England's Ashes Hopes Turn to Dust Without Stokes Appeal

19/10/2017

"I think it's one of the poorest English batting line-ups I have ever seen to come to Australia."

"Without Stokes, I wouldn't give England a chance."

"This is one of the weakest squads I've seen."

"I have a comment on England's Ashes squad - it's horrendous! They may as well not go!"

Those are the opinions of England's Ashes line-up from an Aussie, two Englishmen and an adopted Londoner who has let his patriotic mask slip a little in recent years.

But the general consensus from Aussie broadcaster Jim Maxwell, former England internationals Michael Vaughan and Jonathan Agnew and Ashes winner Kevin Pietersen (guess which one of the above views was KP's) - and many other pundits for that matter - is that the Three Lions are going to go down with a whimper Down Under this winter.

It's been a rather awkward summer for England's cricketers, with a pleasing-enough series win over South Africa clouded by a collection of inept displays against the West Indies and the ongoing criminal investigation of Ben Stokes, who faces charges of actual bodily harm after an incident on a night out in Bristol.

Whatever the mass opinion regarding Stokes' night-time antics, the point remains is that one of the few England players with the 'X Factor', whatever that is, will probably miss this series for legal reasons or through injury: he suffered a fractured hand in the alleged fight.

The all-rounder will not meet up with the rest of the squad on October 28 as they say goodbye to English soil and ‘crikey, mate' to their temporary home for the next few months, and the bookmakers believe Stokes' absence - on top of a number of other factors - is confirmation that England simply have no chance in the Ashes: punters can back them at a lofty price of 3/1 to retain the famous urn.

But are the naysayers correct?

Send in the Clowns

Even prior to Stokes-gate, the knives were out for an England squad that ultimately contains more questions than answers.

The idea from the ECB this summer, presumably, in scheduling the South Africa and West Indies series as they did was to allow Joe Root ample time to see potential Ashes candidates first hand. A tough set of matches against the South Africans would be followed by an easy whitewash against the Islanders, and a chance to rest those whose seats on the plane to Australia were booked while taking a look at other options.

But this being English cricket, things never quite go to plan.

The previously hapless West Indies put in some gutsy performances, and England's new boys were found wanting with bat (mostly) and ball. In the end, Root's men were happy to take the 2-1 series victory - against a side for whom avoiding innings' defeats has been a triumph in the past 18 months.

So eyebrows were raised when the Ashes squad was announced and featured a number of those underachieving players. Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan were given the nod despite only averaging 30 and 23 respectively with the bat - if you can't turn it on in familiar conditions against second-rate opposition, how can you expect to do it in front of 80,000 baying Aussies at the Gabba?

It goes on: Chris Woakes was dropped during the West Indies series yet has been restored almost immediately, while Jake Ball - who has barely had a sniff of red ball cricket in an England shirt - found himself elevated to the squad instead of the likes of Liam Plunkett and Steven Finn, whose style is surely more suited to Australian conditions (Finn has since been drafted in but only as a possible Stokes replacement).

The respected cricket writer Vic Marks penned a piece in the Guardian newspaper that accused England of a 'pick your mates' selection policy, and in truth there is perhaps no other justification for the inclusion of Gary Ballance and James Vince in the fold.

Ballance is a great friend of Root's - the fact he averaged just 21 in four innings against South Africa blissfully forgotten, while Vince, undoubtedly a talented willow-wielder, is managed by the same company as Root and averaged a below-par 33 this summer in what is becoming an increasingly desperate county scene in the UK.

Not for the first time, muddled squad selection appears to have England on the back foot before a ball has even been bowled.

Home Town Glory

It should be said that this Australian side is anything but invincible, but there are plenty of Englishman that featured in the 0-5 mauling Down Under back in 2013/14 and you wonder if that scar tissue has or will ever heal.

The Aussies love nothing more than a bit of Pom-bashing, and they head into this series in decent spirits after combative efforts in the sub-continent.

As is the case for England, Australia don't generally fare that well in spinning conditions, and so they will have been happy enough with the 1-1 series draw against the fast-improving Bangladesh and the 1-2 loss in India which went down to a fourth and final deciding test. Both showcased their ferocious fighting spirit.

And of course the last time they hosted a test series the green caps demolished Pakistan 3-0, with victory margins of 220 runs and an innings-and-18-runs telling their own story.

The Aussies are far from the finished article, with doubts over batsmen Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb at the highest level and the feeling that Matt Wade is not ready or able to fill Brad Haddin's daunting shoes as a world-class wicketkeeper/batsman.

But what we do know is that an Ashes series in the searing heat of Australia requires as much strength of character as it does ability in the middle. The pumped-up Aussies, aided by a passionate and partisan home crowd, will elevate their performances as a result - England, unfortunately, on their last trip south were found rather wanting as far as moral fibre is concerned.

One of the English stars that has character in abundance - arguably too much, if such a thing were possible - might not even make it onto the plane. To suggest England's Ashes hopes rest solely on Ben Stokes' shoulders is wide of the mark, but the starting eleven could be made to look a very sorry bunch indeed without their former vice captain's fiery cajoling.