3 things England needs to do to get back to the winning ways in Ashes 2023 

Australia is currently leading the ongoing Ashes series 2-0 against England. A lot of things have worked for Australia, while England is yet to find a perfect combination of bowlers. The England captain Ben Stokes is confident of England winning 3 games on a trot. But can England do it? What are the challenges ahead of them? Here are some of the improvements and potential team selections that can help England to win their remaining games against the visiting side.

1. Inclusion of Mark Wood and Chris Woakes in the XI 

The genuine pace of the Australian bowlers over that of England bowlers has been one of the main reasons behind Australia leading the series. While James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson are good bowlers on their own right, the wickets in the series have been placid till now. On such wickets, having the bowlers that can provide pace or get some purchase from the wicket are more helpful than slow bowlers. 

Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Cameron Green have been consistently quicker than the three pacers of England. The inclusion of Josh Tongue was good for the English attack. But that wouldn’t be enough. England has an express pace bowler in the form of Mark Wood. Chris Woakes with his All-round abilities can be the difference between the two sides, especially considering his home record. England need to play both of them for the remainder of the series.

2. Early wickets with the ball 

England has two bowlers with over 590 wickets. But neither of them could make a huge impact with the ball in both the Tests. James Anderson, in particular, has claimed only three wickets in the two Tests combined. While Stuart Broad did well in patches, Ollie Robinson did well to not give away easy runs, the English attack as a whole hasn’t been able to make the best use of the early advantage with the ball.

Australia’s opening partnership in the four innings till now has been 29, 61, 73, and 63. Barring the first innings of the first Test, the opening duo of Australia has lasted over 100 deliveries in all their innings and scored over 60 runs in the process. When you play Tests in England, early wickets are key. Lack of them has proved to be fatal for England so far.

3. Consistency from the entire batting unit

Here are the batting averages of England batters till now in the series :

• Zak Crawley – 29.75

• Ben Duckett – 53.00

• Ollie Pope – 22.50

• Joe Root – 64.00

• Ben Stokes – 54.00

• Harry Brook – 33.00

• Jonny Bairstow – 31.00

Ben Duckett has been England’s best batter  this series. Stokes and Root have played a good knock. But barring that, others haven’t been consistent with the bat. With the absence of Ollie Pope, Daniel Lawrence might get a chance to play. If Chris Woakes makes into the side, England will look as a much better unit, both with the bat and with the ball.