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The pre-Ashes verbal sparring is escalating further, with ex-England bowler Broad declaring that England will face "arguably the weakest Australian team in over a decade" on tour this season.

Warner's Confident Forecast Met With Doubt

The former England bowler's claim was in response to Warner – an Ashes foe of Broad’s – forecasting a 4-0 victory for the home side. "If the captain [Pat Cummins] doesn’t play, they might win one game," Warner said.

The Aussies remain undefeated in a Ashes match on home soil since England’s series win in 2010-11. The subsequent 5-0 whitewash three years later – on the back of seven losses in their last nine matches – was followed by 4-0 series victories in the 2017-18 and 2021-22 campaigns.

Team Doubt and Fitness Concerns for the Hosts

However, the top-ranked Test side, who have suffered just a single defeat of their past 13 bilateral series, enter the upcoming assignment with uncertainty over the composition of their top order and the health of Cummins, who is unlikely to feature in the first Test at Perth because of a back issue.

"It’s very, very difficult to win in Australia as an England side, or any visiting team," said Broad on his podcast. "Australia have to be massive favourites."

"The Aussies face the most pressure because they’re anticipated to prevail, they’re brilliant at home, but they’ve got doubts over their squad and concerns over their captain’s fitness. You wouldn’t be outlandish in thinking – this isn't merely a view, it's a reality – it’s probably the weakest Aussie lineup since 2010. Meanwhile, it's the strongest English team since 2010. These factors point towards the reality that it’s going to be a brilliant Ashes series."

Parallel to 2010-11 Tour

"Australia have been so consistent for a long period of time that it was clear who would open the batting, who would bat, which bowlers were available, and they don’t have that. It’s very much a similar situation to 2010-11 when England went and won there. The fact of the matter is Australia generally have to be bad to lose in Australia and England must excel. The English have a solid opportunity of performing exceptionally and Australia have a decent chance of being bad."

Selection Dilemma for England

A major issue for the English camp remains their choice at the number three position, with Pope and Bethell vying for the role. Cook, whose 766 runs paved the way for the visitors' series victory 15 years ago, thinks it would be "unusual" for Ben Stokes’ side to abandon Pope, who has been a consistent at first drop for the last three years.

"I'd select Ollie Pope at three," Cook stated. "In my view it’s quite an easy decision. You’ve got a player who has been involved in this preparation for three or four years. He’s captained the side, he’s played some extraordinary innings for the national side and he scores centuries. He understands how to score hundreds in the domestic game. If you get rid of him now, I think that changes the whole dynamic of what they’ve built up over the recent years."

While hailing Bethell as "a hugely gifted cricketer", Cook added: "It would be a major risk [to pick him] because should it fail what is the fallback option, a player you recently discarded? They’ve invested so much in people like Pope and [Crawley that it would seem such a strange thing to make a switch at this stage."

Captaincy Change and Commentary Team

Pope has been replaced by Brook as the team's deputy skipper but, as per Cook, that will "take the pressure off" the Surrey batsman.

"They’ve been proactive on that, thinking if there is an injury to Ben Stokes, they have a player in Brook who has taken the [captaincy of the] one-day side and everyone has seen that he seems to be well suited to it. This will take the pressure off. I believe it won't undermine him. Certainly it will have hurt him because whenever you're removed from a leadership thing it wouldn’t be ideal, but I don’t think it diminishes his standing."

Alastair Cook will be in Australia as part of the broadcast team of the Ashes, and will be accompanied by fellow Ashes winners Finn and Graeme Swann as in-studio analysts. The channel will provide its own audio feed but will use a mixed approach, with commentators Eykyn and Rob Hatch based remotely in the UK, while Cook, Finn and Swann provide co-commentary from on location. Rainford-Brent is also part of the broadcast team operating remotely, with the live presentation to be presented by Becky Ives.