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The war of words before the Ashes continues to heat up, with ex-England paceman Stuart Broad stating that England will face "arguably the weakest Australian team since 2010" on tour this winter.

Warner's Confident Forecast Met With Skepticism

The former England bowler's claim came as a reply to David Warner – an Ashes foe of Broad’s – forecasting a clean sweep for the hosts. "If the captain [Pat Cummins] doesn’t play, they might win one game," Warner commented.

The Aussies remain undefeated in a men’s Ashes match on home soil after England's 3-1 victory in the 2010-11 tour. The subsequent 5-0 whitewash in the following series – following seven losses in their last nine matches – came before 4-0 series victories in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Squad Uncertainty and Fitness Worries for Australia

Yet, the No 1-ranked Test side, who have lost only one of their past 13 bilateral series, approach the forthcoming contest with questions over the makeup of their batting lineup and the fitness of Cummins, who is unlikely to feature in the opening match 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," Broad remarked on his podcast. "Australia have to be massive favourites."

"The Aussies face the greatest expectations because they’re expected to win, they’re formidable in home conditions, but they’ve got question marks over their squad and question marks over their skipper's condition. It's not unreasonable in believing – it’s actually not an opinion, it's a reality – 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."

Parallel to 2010-11 Tour

"Australia have been so consistent for a prolonged duration that it was clear who was going to open the batting, who was going to 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 have to be very good. England have a great chance of being very good and Australia have a decent chance of underperforming."

Team Dilemma for the Visitors

A key question for England remains their selection at No 3, with Ollie Pope and Jacob Bethell vying for the role. Alastair Cook, whose 766 runs set up the visitors' series victory 15 years ago, believes it would be "unusual" for Ben Stokes’ side to abandon Pope, who has been a regular at number three for the last three years.

"I'd select Ollie Pope at three," said Cook. "I think it’s a straightforward decision. You’ve got a player who has been part of this buildup for several years. He has led the team, he has delivered some extraordinary innings for the national side and he scores centuries. He understands how to make big scores in the domestic game. If they drop him now, I think that changes the whole dynamic of what they’ve built up over the last few years."

Although praising Bethell as "an incredibly talented player", Cook added: "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’ve invested so much in players such as Pope and [Crawley that it would seem such a strange thing to make a switch at this stage."

Leadership Shift and Broadcast Team

Ollie Pope has been replaced by Harry Brook as the team's deputy skipper but, as per Cook, that will "ease the burden on" the Surrey batsman.

"They’ve been proactive on that, thinking if there is an injury to Ben Stokes, they’ve got a guy in Harry Brook who has taken the [captaincy of the] one-day side and everyone has seen that he seems to be well suited to it. That will just take the pressure off. I don’t think 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 diminishes his standing."

Cook will be in the host nation as part of TNT’s coverage of the Ashes, and will be joined by former Ashes champions Finn and Swann as on-the-ground pundits. The channel will provide its own audio feed but will operate a hybrid model, with play-by-play announcers Eykyn and Rob Hatch based remotely in the UK, while Cook, Finn and Swann provide co-commentary from Australia. Ebony Rainford-Brent is also part of the commentary team working off-site, with the on-ground coverage to be presented by Becky Ives.