England head into Friday’s (Nov. 21) Ashes opener in Perth with an unusual spring in their step — and a rare chance to land the first punch in a five-test series historically dominated by Australia on home soil.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, England sense a genuine opening to seize momentum early. Australia’s squad has been rocked by major injury blows, with frontline fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood ruled out. Together, the duo hold 604 Test wickets, leaving stand-in captain Steve Smith to rely on a patched-up attack expected to include Scott Boland and uncapped bowler Brendan Doggett.
England arrive with their fastest pace battery in years, featuring Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, and Brydon Carse, with skipper Ben Stokes also ready to bowl. Yet for most of the squad, this will be their first Test match in Australia — and their first attempt to rewrite decades of Ashes struggles in Perth, where England last won in 1978.
The iconic venue becomes both a challenge and an opportunity as the Ashes begin on Friday, with England looking to exploit Australian vulnerabilities and snap their long drought in Western Australia.
00:28Well, I think there's a few of us who haven't really played many Test matches in Australia,
00:41so there are no stars for me, but for some others I can't really speak for them, but
00:47history would say it's probably a good thing we're not starting at The Gathering.
00:58He looks good there.
01:28Yeah, 100%. I mean, we've obviously got a lot of players who have played a lot, Brutti and Stokesy and stuff, so, you know, we can speak to them if needed, but no, I do think it's a good thing that a few of us are coming in with not too much experience here.
01:58Oh, Alex!
02:07Baby!
02:16Yeah, buddy!
02:18Old? I keep getting told that anyway.
02:30No, it is what it is.
02:32Sadly, injuries and fast bowling happen.
02:35It just so happened with two men down heading into the first test.
02:39Good to see the depth in the squad.
02:43We know what Scotty Bowling can do.
02:45Doggy's coming off a hot streak at the moment
02:47and Ness has been around for a while, so it is what it is.
03:17Probably a few guys with less experience playing in Australia,
03:20particularly that bowling attack.
03:22We know a lot of talks about how fast they're bowling
03:26and then they've got five or six guys that can bowl quick.
03:29I'm not sure any of them played.
03:31Well, I don't know if anyone played a test match in Australia,
03:34or certainly this ground anyway.
03:37So, yeah, I mean, we've seen how they've played their cricket.
03:40We've had a few meetings so far
03:42and we've spoken about how the series is going to pan out for us.
03:47I'm surprised there.
03:47Every year we say,
04:15oh, the cracking's going to be there, it's going to be there.
04:18That's not going to change.
04:19The cracks will be present later in the game.
04:22What I've really knuckled down this preparation
04:24is ensuring that that pace and bounce is spot on for day one
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