you want to know what it takes to win Test matches in Australia, it's not whether you have someone who can get up to 95mph. Glenn McGrath was still pretty useful coming up to his 37th birthday and bowling at 80mph when his team had 500 runs on the board," wrote the veteran seamer in his column for the Daily Mail.
"We should take the focus off which bowlers are going to be selected for that series because it's an irrelevant conversation if you're going to be bowled out for 200. It’s equally irrelevant if you’re bowled out for 300. You need to be reaching the 400s."
"Look back at when England last won there in 2010-11: Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen all got big hundreds, scores of 150-plus. Ian Bell, Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior got hundreds, too."
"In all three wins, the team batted just once. Jimmy (Anderson), Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett bowled in the mid-80s and England made big totals," he added.
Broad also feels Australian batsmen, including the mighty Steve Smith, haven't really had to wait long before their turn to bat in recent Ashes series at home.
"Steve Smith has batted against 90mph bowling throughout a career in which he averages the best part of 63. But what he hasn't done often is go out to bat having been fielding for two days and the opposition having a huge score on the board. We need that mindset of keeping the opposition out there until the second evening," wrote the 34-year-old.
England suffered heavy losses on the last two trips to Australia, going down 4-0 under Root in 2017/18 and 5-0 under Alastair Cook in 2013-14 seasons.
