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Former England cricketer and one of the greats of the game, James Anderson has urged his fellow bowlers to ensure they don't purely rely on their pace when formulating plans to dismiss Australia cheaply during the upcoming Ashes series. Notably, the five-match Ashes series is set to commence in Perth on Friday, November 21 and England are expected to unveil an all-out pace attack that includes Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Josh Tongue as they try and re-claim the urn the Aussies have held since 2018.
It will be the first series Down Under that Anderson has missed since 2002/03 and the former England quick has passed on some advice for his fellow seamers ahead of the series opener at Perth Stadium.
Anderson shares key piece of advice for England ahead of first Ashes Test in Perth
"The pitches will have a little bit of movement in them, they have done in the last two tours we've been there. So you do need accuracy, as well as pace," Anderson said on the BBC's Tailenders podcast. "I think one of the question marks for England will potentially be Ben Stokes - out of that group of bowlers, he is the one bowler that could churn out those spells of accuracy and skill. But he's also got that injury record hanging over him, so that could be a big part of the series as well," he added.
Anderson also expects England to use all their best quicks during the first Test to try and take advantage of the absence of experienced Australian duo Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood and claim an early advantage in the five-match series. The former England seamer is predicting England will then rotate their pacers throughout the remainder of the series, with back-up quicks Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse likely to be given a chance as well as first-choice spinner Shoaib Bashir and young all-rounder Jacob Bethell.
James Anderson picks Australia favourites to win Ashes 2025-26
"I think if you're going to play them (Archer and Wood) together, potentially the first Test at Perth, where it's fast and bouncy, you want to get off to a good start in the series so hit them straight away with proper pace," Anderson added. "After that I imagine they'll try and play one of them, and rest and recover the other. That leaves space for Brydon Carse or Gus Atkinson. They're still quick enough, but they've got skill as well, and probably a bit more control than the others," he continued.
"They're going to have a big part. If England are going to win this series, or have a chance, then the bowling attack has got to be relentlessly good." And despite the bevy of quality quicks at England's disposal, Anderson believes Australia still enters the series as slight favourites. "There are question marks there, and definitely there are cracks that England could potentially expose. There's a great chance for England to get on top early," Anderson told TNT Sports.
When asked about his Ashes pick, Anderson remarked, "But I don't think England are quite favourites. I'd say Australia are still favourites, in Australia. There's still a lot of quality in their batting line-up, there's still a lot of quality with their bowlers as well, even if Cummins is missing. It's a tough one to call, so I'd say Australia, just."
England's squad for Ashes 2025-26 series:
Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
(With Inputs from ICC's Press Release)
