While talking about which team of the two would enter the Ashes as the favorites to earn the urn, Anderson went against his country to label the Australians as the frontrunners to clinch the five-match series. However, he believes England are only marginally behind and will certainly be up for the challenge. On home ground, however, Australia are the favorites to beat the Three Lions, Anderson said.
“I don’t think England are really favourites. I would say Australia are still favourites, in Australia. They are probably slightly better than England as favourites, but I don’t think there is much in it. It’s hard to say, so I would just say Australia,” Anderson told TNT Sports.
The Lancashire cricketer further noted that the Aussies will be without their captain Pat Cummins, at least for the first Test, which is a huge setback. Josh Hazlewood was also recently ruled out of the opening match to be played in Perth. As a result, a weakened Australian team will be England’s best chance of taking an early lead in the series, according to Anderson.
“There are doubts about who is going to bat in the top three. The absence of Pat Cummins is huge, at least for the first Test. There is still a lot of quality in their batting line-up, there is still a lot of quality in their bowlers even if Cummins is missing. The likes of Steven Smith, (Usman) Khawaja and Travis Head, there is a lot of quality there,” Anderson added.
“There are certainly question marks there, and there are cracks that England could potentially expose. There is a big opportunity for England to get to the top early,” he said.
Having played 39 Tests in the Ashes himself, Anderson has taken an impressive 117 wickets, including a total of five five-wicket hauls. Not to forget that Anderson is the pacer with the most wickets in Test cricket, with 704 wickets in 188 matches. It will be interesting to see how Ben Stokes leads his troops in his first ever Ashes series without Anderson or Stuart Broad part of the England line-up.
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