The Ashes 2013: Team preview: England

Openers

Beginning with the opening pair, Alastair Cook has a new companion who must remind him of his own youth. It is all but certain that Root has beaten Nick Compton to the opener’s slot. Like Cook, Joe Root, with his boyish look, enjoyed a quick promotion from the Lions squad to the Test team, when he made his debut in Nagpur last year on a sluggish pitch and impressed his coach so much that he is now among the certainties in the team.

He should be comfortable in his new role as he opens for Yorkshire and is considered as a ‘natural opener’. But that does not guarantee success as he is yet to be tested against better bowling attacks than those of India and New Zealand- the two nations against whom Root has played Test cricket. But the one thing that goes for Root is he has none other than Alastair Cook as his partner.

The England captain is widely regarded as the best batsman in the world at the moment. With 7524 runs in 92 Test matches, he has roughly the same number of runs as Sachin Tendulkar had after playing 92 Test – 7752 runs. Recently, Kevin Pietersen publicly commented that Cook could break Sachin’s record of most career runs in Test cricket.

Middle Order

People say cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, but one thing English fans can be rest assured is of runs flowing from the bat of Jonathan Trott. Currently the most consistent no.3 going around, Trott is the only English player in history to average more than 50 in both Test and ODI cricket.

As for the batting at no.4, England have a gem in the form of Kevin Pietersen, but he has missed a lot of cricket in the last 3 months as his last Test was in the March against New Zealand. Kevin has the X-factor in him as he has played few innings that have turned the series on its head, be it the 227 against Australia or the 186 on a minefield at Mumbai when England were trailing 1-0. That innings prompted Sourav Ganguly to state that it was the best innings played by a visiting batsman in India.

With Ian Bell at no.5, the middle-order looks as formidable as any England has ever had. The no.6 slot, though, will be interesting. England as of now has gambled with Jonny Bairstow, a rookie but it clearly shows that England have set their eyes for future. The inexperienced Australian bowlers will have a mighty fight on their hands with this batting line-up.