What are you most looking forward to?
Ali Martin A full-blooded Ashes tour – both sets of supporters in the stands watching a hard-fought contest – after the pandemic proved something of a buzzkill four years ago.
Mark Ramprakash Talented, adaptable cricketers beating Australia rather than the reckless bravado chance-your-arm bullshit of Bazball.
Barney Ronay Jofra Archer to Steve Smith on a pacy deck. We’ve waited six years. They say you can’t go back. You can. I want to go back. Go back please.
Geoff Lemon: After several false starts on previous tours, England having their fastest bowlers fit and available – and starting the series on the country’s fastest track at Perth.
Simon Burnton My first away Ashes, so a sold-out Perth Stadium on day one, the end of the entertaining but hollow preambulary nonsense and the proper action getting under way.
Andy Bull Watching Mark Wood, Archer and Josh Tongue, the quickest group of bowlers England have ever sent on an Ashes tour, square up to Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Travis Head.
Tanya Aldred Groaning to the television late on Christmas Day, and tuning in for the first few overs from the MCG with family and dog stretched out together on the sofa.
Martin Pegan The head-to-head battle between two explosive No 5s. Travis Head is on a lean run but typically rises to the occasion. Harry Brook can prove he is the most damaging middle-order batter in the game.
Emma John Every delivery that Archer bowls. His career is like the oeuvre of one of the more short-lived Romantic poets – each chance to encounter his concentrated artistry is precious.
Usman Khawaja has been in questionable form and turns 39 in December – is he past his sell-by date? Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
Who will win and what will be the score?
AM England to enjoy their best tour for 15 years only for Australia to retain the urn at 2-2 courtesy of rain in Sydney. Cue a fresh deluge of moral Ashes chat. Groan.
MR England to win 3-1.
BR All depends who wins the first Test. 3-1 to Australia. Or … to England. Or 2-2.
GL England to smash-grab that one, Australia to prevail in the longer term by means of bowling quality, and Sydney to succumb to rain. Australia 3-1.
SB Unable to predict an England series win due to an excess of bad memories so I’ll take a seat on the proffered fence: 2-2.
AB Ben Stokes has a proven ability to do anything he puts his mind to, and he’s been thinking about this series for two years. England to win by one.
TA Australia will reveal themselves to be not as over the hill as hoped. A 2-2 thriller with the rain-affected Sydney Test petering out into a draw.
MP Australia 3-2. Formidable bowling attacks and fragile batting lineups ensure a full house of results. England to give the series a jolt on a flat deck in Adelaide and find some solace in Sydney.
EJ The heart wants England 3-2, the head says Australia 3-1. It all depends on whether that ambitious hitting from England’s middle order clears the boundary or goes to hand.
Who or what will shake up the series?
AM Archer and England have been building cautiously towards this tour and so far, so good. Time to take off the training wheels, as Archer has called this approach, and watch him bring the heat.
MR Brook coming in at five can grab the momentum for England with his aggressive and audacious stroke play.
BR Head windmilling Shoab Bashir into the Perth ozone three times after lunch on day one. Alternatively, can England Baz-bully Scott Boland? How long before either pace attack begins to shed its arms, fingers and toenails? How hard and white and frightening will the light be?
GL Wood and Archer, hopefully, bowling in tandem for only the second time in their Test careers.
SB It’s a triumph of optimism over reason, and if he’s even still in the team by the time the circus arrives in Sydney it would surprise many, but I’d love this to be Ollie Pope’s Ashes.
AB Archer’s bounce from back-of-a-length, Brook’s bat, Stokes’ fields, Stuart Broad’s barbs from the commentary box, and Australia’s odd insistence on taking Bazball as some kind of national slight.
TA Joe Root to throw his baggage out of the window and into the Australian night and light-touch three perfect Ashes centuries.
MP England fighting fire with fire as Archer and Wood lead an express-pace attack, while Australia’s fine-tuned three-piece-turned-four band of fast bowlers doesn’t skip a beat.
