The Ashes 2015 preview: Play without fear

ASHES 2015 SCHEDULE

8-12 July	FIRST TEST	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
16-20 July	SECOND TEST	Lord's, London
29-2 August	THIRD TEST	Edgbaston, Birmingham
6-10 August	FOURTH TEST	Trent Bridge, Nottingham
20-24 August	FIFTH TEST	The Oval, London

ENGLAND must play without fear to stand any chance of recovering the Ashes from Australia this summer, according to former skipper Michael Vaughan.

Vaughan, who led England to a first series win over the Aussies in 18 years back in 2005, said: "They have to take Australia on with the mentality of 'we don't care about losing' because that will make the Aussies fear them more.

"If they have any kind of worries or concerns, then they will get walloped."

Now - exactly a decade on from the famous victory - England must indeed replicate the sort of nerve which saw Vaughan's men put on over 400 runs on the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston, having been put in by Ricky Ponting.

Still today, Vaughan has said he wonders what would have become of his talented side if Australia had batted first at Birmingham, and racked up a big score of their own.

England, having lost the first Test at Lord's, would have most likely faced a 2-0 deficit - and it would have been another missed opportunity.

Instead, Vaughan's team would eventually prevail by just two runs in the narrowest margin of victory by runs in Ashes history. And they then went on to take the series.

Ever since, England have been unbeaten in home series against the Baggy Greens, a record which culminated in a 3-0 win two years ago.

Moreover, in the winter of 2010-11, England also won 3-1 Down Under - with three innings victories ending a 24-year wait for success on Australian soil in comprehensive fashion.

But, of course, not all of the series since 2005 have been like that. As a matter of fact, the other two tours to Australia - in 2006-07 and 2013-14 - both resulted in shambolic whitewashes.

Remarkably, those two 5-0 thrashings mean Australia have actually won more individual Ashes Tests than England in the past 10 years, despite the latter winning four of the last six series.

So, rather than 2005 then, England would perhaps be better served by igniting the spirit of a far less heralded home series win - 2009 - which came, like now, just 18 months after a battering.

Then again, maybe not - that 2009 victory came against one of Australia's poorest ever sides.

Therefore, another even better alternative perspective would be to emulate the way in which the Baggy Greens in 2013 went from losing 3-0 in England to beating the same opponents 5-0 less than six months later.

After all, England appear to be in a similar position right now to one in which the Aussies found themselves a couple of years ago.

Back then, Cricket Australia replaced unpopular coach Mickey Arthur with the attack-minded former batsman Darren Lehmann.

And, although Lehmann was unable to prevent a third successive Ashes series defeat in England, the 5-0 whitewash at home vindicated his philosophy and more than made amends.

Since then, Australia have barely looked back. Further Test series successes have followed in South Africa, West Indies and at home to India, all capped by a record fifth World Cup, won on home soil in March.

At the same tournament, England stank the place out in heavy defeats to New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka before eventual elimination in the group stages after one final loss to Bangladesh.

So began the end of Peter Moores' second brief stint as England head coach. Dumped on the first occasion in 2009 after just 22 months in charge, this time Moores had an even shorter tenure, lasting less than 14 months.

The decision of former skipper Andrew Strauss, now the Director of Cricket at the ECB, to make the change came following a drawn series against the West Indies only a few weeks after the World Cup debacle.

England had taken the lead in the Caribbean with a confident nine-wicket win in Grenada but then meekly surrendered their advantage in the third Test in Barbados.

At the start of the series, in the drawn first Test in Antigua, James Anderson had become England's highest Test wicket-taker in history with the scalp of Denesh Ramdin.

Meanwhile, in the second Test, Gary Ballance became the third-fastest England batsman to reach 1,000 Test runs

But, by the end of the tour, the feel-good factor had completely dissipated - and Moores was rather unceremoniously fired while England were being washed out in a one-off One-Day International in Ireland.

