The Telegraph Cricket Podcast · The Telegraph

England must win first Ashes Test

·54 min·3 clips

Nick Holt says England will win this week because Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are out.

Jake Goodwill fronts the show from Perth with Nick Holt and Will McPherson on the ground. England have been in the nets at Optus Stadium, or Perth Stadium as it is being called this week, because Optus are not a Cricket Australia sponsor and the signage was coming down. The ground is described as similar to the MCG, just much smaller, and it already looks ready for the first Test. Mark Wood is steaming in with a heavily strapped left leg, but the panel think he will play. That gives the selection talk its first edge. The discussion then shifts to Joe Root. The Australian press has been asking whether he can do it here, and the answer offered is cautious rather than dismissive. Root is said to be in the form of his life and to have settled into the side well since standing down as captain. The main worry is that he did not look himself at Lilac Hill and seemed a little anxious, while his New Zealand runs are mentioned as part of the picture, even if the conditions are said to be completely different. The point is that it is a long series and nothing should be judged off Friday alone. The conversation also touches on the old Bethell-versus-Pope selection question that has been hanging around through the summer, before looking ahead to the first Test and the possibility of Root producing the kind of second-innings hundred in Perth they mention Virat Kohli managed last year. It is a grounded, pre-series discussion that keeps coming back to form, fitness, venue, and temperament.

As heard by us

A measured Perth preview that treats selection, mood and pressure as the story.

This episode frames the Perth Ashes build-up around the practical questions that matter most: how the ground looks, what the nets suggest, whether Mark Wood's heavily strapped left leg still keeps him in contention, and what Joe Root needs to do to quiet the long Australia…

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You want a clear Perth read before the first Ashes ball.

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