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The war of words before the Ashes continues to heat up, with former England bowler Stuart Broad stating that England will confront "arguably the weakest Australian team since 2010" during their tour this season.

David Warner's Confident Forecast Answered by Doubt

Broad's assertion was in response to David Warner – a long-time Ashes rival – forecasting a 4-0 victory for the home side. "If the captain [Pat Cummins] doesn’t play, they might win one game," Warner said.

Australia have not lost a men’s Ashes match at home since England’s 3-1 victory in 2010-11. Their 5-0 win in the following series – following seven defeats in their previous nine Tests – was followed by 4-0 Ashes triumphs in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Team Doubt and Injury Concerns for Australia

Yet, the top-ranked Test team, 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 health of Pat Cummins, who is doubtful to play in the opening match at the Perth stadium because of a back issue.

"It's extremely challenging to win in Australia as an England side, or any side," said Broad on his podcast. "Australia have to be strong favorites."

"Australia are under the greatest expectations because they’re anticipated to prevail, they’re brilliant at home, but they’ve got doubts over their squad and question marks over their captain’s fitness. It's not unreasonable in believing – it’s actually not an opinion, it’s a fact – it’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010. Meanwhile, it's the strongest England squad since 2010. These factors match up to the fact that it’s going to be a thrilling contest."

Parallel to 2010-11 Series

"Australia have been highly stable for a long period of time that it was clear who would open the innings, who would bat, what bowlers there were, and they don’t have that. It closely resembles a similar situation to the 2010-11 period when England went and won there. The reality is Australia generally have to be bad to be defeated at home and England must excel. England have a great chance of performing exceptionally and the Australians face a real possibility of underperforming."

Team Decision for England

A major issue for England remains their selection at the number three position, with Ollie Pope and Bethell contesting the spot. Cook, whose prolific scoring set up the visitors' series victory over a decade past, thinks it would be "unusual" for Stokes' team to abandon Pope, who has been a regular at number three for the last three years.

"I would bat Ollie Pope at number three," said Cook. "In my view it’s quite an easy decision. They have someone who’s been involved in this preparation for several years. He’s captained the side, he’s played remarkable performances for the national side and he scores centuries. He knows how to make big scores in the domestic game. If you get rid of him now, I believe that alters the entire balance of what they’ve built up over the recent years."

Although praising Jacob Bethell as "a hugely gifted cricketer", Cook said: "It would represent a major risk [to pick him] because if that doesn’t work what is the fallback option, a player you recently discarded? They’ve invested so much in players such as Pope and [Zak] Crawley that it would be highly odd to make a switch at this stage."

Captaincy Change and Commentary Team

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

"They’ve been proactive on that, thinking in case of an injury to Stokes, they’ve got a guy in Harry Brook who has led the ODI team and everyone has seen that he appears 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 anytime you get taken off a leadership role it isn't perfect, 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 Steven Finn and Graeme Swann as on-the-ground pundits. The network will provide its own audio feed but will operate a hybrid model, with play-by-play announcers Alastair Eykyn and Hatch based remotely in the United Kingdom, while the trio deliver expert analysis from on location. Rainford-Brent is also part of the commentary team working off-site, with the live presentation to be hosted by Ives.