Paul Farbrace took temporary charge for the New Zealand home series - and, freed from the shackles of the data-obsessed Moores, there was an immediate, if not entirely successful, change.

First, England won a spectacular first Test of the summer at Lord's despite conceding a 134-run deficit on first innings.

And, although the Black Caps fought back at Headingley in Leeds for a deserved share of the spoils in the Test series, England went on to win 3-2 against the World Cup finalists in the One-Dayers.

Better still, they achieved their victories in style - hitting more than 400 in an ODI for the first time in the first match and completing their highest-ever successful run-chase in the fourth before holding their nerve in a decider at Durham.

New permanent England coach, Australian Trevor Bayliss, nevertheless finds himself in a similar situation to Lehmann two years ago in taking up his role on the eve of an Ashes series.

But, unlike Lehmann, Bayliss begins with the pressure and expectation of a home series - and neither does he benefit from being able to work out his opponent's weaknesses in back-to-back campaigns.

At the same time, there is still an easy comparison to be made - and it should be noted that Australia only fully recovered from their nadir by playing positive, no-fear cricket.

Now, England - under Bayliss - must pick up where they left off against New Zealand and do the same, regardless of the Australians' favourites status.

For, undoubtedly, Australia are favourites. The Baggy Greens have an embarrassment of riches in a fast bowlers department spearheaded by a dual Mitchell menace.

Relative youngster Mitchell Starc joins a man who needs no introduction after his exploits in the 2013-14 whitewash, left-armer Johnson - while they can also call upon Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris' replacement Pat Cummins.

Nathan Lyon has really come on over the past few years as the spinner while number three batsman Steve Smith is currently statistically the best in the world.

By contrast, England are still scratching around a bit and may be a side whose confidence remains a bit fragile.

True, the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes have provided much in recent times to be optimistic about - and skipper Alastair Cook rediscovered his best form with the bat against New Zealand.

But doubts continue to plague Cook's captaincy - can he really be as aggressive as his counterpart Michael Clarke if push came to shove?

There are also questions to be answered by England's bowlers.

Behind Anderson and the sometimes erratic Stuart Broad, there is no definitive third seamer - though Durham's Mark Wood has showed encouraging signs. Meanwhile, Moeen Ali looks uncomfortable in the role of a front-line Test spinner.

Yes, Australia are definitely favourites then, especially as a first series draw since 1972 would allow them to retain the urn.

This will sound rather defeatist - and, in isolation, a rare drawn Ashes series would admittedly be a frustrating outcome.

However, an attacking - though obviously fallible - 2-2 result against the Aussies would most likely still be enough to keep English cricket spirits on its recently rediscovered relative high.

Find out if Bayliss and Cook can achieve at least this, starting tomorrow at 10am on SkySports 2, currently re-branded SkySports Ashes.

Alternatively, as ever, radio coverage throughout the summer will be provided by the excellent Test Match Special team on BBC Radio 4 LW and BBC Radio 5Live Sports Xtra.

ASHES HISTORY

	OVERALL			IN ENGLAND
	SERIES	TESTS		SERIES	TESTS
ENGLAND	31	103		17	47
AUSTRALIA	32	128		14	46
Drawn	5	89		3	65

Since 2000

2001	(H)	AUSTRALIA won 4-1
2002-03	(A)	AUSTRALIA won 4-1
2005	(H)	ENGLAND won 2-1
2006-07	(A)	AUSTRALIA won 5-0
2009	(H)	ENGLAND won 2-1
2010-11	(A)	ENGLAND won 3-1
2013	(H)	ENGLAND won 3-0
2013-14	(A)	AUSTRALIA won 5-0

ASHES 2015 SQUADS
ENGLAND Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood

AUSTRALIA Michael Clarke (c), Steve Smith (vc), Brad Haddin (wk), Fawad Ahmed, Josh Hazlewood, Ryan Harris*, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Peter Nevill (wk), Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson

*retired due to knee injury and has been replaced by Pat Cummins