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The pre-Ashes verbal sparring continues to heat up, with former England bowler Broad declaring that the English side will face "probably the worst Australian team since 2010" on tour this winter.

Warner's Confident Forecast Answered by Doubt

Broad's assertion came as a reply to Warner – a long-time Ashes rival – forecasting a 4-0 victory for the home side. "If the captain [Pat Cummins] doesn’t play, they might win one game," Warner said.

Australia have not lost a men’s Ashes match at home since England’s 3-1 victory in the 2010-11 tour. The subsequent 5-0 whitewash in the following series – on the back of seven losses in their previous nine Tests – was followed by 4-0 series victories in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Team Doubt and Injury Worries for the Hosts

Yet, the No 1-ranked Test side, who have suffered just a single defeat of their past 13 bilateral series, enter the upcoming assignment with questions over the composition of their batting lineup and the fitness of Cummins, who is doubtful to play in the first Test at Perth because of a back issue.

"It's extremely challenging to win in Australia as an English team, or any side," Broad remarked during his podcast. "The Australians are massive favourites."

"The Aussies face the greatest expectations because they’re expected to win, they’re formidable in home conditions, but they’ve got doubts over their team and question marks over their skipper's condition. It's not unreasonable in believing – it’s actually not an opinion, it’s a fact – it is likely the worst Australian team since the 2010 era. Meanwhile, it's the strongest England squad in over a decade. So those things match up to the fact that it’s going to be a thrilling Ashes series."

Comparison to 2010-11 Tour

"The Australians have remained highly stable for a long period of time that you just knew who would open the innings, who would bat, what bowlers there were, and they don’t have that. It closely resembles a similar situation to 2010-11 when England went and won there. The reality is Australia generally have to be bad to be defeated at home and England have to be very good. The English have a solid opportunity of being very good and Australia have a decent chance of being bad."

Team Dilemma for the Visitors

A major issue for the English camp remains their choice at No 3, with Ollie Pope and Jacob Bethell vying for the role. Alastair Cook, whose prolific scoring set up the visitors' series victory 15 years ago, believes it would be "strange" for Ben Stokes’ side to abandon Ollie Pope, who has been a consistent at number three for the last three years.

"I'd select Pope at three," said Cook. "I think it’s quite an easy choice. They have someone who’s been involved in this preparation for three or four years. He has led the team, 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 they drop him now, I believe that changes the whole dynamic of what they’ve built up over the last few years."

Although praising Bethell as "a hugely gifted cricketer", Cook added: "It would be a major risk [to pick him] because if that doesn’t work 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 change it now."

Leadership Shift and Commentary Team

Ollie Pope has been succeeded by Brook as England’s vice-captain but, according to Cook, that will "take the pressure off" the Surrey batsman.

"They’ve been proactive on that, thinking if there is an injury to Stokes, they have a player in Harry Brook who has led the ODI team and everyone has seen that he seems to be well suited to it. This will relieve Pope. I don’t think weaken his position. I’m sure it will have disappointed him because whenever you're removed from a leadership thing it isn't perfect, but I doubt it undermines him."

Cook will be in Australia as part of TNT’s coverage of the Ashes, and will be accompanied by fellow Ashes winners Finn and Graeme Swann as on-the-ground pundits. The channel will offer a dedicated commentary stream but will use a mixed approach, with commentators Alastair Eykyn and Rob Hatch to work off-site in the UK, while Cook, Finn and Swann deliver expert analysis from Australia. Ebony Rainford-Brent is also part of the commentary team operating remotely, with the on-ground coverage to be presented by Ives.