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Why Whateley won't be losing sleep over England's Ashes batting prowess
SEN • August 10th, 2025 10:59 am
Is England’s batting lineup set to dominate this summer’s Ashes series down under?
Looking at things statistically, that might be the case, with England possessing three of the top 10 ranked ICC Test batsmen in Joe Root (1), Harry Brook (3) and Ben Duckett (10).
Conversely, Australia have just one inside the top 10 which is Steve Smith at 4, with the Aussies instead relying on their star bowling lineup.
To put things into perspective, England has scored 350 or more 18 times over their last 23 Tests. Conversely, Australia has only scored 350 or more in of 5 their 31 Test innings since the start of 2024.
While England will head to Australia with the runs on the board, SEN’s Gerard Whateley won’t be reading too much into those results given the pitches they’ve played on recently at home which have no doubt been brilliant for batting and tough work for bowlers.
Given that Australia will most likely produce conditions favouring pace bowling, Whateley and veteran cricket journalist Robert Craddock are still unsure just how England will perform with the blade despite many of their stars being in serious run-scoring form.
The duo discussed the state of English pitches on SEN Whateley and what that could mean ahead of the Ashes.
Craddock: “Bazball loves flat pitches. It loves big batting wind-ups. It loves keeping the tempo up.”
“But the spicier the pitch, the more you reduce the skill level and the variable in quality between the two teams. So, I do think we will see spicy pitches.”
Whateley: “We need to see what we saw last summer, I reckon.
“The one thing that undermines this series, and it puts just the slightest rider on England (is the pitches).
“I'm not going to second guess 374 as fourth innings total, but because they have corrupted the Test pitches of England to produce these roads conducive to Bazball, it skews what we know of English Test cricket.
“I will sleep fitfully over England's batting until we see it firsthand on our shores. Surely, as a national sport, we will not play into their hands.”
Craddock: “The pitches were so flat… and maybe, just maybe, England's batsmen are slightly overrated.
“Maybe their fast bowlers are slightly underrated because of what they had to put up with, these desperately lame pitches.
“I'm still not sure about a guy like Brydon Carse, who seems to get through ok but just can't take wickets. Is it because the wickets are too flat? It's interesting.”
While their batting is no doubt their strength, it couldn't get England the job done agianst India in the fifth Test at the Oval as they fell six short of a huge fourth innings target of 374.
They next play Test cricket in Perth for the first Ashes Test against Australia on November 21.
