Thoughts on the Ashes tour

Much of the coverage to date has been speculation as to whether the tour takes place and concern that the selected party is bereft of a bowling attack with hostile pace.

There had been less attention to the absence of a threatening spinner.

It was always likely the tour would happen as the Australian Board need its revenue.

There are complications with each of the five states having their own Covid regulations and Sydney (New South Wales) and Melbourne (Victoria) going into lockdowns at very short notice.

I have some sympathy for the selectors who must have hoped that Jofra Archer, Olly Stone and Ben Stokes would be available.

Now they have only one speedster – Mark Wood – who can deliver beyond 90 mph but he is injury prone. The rest are in the 80s.

England have not had a world class spinner since Graeme Swann.

Neither Jack Leach nor Dom Bess played against India.

Sydney in particular can take spin. The Aussies have the faster bowling attack and they also have Nathan Lyon.

The Aussies have only played one series in the past 12 months which they lost to India.

Joe Root showed more leadership than normal during the Ashes negotiations but, beyond him, our batting line up looks fragile (Dawid Malian, for example, only has a Test average of 28) and our bowlers do not look threatening with the Kookaburra ball.

Prediction – Australia win.