England are building well for 2025-26 Ashes

It is not surprising that under the adventurous captaincy of Ben Stokes England are heeding the vital lesson that you must pick a team with one eye on AustraliaWhile selectors have to pick a team to beat the current opposition they must also consider players who could help defeat the better sides Australia are currently one of thoseEngland are making positive choices with the inclusion of Gus Atkinson to complement the fiery pace of Mark Wood Theyrsquove also opted for a wickettaking offspinner in Shoaib Bashir over the more defensive minded Jack LeachIt wasnrsquot ideal that on a flat pitch and a warm day the England bowlers took a pasting at Trent Bridge against the West Indies They need to learn from that setback and trust England will continue to make selections that are important on the 202526 tour of AustraliaIn the past theyrsquove often overlooked the fact that very good pace bowling has helped England achieve some famous victories in AustraliaThose victories include Harold Larwood in the Bodyline series of 193233 and Frank lsquoTyphoonrsquo Tyson in 195455 Both of those bowlers were renowned speedsters while John Snow was quick and accurate and played a vital role in the 197071 victory In the 201011 win over Australia England utilised a battery of pace bowlersAlso ReadParis Olympics 2024 The castigating by Prakash Padukone to Lakshya Sen should have been privateSkipper Stokesrsquos desireIn looking ahead skipper Stokes has expressed a desire to ldquonot just compete with Australia but beat themrdquoIn that regard England have progressed against a battling West Indies Significantly theyrsquove achieved success while using both pace bowlers Atkinson and Wood but also the crafty offspin of BashirA strong England side to tour Australia would include a fit Atkinson Wood and hopefully Jofra Archer to ensure the seam bowlers are complemented by fast menThe Australian batting is vulnerable especially without the aggressive opening talent of David WarnerAustralia is an extremely tough tour because in addition to selecting a strong pace attack England have to hold its chances while making sufficient runs The latter skill is difficult because Australia currently boasts a very strong attackEnglandrsquos Bazball strategyEngland have an attacking batting lineup which theyrsquove bolstered with the inclusion of a solid wicketkeeperbatsman in Jamie Smith The players who could cause Australia concern are Joe Root for his sheer ability Zac Crawley and Harry Brook because of their aggression and capacity to score quickly If Stokes recaptures his batting form he would fall into that category especially as hersquos bowling again and taking important wicketsBen Duckett and Ollie Pope are talented players who can score quickly However the Australian bowlers will be encouraged by their flirtatious tendencies and will hope they can be exposed Pope in particular is a skittish No 3 and is yet to prove he can succeed in AustraliaHow important is catching in Australia especially off genuine pace bowlers In the late 1970s the media inadvisably decided to choose between Don Bradmanrsquos Invincibles of 1948 and the successful Australian team of the era Former great Australian fast bowler Ray Lindwall admitted to me ldquoWe the 1948 team would have won but I wouldrsquove liked your guys catching for merdquo