𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The former England captain Nasser Hussain has joined The Athletic as a columnist as part of our coverage of the Ashes, which begin on Friday in Perth.

He sat down with Paul Newman to discuss the contest, crunch time for ‘Bazball’, the experience of captaining England Down Under and Australia’s imposing bowling attack. He also picked out his key duels and players for the five-match series.

He will return to provide analysis for The Athletic after each Test.

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Nasser Hussain speaks with the clarity that was the hallmark of his England captaincy and has since made him one of the most respected voices in cricket.

“England say it won’t but it will,” says Hussain when asked whether the Ashes will define Bazball, the ultra positive approach adopted by this regime borne of a desire to take the game to their opponents, usually by scoring runs at a frantic rate. “This series usually defines England captains and coaches, and this one will.

“You’ve got to add context. Australia are firm favourites. England have not won a single one of their last 15 Tests in Australia. That’s hard, cold facts. Fifteen Tests, drawn two, lost 13. It shows how hard it is to go to Australia and win.

“So if they win it down there for the first time since 2010-11 — and before then, you have to go back to Mike Gatting in 1986-87 — of course it will define this team.

“Our record in Australia has been abysmal. If England win the Ashes (managing director) Rob Key, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum will say: ‘There you are, we told you so’. But if they lose it, it will be others saying, ‘Same old story’.”

Hussain has always told it as it is. He went from being a maverick in English cricket to becoming one of the best and most significant of all captains, dragging England from the low of being ranked the worst Test side in the world in 1999.

Then, having restored their respect, belief and professionalism alongside coach Duncan Fletcher, he handed over to Michael Vaughan to complete the job and lead England to their most famous Ashes triumph in 2005.

Since joining Sky Sports in 2004, he has earned a reputation as one of the best pundits and columnists in any sport, gaining the respect of players and public alike for strong views while remaining sympathetic to the demands of the modern game, never veering into inconsistency.

“This is going to be a special series because it does feel like the culmination for this regime,” Hussain tells The Athletic. “Not the end, but this is what they’ve built up to.

“They came in not long after an Ashes drubbing and the whole game plan for the last three and a half years has been about how to win in Australia. Rightly or wrongly.

“You feel the Australian players, public and media have been waiting for this England side to go there. They don’t like Bazball and haven’t done since the Jonny Bairstow incident at Lord’s (when the England batter was controversially stumped in 2023), which rightly made them cross.

“I’m a firm believer that Alex Carey (the Australian wicketkeeper) did nothing wrong that day. He was very sharp and saw Jonny was out of his crease and ran him out. The reaction in the Long Room at Lord’s and of past and present England players wound Australia up. They’ve been desperate for this side to get out there since.”

Hussain may have done things differently when he was in charge but he is a big admirer of the way captain Stokes, coach McCullum and Key have gone about building the philosophy and culture around this England side.

“The thing I really like about it is that they are not overly concerned about what other people think,” he says. “They don’t worry about the reaction. I like that.

“When I played, I sat in selection meetings where people were so worried about losing their jobs that they didn’t do their jobs. They were so worried about the reaction, they picked the team that would get the least bad reaction. So I like the attitude of, ‘This is how we’re doing it, and we’ll live or die by it’.

“I am a fan of the way England play. I can see why they hate it being called Bazball because that makes it sound like it’s the only way they play. It has been refined over time.

“There have been times they leave you frustrated and there are times when they haven’t been as ruthless and clinical as they might have been. For instance, at Lord’s in the last Ashes, when Nathan Lyon was off the pitch and Australia were down to three knackered bowlers and England kept on hooking with five men out (on the boundary waiting to catch them).

“You’re like, ‘Come on, be a little street-smart’, and they have been more street-wise in recent times, realising when they have to do things slightly differently. But I do like the way they put pressure back on the opposition and that will be especially important in this series.

