Eighteen months after the last series ended in English humiliation in Australia, cricket’s Ashes gets under way in Birmingham on Friday, amid confident forecasts of bright sunshine and a full house, and complete uncertainty over which of two of the world’s best teams will emerge as winners.
Across the last 12 months England have won 82% of their 11 Test matches after a revolution in their approach to the game and Australia 58% of their 12 – including victory over India in last week’s World Test Championship final at the Oval to become the format’s official global champions. Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, predicted that the meeting of the sport’s two in-form sides would make “the whole cricketing world stop”.
