Alastair Cook insists England are not expecting to trounce Australia in this summer’s Ashes, despite their rivals’ dismal recent tour of India.
While England were underwhelming in their recent drawn Test series with New Zealand, their woes paled in comparison to those of an Australian side thrashed 4-0 by the same India side Cook’s men had beaten 2-1 just three months earlier.
Michael Clarke’s team passed 400 just once in eight innings and never got close to dismissing India twice, but Cook expects them to be in far better shape come the first Test at TrentBridge.
“Everyone would be slightly foolish to think that the side Australia bring aren’t going to be strong,” Cook said.
“In pretty similar conditions here and in Australia, they are going to be a very tough side.
“They probably should have beaten South Africa last summer; they just had a bad couple of sessions whereas we got comprehensively outplayed by South Africa.
“Anyone who thinks this is going to be a really easy series is going to be in for a huge surprise because as far as the England team is concerned there’s no such thing as a weak Australia side.”
The Australian top order looked especially vulnerable against spin on the sub-continent and with their own slow bowlers largely unimpressive until Nathan Lyon’s nine-wicket haul in the final Test, Cook refused to rule out preparing a string of turning wickets as his side look to beat their oldest enemy for a third straight series.
“You’ve got to use home advantage as best you can,” he said.
“Sometimes the pitch condition is down to what the summer is like, and you can’t really control the weather.
“You can try and set it up the best you can but sometimes you can overcomplicate things like that and try and get too funky. At the end of the day the side that plays the best cricket is going to win that series.”
Cook also defended England’s lacklustre display in New Zealand, where they were fortunate to escape with draws from the first and third Tests.
“I think if you look at the winter as a whole we’ve had a very good winter,” he said.
“We were disappointed with how we played in New Zealand. It’s important we look at the reasons why we didn’t play as well as we could have done.
“There could be a number of reasons and it’s a reality check on where we are as a side and what areas we need to improve on.”
England earlier announced their 30-man Performance Squad for the summer international campaign, with Surrey paceman Chris Tremlett included but Nottinghamshire batsman James Taylor a notable omission.
Tremlett has not played a Test since January 2012 against Pakistan in Dubai due to long-standing problems with his back, and his last first-class appearance came in July against Lancashire.
Yet his inclusion – Tremlett is the only player named not to have featured in an England squad for the past 12 months – would suggest he still has an international future, provided he can prove his fitness.
The 31-year-old played a key role in England’s 2010-11 Ashes success Down Under and Cook and team director Andy Flower will be desperate for Tremlett to feature once more.
National selector Geoff Miller said: “The players included in this squad reflect the progress they have made with senior England teams and the England Lions over the last 12 months.
“All of the players named in the EPS squad have been involved with one or more of the England squads during the winter, with the exception of Chris Tremlett who has been going through a rehabilitation process.”
Taylor’s immediate international future appears bleak despite playing two Tests against South Africa last summer.
The Nottinghamshire man was thought to have acquitted himself well with a gritty debut innings of 34 off 104 balls, which allowed Kevin Pietersen to famously take the attack to the Proteas bowlers in the second Test at Headingley.
He did not feature in India or New Zealand and captained England Lions in their disastrous one-day international campaign against Australia A, who won the five-match series 4-0 with the last encounter abandoned due to rain.