EJ The performance of the pink ball in the second Test at the Gabba will have a huge impact – whoever loses the toss is probably in for a tough time.
Harry Brook can be devastating for England, but his habit of getting out rashly is a worry for some. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
What will be the moment remembered in 50 years?
AM Ian Botham and Ian Chappell bumping into each other on the outfield of the MCG before the start of play on Boxing Day and, after decades of animus, hugging it out in front of 100,000 people.
MR Root scoring the runs to win the Ashes, also taking him to his first 100 in Australia.
BR A really good Ben Duckett press conference where he talks about reinventing manhood and does a magic trick with a box of beads.
GL Root’s first century on Australian shores, on his fourth visit. Depending on the series result, it will either be remembered as a turning point or a grand gesture of futility.
SB The moment the team physio has to help a tearful seamer off the field after an innocuous slip in the outfield leads to the recurrence of a back injury. But Cummins or Archer?
AB I’m backing Duckett to come through with at least one silly comment that will go down in Ashes lore, and Archer to win another of those indelible pace-bowling duels with Smith.
TA Inevitably Stokes. Either bowling himself to a limping shadow with one arm Sellotaped to his body or blasting a furious 103 from 40 balls after England find themselves 125 for six on day one at Perth.
MP Stokes reclaims the moral high ground over individual milestones as his brave declaration denies Joe Root a first century on Australian soil.
EJ Root run out on 99. Or perhaps him and Stokes chasing down the series-winning target, then sharing an embrace that can only be prised apart with a crowbar.
Jofra Archer has missed the last two Ashes series and has never bowled in a Test in Australia. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/PA
Who or what will be the biggest flop?
AM Australia’s failure to bed in a proactive, aggressive partner for Usman Khawaja over the past 18 months may well see their top-order issues against the new ball – and grumbles from the old guard – continue.
MR Nathan Lyon’s impact will be minimal, meaning Australia will have to over-bowl their pacemen.
BR Nothing. There is no result that is a disappointment. England winning, drawing spunkily or the total incineration of Bazball-verse. It’s a perfect balance of narratives. But maybe … Lyon.
GL Jacob Bethell has zero first-class tons and there is an open possibility he might be England’s No 3. Khawaja will open for Australia aged 38 having averaged 26 against pace since Edgbaston 2023. It’s a live contest.
SB Khawaja, who averages 30 in 25 Test innings since January 2024 (and 20.44 in 10 at home), even though in one of them he scored 232. Against seam he’s gone from an average of 38.05 (and 61% of his dismissals) to 19.18 (and 87%).
AB Aside from all these predictions? Both teams have one obvious weakness: for Australia it’s their opening batsmen and for England it’s their spin bowling.
TA Slightly nervous about the over-enthusiasm of England’s top order: can they always rely on Root and Harry Brook to rescue them if gung-ho tendencies go askew?
MP Australia’s top order. Jake Weatherald faces a baptism of fire, Khawaja is barely hanging on, Labuschagne has quickly gone from banged-up to Band-Aid solution. The revolving door of openers keeps turning.
EJ Zak Crawley, driving the first ball of the series into the hands of slip. Or Labuschagne, leaving the first ball of the series to swing into his pads.
Travis Head has been the scourge of England before, and how he handles the tourists’ pace attack could prove pivotal. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/PA
When it’s over we’ll all say …
AM “I don’t suppose there’s any chance these predictions could be pulped, could they?”
MR Stokes is the best ever England captain.
BR Root is now, finally, because he got 104 in Adelaide, allowed to be an all-time great.
GL That was a very different beginning, but rather more familiar by the end.
SB I’m glad that’s over. When can we do it again?
AB That was fun.
TA Same again in four years?
MP “Yeah, but, can they do it on a cold, rainy afternoon in Birmingham, Nottingham, Southampton, and twice in London?”
EJ I hear they’re calling it Brookball now.
