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The key to Australia winning the Ashes “easily”
SEN • November 7th, 2025 12:08 pm
Veteran cricket journalist Robert Craddock thinks that the Ashes will be won by which team patches up their weak spot the best.
For Australia, it’s their shaky top order given that their middle order and bowling unit is world-class and quite settled.
For England, their batting is their strong suit, and while they have some exciting bowlers, they’re unproven in red-ball cricket in Australia and will be under huge pressure if they don’t impact early.
Craddock foresees Australia winning the Ashes ‘easily’ if their weak spot is fixed, but equally he thinks they’ll find themselves in ‘a lot of strife’ if they don’t.
“Never in the history of Australian cricket has there ever been a situation where one spot in the team has been changed seven times in 16 Tests,” Craddock said on SENQ Breakfast.
“That will be the case when Jake Weatherald or Marnus Labuschagne takes over from Sam Konstas.
“That’s seven changes in 16 Tests since David Warner’s retirement. I mean, it's staggering.
“So, my theory on these Ashes is really simple. Whoever shores up their weak spot will win the series.
“England's weak spot is their bowling. If they bowl well, I think they can win it.
“Australia's (weak spot) is their top three. If we could go forward two months and you see Khawaja has averaged 47 and Weatherald’s averaged 39, I'd just go, ‘Australia, easily’.
“But if it's Khawaja 18 and Weatherald 21, I think we're in a lot of strife.”
With Usman Khawaja the only mainstay in the top three, Ian Healy thinks his resistance at the top is vital, with England set to target the 38-year-old like he’s never seen before.
“Usman has definitely been well looked after,” Healy said.
“They value his composure at the top of the order, even more so than his technical deficiencies when he's been averaging so little.
“But they must be convinced he'll bounce back. He's in decent form. He's batting okay to start this season.
“He’s going to have to weather a huge storm because they're going to be coming for him like he's never been come at before in the hope of breaking him.
“If they do that, then they move through our younger players if we make replacements during the Ashes.”
