The Ashes still has the cachet, needle and bragging rights, but England versus India is now an epic Test series that both sides will be desperate to win, despite many pointing to the format’s ailing appeal.
A five-part drama of sumptuous prospect, the opening scene begins at Headingley this Friday, a place that used to embody home advantage. Not any more. On the last four occasions the teams have met there India lead 2-1 with one match drawn. Not that stalemate is likely this time unless foul weather decamps over Leeds, something the forecasters are not predicting.
Last time the teams met in England (in India it has been one-sided in favour of the hosts for well over a decade) the series was drawn 2-2, though due to Covid madness the final Test was played in 2023, a year after the penultimate one. India were caught cold which meant England levelled the series.
The first four matches were pre-Bazball, the last during its flowering. Whether that makes England favourites this time depends on how much Ben Stokes’ team have learnt on that heady rollercoaster of boom and bust.
Whatever the tactics the series should still be close. Both sides are missing stellar cricketers, most recently retired. A team suddenly shorn of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravi Ashwin and Mohammed Shami is bound to be compromised. But if any side can make good the shortfall it is India, a country where cricketing talent seems to rise fully formed on a daily basis, as the sudden appearance of 14-year-old IPL batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi has shown.
Despite the absentees there is still stardust in this India squad. Take Jasprit Bumrah, who makes a case for being the greatest pace bowler of all time in terms of speed and skill.
Now 31, he probably won’t stay fit long enough to reach 500 Test wickets but his numbers in all conditions (205 wickets at 19.4 from 45 Tests) are astounding. Returning after a recent back injury India have talked of managing his workload this series, which means he may not play every Test, so catch this unique bowler while you can. England’s attack doesn’t have anyone as talented, casting around as it has been to replace James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
So far, plenty have been tried but ongoing fitness issues mean the pace element has yet to look settled. At present, six seamers are in the squad: Chris Woakes, Sam Cook, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Jamie Overton and Hampshire’s 19-year-old Eddie Jack, who was summoned after Tongue hurt his ankle.
Only three are likely to play at Headingley with Stokes and spinner Shoaib Bashir lending balance and hopefully wickets, though Bashir will find it tough – India’s batters have always been supreme against spin.
Alternatively, England could leave Bashir out and pick Jacob Bethell to strengthen the batting and fulfil spin duties (he bowls slow left-arm) with Joe Root. But that would be short-sighted. If Bashir is to continue his learning in an England shirt (he has yet to be first choice spinner at any of the counties he’s represented) then he needs to play against the best to get better.
Both sides possess highly watchable batters like Stokes, Root, Harry Brook, new skipper Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, so the series will not lack entertainment.
Yet, one who has slipped under the radar, maybe because he is very short, is England’s Ben Duckett. Perhaps opening with Zak Crawley, a player known as much for his car-crash moments as his victory laps, has enabled Duckett to go about his business and become a world-class batter. I won’t say quietly because boundaries make up 54% of the 2,410 Test runs he has scored, at an average of 41.55, which is pretty high even among Bazball’s most zealous exponents.
He did not play against India last time so he has yet to experience the rigorous challenge of facing Bumrah from around the wicket and the tall, left-armer Arshdeep Singh, who will swing it away from him late. Famously, Duckett claims to never shoulder arms, which is not the same as saying he never misses. His role is to score runs, something he tries to do at every opportunity, so his mantra is to leave nothing.
There have been times when he looks touched with the same genius as Brian Lara, when cutting, scything and gliding through the off-side. Strength can be weakness sometimes and like that other fine left-hander, David Gower, the flamboyance can bring his downfall.
Like many of Duckett’s England team-mates, this series should add to his learning and make him even better. Conversely, if Bumrah lives up to billing there is the chance his confidence could be dented, something best avoided with an Ashes tour later in the year.
Can England push through Australia’s cracks?
South Africa’s victory over Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s was as categoric as it was deserved. Kagiso Rabada, with ball throughout, and Aiden Markram, with bat in the 2nd innings, were immense against an Australian team showing signs of vulnerability.
Whether England can exploit these shortcomings when they contest the Ashes in Australia this winter is another matter. England have only twice won the Ashes there in 46 years. Yet, cracks are appearing in the batting line-up which, Steve Smith apart, looks vulnerable with several players batting well out of position.
The bowling quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon, rightfully revered for so long, have an average age of 34.5, which is old when you have done much of your bowling in Australia, with its intense heat and concrete hard pitches.
As Ian Chappell, one of Australia’s greatest captains, never tired of reminding teams who toured his homeland, ‘Test cricket in Australia is no place for old men’. And that stands for the locals as well.