PERTH, Australia :Fast bowler Josh Tongue is confident England are prepared for the Ashes series in Australia and have a good chance of ending their long drought Down Under thanks to their fearsome bowling attack.
England, who last won the Ashes in 2015, have not won a series in Australia since 2011 and were handed crushing defeats in their last three tours.
The opening test of the series will begin on Friday in Perth, with England having only played a solitary warm-up match against the England Lions at Lilac Hill in a move widely questioned by commentators and former players.
Asked about England’s mindset heading into the series, Tongue told reporters on Tuesday: “It feels very exciting. We’ve had a good build-up. A few of us were in New Zealand beforehand prepping for this. I feel like we’ve had good prep.
“I feel like the group of bowlers that we got now, obviously the likes of Joff (Jofra Archer) and Woody (Mark Wood) being in our squad, the X Factor.
“The pace, the bouncy wickets definitely help the faster bowlers and the skills that we’ve got as a group. I think we can give it a good shot.”
England have been dealt a stroke of luck for the first test, with Australian captain Pat Cummins and veteran bowler Josh Hazlewood both sidelined by injuries.
However, the visitors’ wicket-keeper-batter Jamie Smith stressed that Australia had no dearth of quality, even with the two notable absences.
“I’d still feel they’ve (Australia) got a dominant attack… Obviously the two guys missing, obviously world-class players,” the 25-year-old added.
“But any time you play Australia, you know that the guys coming in are also fantastic players as well.
“You show a lot of respect to the guys that are missing out and the guys coming in just trying to focus on, you know what we can do well, leading up to this first test.”