“Look at the last few Test series in Australia and the ball has done a lot more. It’s completely different cricket from how it used to be with the Kookaburra (the machine-stitched ball used in Australia which traditionally loses its shape, making it less bowler-friendly), when you had to get 400 in the first innings to be in the game.

“Now scores have gone down and if Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and, when they comes back, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are all over you, are you going to sit in?

“In modern cricket, I don’t think the techniques are there for people to sit in, so you have to counter punch and put them back under pressure. This team does that and I’ve seen sides react badly when the England team have put them under pressure.”

As an England captain who was on the receiving end of an emphatic Australian Ashes victory in Australia (England lost 4-1 in 2002-03), Hussain knows it is the man at the helm who will be at the forefront of Australian attention.

“It’s a cliche but you’re taking on a whole nation when you go to Australia,” he says. “Stokes will come under pressure. They target the captain — we have all gone through it — and that’s not just the players but the media too. We saw that when Stokes walked through the airport in Perth and a headline of ‘Baz Bawl’ greeted him.

“They will go at him in press conferences. I always felt you couldn’t beat the Aussie press, so I tried to take the emotion out when I wanted to bite back at them.

“That will be a challenge for Stokes. He’s a very emotional captain but he’s an outstanding leader. I’ve no hesitation in saying he’s up there with England’s greatest captains. It’s everything about him but, in particular, tactically.

“He has a real gut feel for tactics and I like the way Stokes does it by instinct. You look down when England are in the field and you know who’s in charge. He has a real feel for the game and epitomises what he wants from his team.”

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If England are to upset the odds this time, Hussain believes they have to get off to a good start in Perth in the first Test on Friday.

“In any other sport, if you go somewhere where you haven’t won any of your last 15 games, you know you are facing an uphill task,” he says. “But if England start well — and for all the talk about a lack of warm-up games, they do usually start series well — they’ve got a really good chance. The vibe will then be, ‘Maybe this Bazball thing does work’, and everything they have been gearing towards will be coming together at the right time.

“And the attention and pressure will shift to Australia, their ageing side and their top order. So that start is vital. If England begin well, I’m confident, but if they don’t and go to Brisbane one down, it could become very tricky.

“At least I’m more confident from an England point of view this time because there’s a plan. OK, there was a plan last time in Australia but it was just wrong. They left out Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson for the first Test! How can you do that?

“Whatever the situation, how can you leave out two of your two greatest ever fast bowlers? It’s almost as bad as me sticking Australia into bat after winning the toss in Brisbane (in 2002, when it spectacularly rebounded on England).

“Australia have vulnerabilities. Will they go with a specialist opener in Jake Weatherald alongside Usman Khawaja? Khawaja got a double hundred against Sri Lanka early this year but that was against spin. Against pace, his feet are not moving as well and he seems to have become very handsy. How he plays will be pivotal.

“The Australian bowling is pretty special even without Cummins. People might want to call them Dad’s Army but if they’re all fully fit, this is a great attack. England will have to bat seriously well to get runs, especially if the ball is doing a bit.”

Hussain is part of a generation of very good England players — Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, the late Graham Thorpe, Darren Gough, Mark Butcher, Angus Fraser — who never won the Ashes. But he has no regrets.

“I’m pleased I played in that era against that great Australian side,” he insists. “People say, ‘Wouldn’t you have liked to play against a different Australia?’, but no. I came up against Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, both Waughs (Steve and Mark) and the list goes on. It was a pleasure to play against one of the truly great sides.

“We did have opportunities, notably under Mike Atherton and (coach) David Lloyd in 1998-99, and there were great moments along the way — scoring a double hundred at Edgbaston in 1997 and seeing Dean Headley bowl us to victory in Melbourne (1998). Then Andy Caddick bowling us to victory in Sydney (2003).

“But we just couldn’t sustain it over a full series and that was mainly because they were one of the best sides in history. So no regrets.

