Partnerships key to England's chances

After being edged out 2-1 in a closely fought and outstanding series in 2005, Australia - and Ricky Ponting, the captain then and now - get an opportunity to reverse that result. For England, on the other hand, it's a chance to avenge the 5-0 drubbing handed to them when they toured Australia last. There's plenty riding on the 2009 Ashes, and not just because this rivalry is the oldest in the sport.

England had the upper hand the last time the two teams played here, but historically, Australia have held the advantage in their head-to-head contests - a considerable one overall, and a slight one in England, winning 46 and losing 43. England's win in 2005 was their first in a home series against Australia in 20 years - the last one had come in 1985.

Australia have toured England twice for an Ashes series since 2000, and while their overall numbers are much better than England's, that is almost entirely due to their convincing win in 2001. In 2005, the stats were much closer, with hardly anything to choose between the two teams - Australia averaged 31.57 per wicket, to England's 31.84. Four years before that Australia had dominated completely, averaging 49.11 with the bat and 26.44 with the ball.

A look at the partnership stats for England in those two series indicates the areas in which they made significant progress. The biggest difference was the opening partnerships: in 2001 Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick struggled to put together substantial ones, managing a highest of 58 in ten innings. The overall average per stand was a disappointing 23.70. In 2005 Trescothick and Andrew Strauss were far more impressive, averaging 53.80 - an improvement of 127% - with two century partnerships and three half-century ones.

The other significant difference was the manner in which the lower order came to the party. The stands for the third and fourth wickets weren't so impressive, but those for wickets five through eight were significantly better in 2005 than in 2001, disproving the commonly held belief - often corroborated by facts - that their innings tends to crumble once the top half falls. There were two century stands for the fifth, one for the sixth and one for the eighth, giving Australia the kind of resistance they weren't used to from England line-ups of the past. On an average, wickets five to eight added 133 in 2005; in 2001, they'd only contributed 74.

What was also impressive about England's performance in 2005 was the manner in which their bowlers controlled Australia's power-packed middle order. Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer got them off to reasonable starts, though their only huge partnership - of 185 - only came in the last Test of the series. However, the big difference was in the partnerships for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth wickets: where Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist would have usually dominated, here they were forced to struggle for runs. The average third-wicket stand was down from 77.42 to 23.44, while there were significant dips in the other middle-order stands as well. The overall average runs per innings for wickets third to sixth in 2001 was 289.17; in 2005 it dipped to 134.31, and that meant Australia never had the kind of scores on the board they could dominate with.

If England are to repeat their results from 2005, much will depend on their top-order batting. The overall records against Australia of those who are in the mix for this series isn't very impressive, though. Apart from Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, most of the others have patchy records. Andrew Strauss has topped 50 only three times in 20 innings, while Alastair Cook has struggled similarly, with one century and no half-centuries in ten innings. Ian Bell has done better in getting fifties, but his problem has been an inability to convert them into huge scores: he's got six fifty-plus scores in 20 innings, but none better than 87. On the other hand, 11 times he has been dismissed for less than ten, including four ducks.

Australia's batsmen, meanwhile, have impressive records against England, though that's largely because of some big runs at home. Ricky Ponting has an overall average of 48.24 against England, but in England it drops to 42.63; in Australia it climbs to a more imposing 54.73. The difference is even more stark for Michael Clarke - an average of 37.22 in England, and 77.80 at home.

The story is similar for Australia's most experienced bowler too: Brett Lee has poor figures overall against England, but they're even worse when he's playing in the opposition's home. In ten Tests in England, he has taken 29 wickets at 45.44; in eight matches at home the average is 36.36. Significantly, in 18 Tests against England, Lee hasn't yet taken a five-wicket haul - his best is 4 for 47.

Among England's bowlers, Andrew Flintoff has good numbers, which become even better when he plays Australia in England - 24 wickets at 27.29. It remains to be seen, though, if he can get himself to top fitness in time for the series. Monty Panesar has one five-wicket haul but not much else, while James Anderson won't have too many happy memories of his three Tests against Australia.

With Cardiff hosting its first Test, there aren't any stats from international cricket here to fall back on, but from the recent of Ashes series in England, it appears the winner of the first Test won't have that much of an edge. In two of the last three series, the team winning the first Test has lost the series.