Bat stronger than ball for England

Not since the start of the 20th century have England won four or more Ashes series in a row. They did win three in a row a couple of times before (1953-56 and 1977-81*), but couldn't extend their winning streak any further on those occasions.

But this time, England should consider their chances of recording four-consecutive Ashes wins considerably healthy given their in-form bowlers will be aiming at an Australian line-up that lacks experience. So much so that Mitchell Johnson, recalled for the first Test in Brisbane owing to his fiery spells in recent ODIs, is the fourth highest run-scorer in Tests in the squad. Among Australia's batsmen, only Michael Clarke averages above 40 in Tests.

Australia's inexperience and Clarke's struggles
Of late though, Clarke too hasn't had it easy against England. In the last two Ashes series combined, Clarke has scored 574 runs at 33.76 and has managed to hit only one hundred from 19 innings. He's clearly struggled against England considering that during the same period against all other teams, he's averaged 68.45 with nine hundreds from 40 innings.

In the last couple of Ashes, James Anderson and Stuart Broad have dismissed Clarke five times each and he has managed to average only 20.60 against them. Moreover, England's previous visit down under was also not very productive for Clarke: he scored 193 from nine innings, averaging of 21.44. Apart from Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Steve Smith are the batsman in the current squad who played the Ashes at home in 2010 and among them only Haddin managed to make a three figure score. Watson has scored 435 runs from ten innings against England at home at an average of 48.17 - the highest among the current Australia batsmen. With him though, it's been a familiar story: he has got starts in eight of the ten innings, only to throw them away.

Michael Clarke against England and other teams since Nov '10

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100s	50s
Against England	10	19	2	574	187	33.76	1	2
Against other teams	23	40	3	2533	329*	68.45	9	6

 

Top Australia run scorers (current team) in the Ashes at home

Batsman	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100s	50s
Michael Clarke	10	16	2	582	135*	41.57	2	2
Shane Watson	5	10	1	435	95	48.33	0	4
Brad Haddin	5	9	1	360	136	45.00	1	3
Steven Smith	3	6	1	159	54*	31.80	0	1
Peter Siddle	5	9	1	154	43	19.25	0	0

England bowlers not as effective playing in Australia
The overall record for England bowlers in Australia is not exceptional, but their performance in the 2010-11 Ashes was good. Chris Tremlett was one of the leading bowlers, taking 17 wickets at 23.35 from three matches. James Anderson was already on the ascendancy to becoming a world-class fast-bowler that he is now. Anderson took 24 wickets at 26.04, a much improved performance from 2006-07, when he took only five at 82.60. But two of their leading bowlers in the current team returned ordinary figures for the series, including Graeme Swann, who took 15 wickets at an average of 39.80 with a strike rate of 87.6.

But their batsmen have done well
Stats indicate that England's batsmen have had a much better outing in Australia as opposed to their bowlers. Ian Bell - who was the top scorer from either side in the Ashes played in England earlier this year - is the only recognised batsman from their current team to average under 50 in Australia. Not that Bell is out of his depth playing in Australia: he has eight fifty-plus scores in 16 innings here. No other visiting batsman has hit more fifty-plus scores than Bell in Australia since 2000, and only three others - Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman - have hit as many. Alastair Cook, arguably England's weakest link earlier this year (his average of 27.70 for the series was the lowest among England specialist batsmen), has scored 1042 at 65.12, including four hundreds in Tests in Australia.

Lack of consistent support for Siddle and Harris
England's batsmen will be up against an Australia bowling attack that is not as inexperienced as their batting line-up. Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris have had reasonable success bowling against England. Siddle has taken 51 wickets at 32.09, including four five-wicket hauls. No bowler has had such success against England batsmen in the last five years. But Harris has been the impact bowler for Australia against England, whenever he has been fit enough to play. He has taken 35 wickets against them at 21.45. Only Mohammad Amir of Pakistan has a better bowling average among fast bowlers to take a minimum of ten wickets against England in the last five years. Among England batsmen in their current line-up, only Bell averages 50-plus against Siddle and Harris. Jonathan Trott, one of the other two batsmen to average 40-plus against the two - struggled against them earlier this year in England. The duo got Trott six times in seven innings at 22 apiece.

Siddle and Harris were left to do too much on their own earlier this year. The rest of Australia's bowlers collectively took 43 wickets in the series from 600 overs at an average of 40.67 and at a strike rate of 83.70. But at the Gabba, Australia can look forward to a better display from their bowlers if their record at this venue is anything to go by. Both Johnson and Nathan Lyon have done reasonably well here. Johnson has taken 17 wickets at 26.17 and Lyon 11 at 24.09. Johnson is not new to bowling at the England batsmen, having taken 35 wickets against them at 34.42 from 15 innings. But an economy of 4.03 against England in Tests suggests that he has not been able to tie their batsmen down. The last time he bowled at the Gabba in the Ashes, Johnson went wicketless from 42 overs and conceded 170 runs at an economy of 4.04.

The Gabba hasn't been as productive for England bowlers either. Steve Finn is the only bowler to have had a decent outing here - he took six wickets in the only match he played in 2010. Anderson, Broad and Finn all average 80-plus at this venue.

The Gabba, more batsmen-friendly of late
But in the bowlers' defence, the Gabba has been a very batsman-friendly venue of late. There have been five scores in excess of 400 in the last three Tests. In the last Test played here, only 20 wickets fell from 357.4 overs - a strike rate of 107 balls per wicket. The last three Tests at the Gabba have produced 11 centuries. Since January 2010, batsmen have averaged 44.95 at the Gabba, which is the second-highest they have averaged at any venue that has hosted at least three Tests since 2010.

In addition to England's ordinary bowling record at the Gabba, Clarke's record at the venue is also something going Australia's way; he has scored 916 runs, including four hundreds, at an average of 114.50 from 11 innings - the highest he averages at any venue. On the other hand, there isn't a venue better in Australia than the Gabba for Cook to start his Ashes campaign with. The last time he batted here, he scored 302 runs and was dismissed only once.

*England played Australia in the Centenary Test that ended in a draw, in August 1980; this was not part of the Ashes.