Nasser Hussain: "Starc's a real threat to England - he swings the new ball and he swings the old ball. However, it's not like England. The ball won't swing forever."
Sunday 19 November 2017 13:34, UK
Australia and England go head to head in the Ashes, starting on Thursday at the Gabba - but what are the key battles that will decide the fate of the urn this time around?
England hold the Ashes after their 3-2 win in 2015, but Joe Root's side face a tough test to retain the trophy down under with Australia desperate to avenge that defeat.
With the help of Sky Sports Cricket's Nasser Hussain, we look at the head-to-head battles which could have a major say on the outcome of the series, starting at the top of the order with Mitchell Starc versus Alastair Cook...
Heading into the 2013 series, there was plenty of talk of an upcoming battle between Cook and Starc because of a perceived problem the England opener had against left-arm seamers. Of the nine bowlers who have dismissed Cook four times or more, three had been left-arm quicks - India's Zaheer Khan, New Zealander Trent Boult and Australia's Mitchell Johnson - and the Aussies' new quick off the block was expected to take advantage. However, Starc only featured in three of the five matches as England won the Ashes 3-0, with his only dismissal of Cook coming after he scored 62 in England's first innings of the third Test at Old Trafford.
Starc, who has never played an Ashes Test on home soil, missed the entire 2013/14 series in Australia, meaning the next time the two came face to face was at Cardiff in 2015. Starc struck in the second innings, dismissing Cook for 12, but the England skipper hit back with 96 in the first innings of the second Test as Lord's. Starc had more success against Cook in the second innings of the third Test at Edgbaston, bowling the former England captain for seven before trapping him lbw at Trent Bridge for 43. Cook finished the series with 85 in the second innings in the defeat at The Oval, but he had the final say, lifting the urn aloft for the second time.
"Starc's a real threat to England - he swings the new ball and he swings the old ball. With the new Kookaburra ball in his hand he bowls a very full length and at times Cook has been vulnerable outside the off stump to left-armers swinging it away and also nipping it back in, trapping him lbw.
"However, it's not like England. The ball won't swing forever. So Joe Root's side will have to make sure they get overs into Starc's legs and all the Australian bowling attack, which has been fragile at times with injury issues.
"Starc is a threat with the old ball, though. He comes back and gets it reversing, and to tail-enders he gets a lot of success. He bowls a very full length, gets his yorkers in and it works, as we've seen with his hat-tricks in the Sheffield Shield.
"England will be looking to Cook to get them off to a good start. There's been a bit of debate about his form in the warm-up games but I wouldn't be worried at all. He's been around so long and he's the sort of guy that come the big games will be able to switch it on.
"He's absolutely pivotal against the new ball, especially with James Vince at No 3. Vince is someone coming back into the team and trying to make his way, so it's vital Mark Stoneman and Cook, in particular, bat long.
"When England have played well in Australia, Cook has been the man and he's got big runs up front. It looks like he's beginning to form a relationship with Stoneman and that partnership could be very important for England."
"In a perfect world, you get Cook and Root early and get those inexperienced guys in against the hard new ball. They are two huge wickets for them at the top of the order and they are going to be relying a lot on those two to score a lot of runs and bat for a long time." - November, 2017.
"He's obviously had a very good start to his international career. There are few international left-armers around in world cricket compared to right-armers. I think the angle is very different and you don't face them very often. You just have to make sure your angles are right. The amount we faced in New Zealand - there was three of them - so my game has improved quite a lot against left-armers." - July, 2013.
Former Australia captain STEVE WAUGH: "Cook will have a tough series, particularly against Mitchell Starc. He's still a very good player but I don't think he's the player he was a couple of years ago. Having said that, he knows how to make runs and he's got an amazing record. But against Starc and (Josh) Hazelwood and (Pat) Cummins, they'll really test him out. He'll have to be on his best game and for England to do well in this series, he needs to score a lot of runs and occupy the crease."