“The one thing we did have was mental scarring. When things started to go wrong against Australia, it was too often a case of, ‘Here we go again’, but Vaughan’s side didn’t have that in 2005 and this side doesn’t have that now. They should have won in 2023 and would have done but for rain in Manchester.”

Hussain will be in Australia working for Sky and The Athletic in his second career, where he has excelled just as much as playing. “Nothing compares to playing and being England captain but I do enjoy commentating,” he says. “It’s good fun. Yes, there are pressures, but I get to work on an Ashes series in some of the great venues and I’ve just come back from India, which I loved (covering the Women’s World Cup).”

Now comes the biggest series of them all, as player or pundit.

“There is Test cricket and then there’s the Ashes,” Hussain says. “I grew up on Ashes cricket. There was Ian Botham and Bob Willis in 1981. There was David Gower, my first hero. I remember listening to Geoff Miller taking that catch in Melbourne on the radio (when it was parried by Chris Tavare in the slips to give England victory by three runs in 1982). Special memories.

“But I can’t be doing with the phoney war. I don’t know if it’s my age, whether I’ve seen it so many times before and been there myself, but I can’t be doing with it. I’ve seen David Warner talking about Joe Root’s surfboard and moral victories and the front pages of a couple of Australian papers already.

“It used to be newspaper headlines and you may have had to react to one and that was it. But now it’s podcasts and social media and the rest of it. There’s constant noise, so I can’t wait for the first ball and we can get on with the cricket.”

That time has nearly come.

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The key battles

Nathan Lyon vs Joe Root

Australia missing both Cummins and Hazlewood in Perth is obviously a massive blow. Their bench strength will now be tested and the likes of Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett are excellent options, but they do not offer much Test experience. Neser has only played two and Doggett could possibly make his Test debut at the Optus Stadium.

Given the absence of Cummins and Hazlewood in Perth, both of whom have been a handful for Root in Australia, the battle between Lyon and England’s premier batter becomes vital. Root is a fantastic player of spin and has an excellent record against Lyon — he has scored 439 runs against Lyon in Tests and been dismissed eight times — but, in the absence of those two world-class senior bowlers, the onus will be on the 37-year-old to step up and deliver.

Root’s form in Australia has been talked about but he’s a world-class player, the best batter England have ever produced. He’s a great, simple as that, and he will want to tick off that anomaly of not having made a hundred in Australia. But his record is absolutely fine there.

More importantly, he will just want to win an Ashes in Australia.

Joe Root has been in imperious form – but has not scored a century in three tours Down Under (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Jofra Archer vs the Australian top order

Archer does appear back to somewhere near his best and, if he can stay fit, his opening bursts will be crucial. If he can get among them and get Steve Smith to the crease early, then you’ve got a fresh Archer going at their best player. Smith has played him well since the Lord’s concussion incident, but that’s a vital battle.

I do have a slight concern in England going all-in with pace because, if the ball is nibbling around, you’ve got no Anderson, Ollie Robinson or Chris Woakes, whereas Scott Boland might be perfect for those conditions. I just hope England haven’t picked a team for 10 years ago rather than what Australia is now.

Australia’s attack is not overly quick — it’s quick enough — but it’s very skilful and you do need skill.

Key players

Australia – Marnus Labuschagne

They’ve obviously got great players, but if their top two are vulnerable, they can’t afford their No 3 to be vulnerable too. When Labuschagne is playing well, he protects Smith and he is playing well at the moment. We’ll have to see if he still does well back in a Test match. If Australia get a par score, their attack will win them games.

England – Joe Root

I’d love Root to have a good series. He’s a great, simple as that, but to score a Test hundred in Australia is the last tick in the box.

He’s such a great ambassador for the game as well as a great player. Think of all the great Joe Root moments, such as last summer at the Oval, when he got a hundred against India and put a headband on to pay tribute to Graham Thorpe. He doesn’t do it for show, he’s just such a lovely man and such a great player to watch with rhythm, touch and flow.