Ashes watch: Jofra Archer factor, Australia top-order woes and Ben Stokes-Pat Cummins captaincy rematch as England get battle-hardened against India

It is almost two years to the day that a coruscating 2023 Ashes series concluded with England’s memorable victory over Australia at The Oval that saw the two old rivals end level at 2-2.

Fast forward to this July, and we’re on the homeward sprint towards the 2025 contest for the fabled old urn, this time taking place Down Under.

Digging deeper, what issues do both sides need to get right before they face off? And can England defy the weight of history to land just their second win Down Under in nearly 40 years?

Allow us to switch sports for a second, as we cast our minds back to 2003.

England’s rugby team, led by Sir Clive Woodward, travelled to Australia and New Zealand to take on both of the southern hemisphere giants.

In a two-Test series – one game against the Wallabies, and one against the All Blacks – Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and co. emerged with a flawless two wins from two, including a warm-up victory over the Maori to boot.

After their 2003 World Cup win later that year, that summer tour was said to have been absolutely key in forging England’s belief they could beat the biggest nations, as well as battle-hardening them for the pressure-filled encounters that were around the corner.

Could the same be said for England’s cricketers as they go head-to-head with India over five Tests this summer?

The captivating series has had all the hallmarks of an Ashes clash, with feverish media scrutiny, on-field needle and huge swings of momentum along the way.

Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum et al will hope it makes them primed for everything that an away Ashes will throw at them.

Australia might have come away from the Caribbean with a whitewash win, but issues lurk, especially in their batting ranks.

They only managed to get above 300 once across six innings, with opener Sam Konstas averaging just 8.33 in the series.

Even the experienced Steve Smith looked unlike himself at times, failing to get forward against Alzarri Joseph in the third Test as he was castled, while Marnus Labuschagne was dropped ahead of the first Test.

There are, of course, caveats, as provided by head coach Andrew McDonald, notably around the conditions in the West Indies.

“It’s really difficult to make accurate judgments on both batting units based upon the surfaces that we played on,” said McDonald.

“And you take that into the third Test, which is a pink-ball Dukes on that surface, that game just moved way too fast and at times, it didn’t even look like cricket.”

Admitting to his side’s batting uncertainty, McDonald added: “It feels as though we’ll still be a little bit unsettled in terms of what our combinations look like at the top of the order with the way that the performances have gone [in the Caribbean].

“In saying that, there’s a lot of cricket still to come to be able to gather that information.”

That may be so, but none of that cricket is in Tests, with the Ashes representing Australia’s next outing in that format…

The ultimate ‘moments’ cricketer showed up when he was needed, scorching the turf with rapid spells that not only dismissed the tourists’ key batters, but also yanked the momentum back in England’s favour by whipping up a thrilled crowd.

The key question is, can Archer stay fit for the Ashes? And how many of the Tests could he play?

With fellow speedsters Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson also on the way back to fitness, this could be the shape of England’s attack Down Under.

But can it outstrip the legendary but ageing trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood?

One only has to look back at history to know what an Ashes series can do to captains, for whom the outcome is altogether more significant.

Nasser Hussain is still remembered for his decision at the toss on Day 1 of the first Test in 2002, while Andrew Strauss, conversely, can still toast being the only winning England skipper Down Under since 1986/87, when he led the class of 2010/11 to victory.

A rare dynamic looks likely to be at play for the upcoming clash, with Stokes and Cummins – skippers in 2023 for the drawn series – still in their respective roles and set for a rematch in 2025.

With the pair aged 34 and 32 respectively, will this be their last Ashes series in charge? And what on- and off-field plans will they employ to make sure it’s a winning one?

In a rivalry where striking the first note matters so much – as Hussain’s call showed even before the action got started – what impact will the first ball of the series have?

Back in 2006/7, Steve Harmison famously sent down a wide so huge it was caught by Andrew Flintoff at second slip.

Then in 2021, Rory Burns was cleaned up by Starc to get matters off to the worst possible start, in a moment that England never really recovered from.

In the last series, however, the boot was on the other foot as Zak Crawley memorably hammered Cummins for four off the very first ball to signal that his side were not going to abandon their Bazball principles.

We’ve got our eyes peeled already for 11am Brisbane time, November 21.