Vaughan sees nothing stopping England from beating Australia twice this year

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who will forever be remembered for ending the country’s 18-year Ashes drought with a remarkable 2-1 victory over Australia in the 2005 Ashes series, believes that the baggy greens do not stand a chance in the back-to-back Ashes series this year as the England team are extremely strong in all departments and have shown that they are intent on keeping the urn. 

Vaughan noted that England had a “a great chance” of winning their third Ashes series in a row due to their batting and bowling depths, while Australia are a team currently going through a tough transition period. 

While Australia captain Michael Clarke is the only remaining player out of both squads to have played in the 2005 Ashes series, Vaughan gave the upper hand to England skipper Alastair Cook since he has the choice of selecting from a bank of “20-22 players that are good enough to play international cricket”.

Vaughan believes that if England were to win the first leg of the Ashes series at home in the summer and extend their run of Ashes victories to three, there is nothing stopping them from marching into Australia and pulling off a fantastic win that would give them their fourth consecutive Ashes win over the baggy greens. 

“This year is all about winning these two big Ashes series,” he said. “You’ve got to look at this year as an England player, and Alastair Cook as captain, and think ‘I’ve got two great chances of winning two Ashes’. You won’t get a better chance – you do not get a better chance of beating an Australian side than this. They’re decent, they’re strong, they’ve got positivity because Clarke’s a very, very good captain and leader. But you look down from one to 11, probably one to 20 with the England side, and think ‘I’d fancy that’.

“Look at Australia’s top six – Hussey, Ponting gone. That top three is going to be got at, especially in these conditions. Clarke, can he keep playing the way that he’s played for the last 12 months? You’d think not. England have got a great chance. In England I’d expect England to win comfortably, in Australia, it’ll be tight but England should still win.”

Even though there is only one point separating England and Australia in the Test rankings, Vaughan still sees England as having the upper hand since they pretty much have a fixed XI, while Australia on the other hand, are constantly rotating and introducing new players into the mix, which makes things more complicated for themselves rather than their opponents. 

“I think rotation is a must in the modern game,” Vaughan said. “I think you’ve got to very clever with the way that you manage the players to make sure they stay fresh for the big moments, the big series. I think where England are very lucky is that they have such a big pool of players to choose from now – there’s probably 20-22 players that are good enough to play international cricket for England. 

“If we’d tried to do that six, seven years ago it would have been difficult because you’d have been replacing players and rotating them and bringing players in who weren’t necessarily ready to play and then the performance levels would drop. I think that’s what’s happening with Australia, I don’t think they’ve got a big enough pool of players to be able to rotate but they have to rotate because you want to keep the best players fit for the big series.”

However, before both teams can start thinking about the Ashes, England have to worry about defeating New Zealand in a three-Test series, while Australia are touring India for a four-Test series, which they are currently losing 1-0. 

While Somerset batsman Nick Compton is likely to regain his opening spot in the Test side and 22-year-old Joe Root expected to come in at number six, despite showing a lot of promise higher up the order, Vaughan believes England should use the New Zealand series as an opportunity to find a favoured batting line-up, which they can use throughout the Ashes series. 

“New Zealand at home won’t be as bad as people think they will be,” he said. “I think it will be a series that England will win but New Zealand will put up a fight, they’ve got one or two decent bowlers. You lose a toss in New Zealand, you can get behind the eight ball quickly, the pitches can do all sorts in those first two or three hours. It’s a tour England will certainly fancy winning 3-0, you’d expect, but you can’t take any opposition at home lightly.”