The Ashes 2023: Big questions that must be resolved

In 10 full summers since Andrew Strauss retired, English openers not named Cook have managed seven Test centuries between them. Of all the post-Strauss pretenders, only Rory Burns averages in the thirties (30.32) across his whole career. Perhaps Crawley was not being entirely self-protective, not to say bored witless by the same old proddings, when he wondered out loud to a clutch of journalists last month if ‘centuries’, as the truest measure of a batter, were not such a useful metric after all. He is a moments player; and moments, insist McCullum and Stokes, win matches.

Whether or not he is the answer, the idea of Crawley – and of Duckett too – is far from unsound. Opening in England means hitching your game to the vicissitudes of chance and probability. There are playable unplayables, unplayable unplayables, and occasionally, every so often, playable playables – and when the last one happens, the counter puncher becomes very useful, shrugging off the binary scores of the last month with a definitive hour or two’s hitting.

And that’s all it needs. All-day grinds, silent struggles to stumps, batting time – are not for these days. So, Crawley starts; so much has been invested there. But for all the laudable loyalty, this is still, unshakeably, Ashes cricket, where careers rise and fall on its awesome waves. There is a limit to how long ideas can stay as ideas.

Stokes’ left knee

A psychodrama all of its own. He had a cortisone injection before he headed out to the IPL, having bowled just two overs in England’s last Test match, and once there, bowled six balls. A sore toe sidelined him for much of the first half; then, apparently fit again, he wasn’t picked.

The expectation of course is that England’s Black Knight just bowls through the pain before his legs fall off at The Oval. But if that’s just not possible, then England have a problem. The returning Moeen Ali will be targeted – it’s what they did, and what they do. And three seamers, even on result pitches, is a tough assignment, especially with reduced options for rotation across the five Tests.

Stokes’ mood-shifting seamers are integral to the way they play. They get things moving in a team that can’t bear the idea of standing still. What amount of cussedness, grit and agony can that knee put up with? If Stokes can’t bowl (much), the balance of the side will be thrown off kilter, and a threadbare attack will be weakened.

More from The Ashes: Ashes TV coverage | Ashes radio coverage | Ashes schedule | Ashes squads | Ashes predictions | Ashes highlights | Sky Sports Ashes commentators | Test Match Special Ashes commentators

Boundary changes

Last month a report in The Times indicated that England are considering squeezing the playing area to give their tactics a greater chance of working. The ICC’s Test playing conditions state that no boundary can be shorter than 59 metres from the centre of the pitch, while the boundary rope must be brought in between three and 10 yards to create a safe run-off area for fielders. Australia’s punditocracy lapped it up.

“What a load of junk!” screamed Michael Clarke, while Ian Healy sneered on SENQ radio that “boundaries are the least of their worries”. The off-spinner Nathan Lyon insisted he was unfazed: “I’ve planned for that and I’m excited by that challenge,” he told the Unplayable podcast. “I want to challenge myself against the best players, and this brand of cricket they’re playing is certainly bringing the crowds back. I’ve been hit for six... it must be getting close to 300 [times] now for me. I’m not worried by it at all, I’m not scared by it. It provides a chance in my eyes.”

As with everything Stokes and McCullum do, there is sound thinking in there. A little mitigation against their batters’ highwire act is no bad thing; similarly, they’d happily drag Australia into a hitting contest. But Healy’s follow-up point carries weight too, that such theories can end up looking like clogged-up minds and overthinking.

Perhaps the bigger question is how much respect the hitters give to those humid, nervy periods of Dukes-inflected supremacy, when the scorched earth policy is not just risky but foolhardy.

Much of this series will play on England’s smarts, their game-sense in the moment. Being faithful to a philosophy doesn’t have to mean being fanatical.

Can anyone back up Mark Wood?

A little lustre leaves the contest with the news that Jofra Archer will not bowl again this summer following a recurrence of the stress fracture in his elbow. His absence jars hardest from a steady sequence of felled fast bowlers running from Olly Stone – ruled out of the start of the series with a strummed hamstring – through Brydon Carse’s troublesome trunk (return unknown) to the loss of Jamie Overton’s heavy-ballism, all of which leaves just one Englishman standing who could be classed as ‘proper quick’.

The theory goes that Mark Wood, an unassuming-looking chap in a normal sized body who somehow bowls like a cyclone, is not able to play the entirety of a five-Test series, or anything close to it, which perhaps contributed to Stuart Broad being preferred ahead of him for the series opener at Edgbaston. History backs up that assessment. Wood’s 13 home Tests are spread across eight seasons (for 35 wickets at 40) and injuries have famously bedevilled him. But since lengthening his run-up he has been a sturdier presence, completing four of the five Tests in Australia last time out and, despite missing last summer with injury, returning across the winter to get through 60 overs in back-to-back Tests (for eight good wickets) on those Pakistani runways.

While Wood is far from a banker, nor is it essential to have serious pace in your attack to win in England. Yet perhaps, with added seniority and a title-laden career now secured, this is his time. Wood has reserved his best work for overseas Tests, but he is a more complete bowler now, with good control allied to that pace through the air. He trusts his action and body and knows he’s a good thing. It’s true that the quicks don’t tend to dominate in England – the summers of Larwood, Tyson, Hogg and Johnson all happened in Australia. But in this era, playing this cricket on hardish and fastish pitches, Stokes will likely crave what Wood offers as the series progresses.

Can Travis Head resit his English exam?

Heading into the World Test Championship final with India, Travis Head’s record in England looked nasty. Australia’s No.5 had passed 50 just six times in 36 first-class innings and last year he played six games for Sussex without making a half-century. In four Tests in 2019 he averaged just 27, and this from the plumb spot in the middle order.

For all that, the left-hander is a tough player to pin down – and his brutal century in the World Test Championship final at The Oval demonstrated that he is a player in exceptional form. He demolished England in the last Ashes series, setting the mood with a vicious 152 (148) at Brisbane – the start of a run of form that’s seen him average 56 from his last 18 games. His treatment of Jack Leach at Brisbane – his 13 overs went for 101 – was particularly savage, and if England are serious about bringing in the boundaries, then Head and Cameron Green – the wardrobe-shaped cheat code at No.6 – will be eyeing them up. Stokes has called for flat, fast tracks, and Head on a road is a very different proposition to Head on a green one. It’s often the lesser-heralded players who decide the big series.

The Bairstow principle

There was never any question that Jonny Bairstow would return to the team after that horror injury. The only question was how. Ben Foakes was the blameless fall guy, cast aside to make way for Bairstow, who resumes his glove affair with the Test team.

Many have pointed out that his outrageous form last year came from having a clearly defined role at No.5, and that any shift risks disturbing the fragile alchemy of a complex cricketer. But his last great run of Test form came in 2016 in the slipstream of Stokes, when, as keeper, he made more runs across a calendar year than any keeper-bat in Test history.

After that, it got complicated and messy, and his form turned erratic. But a happy and secure Bairstow equates to a very dangerous cricketer, and while his red-ball returns with the bat for Yorkshire have been patchy, he has kept well, taking a couple of screamers in his first game back. A middle order of Root, Brook, Stokes and Bairstow is dizzyingly watchable. Just make sure there’s a sofa nearby to hide behind.

OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99

Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15).

Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer.

If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news.

Take part in the Screen Test, a project from Radio Times and the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, to explore the role of television and audio in our lives.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.