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The war of words before the Ashes is escalating further, with ex-England paceman Stuart Broad stating that England will confront "probably the worst Aussie squad in over a decade" during their tour this winter.

Warner's Confident Forecast Met With Skepticism

Broad's assertion came as a reply to David Warner – a long-time Ashes rival – predicting a 4-0 victory for the home side. "Should the skipper [Pat Cummins] be absent, they could perhaps snatch a single victory," Warner said.

Australia have not lost a men’s Ashes match on home soil since England’s series win in 2010-11. Their 5-0 win in the following series – following seven losses in their previous nine Tests – came before 4-0 Ashes triumphs in the 2017-18 and 2021-22 campaigns.

Squad Doubt and Injury Worries for Australia

Yet, the top-ranked Test team, who have lost only one 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 the Perth stadium because of a back injury.

"It's extremely challenging to win in Australia as an English team, or any visiting team," said Broad during his podcast. "Australia have to be massive favourites."

"The Aussies face the most pressure because they’re expected to win, they’re brilliant at home, but they’ve got doubts over their squad and question marks over their captain’s fitness. It's not unreasonable in believing – this isn't merely a view, it’s a fact – it is likely the weakest Aussie lineup since 2010. Meanwhile, it's the strongest English team in over a decade. These factors match up to the fact that it’s going to be a brilliant Ashes series."

Parallel to Historic Series

"The Australians have remained so consistent for a prolonged duration that you just knew who would open the innings, who would bat, which bowlers were available, and they lack that certainty now. It closely resembles a similar situation to the 2010-11 period when England went and won there. The reality is the Aussies typically need to underperform to lose in Australia and England must excel. The English have a solid opportunity of being very good and the Australians face a real possibility of underperforming."

Team Dilemma for England

A key question for the English camp remains their selection at No 3, with Pope and Jacob Bethell contesting the spot. Cook, whose prolific scoring paved the way for the tourists’ series win over a decade past, thinks it would be "strange" for Stokes' team to abandon Pope, who has been a consistent at number three for the past three seasons.

"I would bat Ollie Pope at number three," said Cook. "I think it’s quite an easy choice. You’ve got a player who has been part of this buildup for several years. He has led the team, he’s played remarkable performances for England and he’s a hundred-maker. He knows how to score hundreds in the domestic game. If you get rid of him now, I believe that alters the entire balance of what they’ve built up over the recent years."

Although praising Bethell as "an incredibly talented player", Cook said: "It would represent a big, big gamble [to pick him] because if that doesn’t work where do you move back to, a player you recently discarded? They have committed heavily in players such as Ollie Pope and [Zak] Crawley that it would seem highly odd to make a switch at this stage."

Captaincy Shift and Broadcast Crew

Ollie Pope has been succeeded 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 in case of an injury to Stokes, they have a player in Brook who has led the ODI team and it's evident that he seems to be a natural fit. This will relieve Pope. I believe it won't undermine him. I’m sure 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 undermines him."

Alastair Cook will be in Australia as part of the broadcast team of the Ashes, and will be joined by former Ashes champions Finn and Swann as on-the-ground pundits. The channel will offer a dedicated commentary stream but will use a mixed approach, with play-by-play announcers Alastair Eykyn and Rob Hatch to work off-site in the United Kingdom, while the trio provide co-commentary from Australia. Rainford-Brent is also part of the commentary team working off-site, with the live presentation to be hosted by Becky Ives.