England vs Australia Prediction & Betting Tips - The Ashes - Test 1 of 5

Prediction published on 15/06/2023, 17:45  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 15/06/2023 at 17:56 in Cricket Predictions

England, led by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, will start their journey to win back the Ashes from their old enemy Australia with the first test set to get underway on Friday. Australia are the current holders, having thrashed the English 4-0 in the last series. The first of the five-match series will get underway at Edgbaston, with the visitors coming into the match off the back of being crowned Test champions after beating India in the World Test Championship final last week. Despite losing 2-1 to India in a test series this year, the conditions at the Oval last week levelled the playing fields as the Aussies dominated from the start to win the trophy by 209 runs and become the first team in the world to win all three major ICC competitions. Steve Smith scored 121 in 268 balls in that match, while Travis Head piled on 163 in just 174 balls to take the Aussies to 469 in the first innings. Their bowling lineup was equally impressive, with Boland and Lyon doing the damage in the second innings. The world champions have been in England for a couple of weeks now and have had time to get used to the conditions. They will be difficult to stop in this series. 

English Test cricket was on a downward trajectory less than a year ago, underlined by the result of this series 12 months ago. England were freefalling and had only won one of 17 matches prior to the appointment of Brendon McCullum as coach and Stokes as the captain. The result of the change in leadership was the introduction of a style of cricket not seen in the longer format, which was dubbed as Bazball. England have been on a rampage ever since, delivering T20-like performances with run chases at incredible rates which have left sides stunned. They have now won 11 of their last 13 Test matches, which included a historic series win over Pakistan in the subcontinent. Ben Stokes’ injury has left question marks over his ability to contribute with the ball in this series, but all eyes will be on the English batting lineup and whether they can get the best of a solid Aussie pace attack. It’s shaping up to be a series for the ages with Bazball versus world-class bowling. Can the English reclaim the coveted title?