England great James Anderson has urged his fellow bowlers not to depend solely on pace when plotting Australia’s downfall during the upcoming Ashes series, starting November 21 in Perth.
The five-match contest begins in Perth on Friday, with England expected to field a fiery pace battery featuring Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Josh Tongue as they push to reclaim the urn last held by them in 2015.
This will be the first Ashes series in Australia that Anderson misses since 2002–03, and the former seamer has offered some guidance to the group ahead of the opener at Perth Stadium.
“The pitches will have a little bit of movement in them, they have done in the last two tours we’ve been there. So you do need accuracy, as well as pace,” Anderson said on the BBC’s Tailenders podcast.
“I think one of the question marks for England will potentially be Ben Stokes, out of that group of bowlers, he is the one bowler that could churn out those spells of accuracy and skill. But he’s also got that injury record hanging over him, so that could be a big part of the series as well,” he added.
Anderson expects England to unleash their quickest bowlers in the first Test, hoping to exploit the absence of experienced Australian pair Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to seize an early advantage. He also anticipates England will rotate their pacers as the series progresses, with Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse, spinner Shoaib Bashir and young all-rounder Jacob Bethell likely to feature.
“I think if you’re going to play them (Archer and Wood) together, potentially the first Test at Perth, where it’s fast and bouncy, you want to get off to a good start in the series so hit them straight away with proper pace,” Anderson added.
“After that I imagine they’ll try and play one of them, and rest and recover the other. That leaves space for Brydon Carse or Gus Atkinson. They’re still quick enough, but they’ve got skill as well, and probably a bit more control than the others.
“They’re going to have a big part. If England are going to win this series, or have a chance, then the bowling attack has got to be relentlessly good.”
Despite England’s depth in fast bowling, Anderson believes Australia will still start the series as slight favourites. “There are question marks there, and definitely there are cracks that England could potentially expose. There’s a great chance for England to get on top early,” Anderson said.
“But I don’t think England are quite favourites. I’d say Australia are still favourites, in Australia. There’s still a lot of quality in their batting line-up, there’s still a lot of quality with their bowlers as well, even if Cummins is missing. It’s a tough one to call, so I’d say Australia, just,” he added.