5 reasons why England need to be concerned ahead of the Ashes

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England will want Joe Root to continue his rich vein of form in the Ashes to combat an inconsistent side

The Ashes, regarded as one of the biggest events in world cricket, is three months away and preparations from both Australia and England have begun. The mind games have started. Former players are backing particular players to be major threats and are starting to make their predictions for the upcoming Ashes.

When Ashes was hosted Down Under last time in 2013-14, Australia just stream rolled past England winning 5-0. England faced some hostile stuff back then as Johnson along with Ryan Harris just terrorized the English team. They need to be better prepared this time around.

With about three months to go for the Ashes, England have some headaches and there are some reasons for England to be worried ahead of the Ashes. There were a few questions which England hoped that would be answered during the course of the home summer, but few of those concerns have persisted.

Here’s a look at why England need to be concerned.

1. Inconsistency

England have been pretty inconsistent in Test cricket in the last three years. They have won three consecutive Tests only twice since 2014. Once against India in 2014 and the other instance came this year where they won the last two tests against South Africa and one against West Indies.

As the confidence was building that England might win four or five in a row before the Ashes, they lost against a spirited Windies side at Headingley.

Inconsistency has been a major worry for England. It has become a trend of sorts for the side, who have been brilliant in one test and pathetic in the next one. It has become now almost common in every series, barring one or two.

2. An eternal search for Cook’s opening partner

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Cook has had 12 different opening partners since Strauss retired.

It’s been 5 years since Andrew Strauss retired and England still haven’t found a permanent and a solid opening partner for Alastair Cook. He’s had 12 different opening partners since Strauss retired and none of them have lasted long. Alex Hales has partnered Cook the most number of times (11) and has an average of 27.28 in Tests.

The likes of Root, Ali, Trott (now retired) have also been tried. Haseeb Hameed looked a very good prospect after he made a good start against India, but injury and a poor show in this year's County season has him kept out.

Jennings, who had a dream debut in India, looked good for a long run, but his struggles in the recent home series against South Africa where he averaged a mere 15.87, led to him being dropped.

Mark Stoneman, who did well in county cricket scoring over 1000 runs for 5 consistent seasons became Cook’s 12th opening partner in the 1st test against West Indies. He did score a hard-worked fifty in the second innings when England were behind and that innings should inspire some confidence, but he needs to do a lot more in the Ashes (if selected) scoring big runs and giving England good starts.

3. Uncertainty about the No. 3 and No. 5 positions

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Westley hasn't quite been able to replicate his County form in the England shirt

If the opening position is a concern, No. 3 position is a bigger problem for England. With Joe Root preferring to bat at No. 4, the No. 3 position became vacant after the India series which ended in December. England recalled Gary Balance (it was his third comeback since his Test debut in 2014) for the South Africa series.

He didn’t inspire any sort of confidence, averaging only 21.25 in four innings before he broke his finger and was ruled out. Tom Westley replaced him and impressed on Test debut scoring 25 and 59 in difficult conditions. But since then, he has faded off scoring just 57 runs in his next five innings.

With England deciding to play an extra batsman, Jonny Bairstow moved to No. 7 and No. 5 position went to Dawid Malan. In the four tests he played, he scored two gritty fifties but also squandered opportunities to make big scores. Whenever Malan has batted, he has looked iffy and struggled in most of his innings.

Westley and Malan both have one more test before the Ashes to instil confidence in the team management.

4. Still unsure of the best combination

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Root and Bayliss will need to figure out the best XI and the best balance ahead of the Ashes

Despite having won 4 out of the 6 tests this summer, England still seem unsure of their best team and the balance of the team. In the first two tests against South Africa, they played with six bowlers with Moeen Ali batting at No. 7.

But in the next four Tests (the last two against South Africa and first two against Windies), they played with five bowlers and Ali batted at No. 8, a position which seems too low for him according to coach Trevor Bayliss.

Even captain Joe Root admitted before the final test against South Africa admitted that he is still searching for a perfect combination.

The main confusion is whether England need 6 bowlers or not. If they decide to go in with 5 bowlers, Moeen bats at 8 and they will have to go in with 3 fast bowlers (plus Stokes) and with Broad and Anderson fit, they will have to choose one from Woakes, Roland-Jones and Wood.

5. Aussie pace attack

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If all four of them are fit, they will form a potent attack.

Australia have been long drooling about the fact that they can unleash a pace quartet comprising of Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Pattinson in the upcoming Ashes. If they do, England might in for a tough time Down Under later this year.

With Australia opting to take precautionary measures by resting Starc and Pattinson, it is evident that the team management is itching for all four of them to be fit for the Ashes.

Facing hostile fast bowling isn’t easy at all and England know that very well as they have faced chin music from the likes of Johnson (who was the wrecker in-chief picking up 37 wickets in 2013-14 Ashes) and Harris when they were in Australia back in 2013-14. England need to be prepared to face hostile conditions, and be much better prepared than the last time and learn from the mistakes they committed last time.

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Edited by Anuradha Santhanam