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The war of words before the Ashes continues to heat up, with ex-England paceman Broad stating that England will confront "arguably the weakest Australian team in over a decade" on tour this season.

Warner's Confident Forecast Met With Doubt

The former England bowler's claim was in response to Warner – a long-time Ashes rival – predicting a 4-0 victory for the home side. "Should the skipper [Pat Cummins] be absent, they could perhaps snatch a single victory," Warner said.

The Aussies remain undefeated in a men’s Ashes match on home soil since England’s series win in the 2010-11 tour. The subsequent 5-0 whitewash in the following series – on the back of seven defeats in their last nine matches – came before 4-0 Ashes triumphs in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Team Doubt and Injury Worries for the Hosts

Yet, the No 1-ranked Test team, who have lost only one of their past 13 bilateral series, approach the forthcoming contest with uncertainty over the composition of their top order and the fitness of Pat Cummins, who is doubtful to play in the first Test at the Perth stadium because of a back injury.

"It's extremely challenging to win in Australia as an English team, or any visiting team," said Broad during his podcast. "The Australians are strong favorites."

"The Aussies face the most pressure because they’re anticipated to prevail, they’re brilliant at home, but they’ve got question marks over their squad and concerns over their skipper's condition. You wouldn’t be outlandish in believing – it’s actually not an opinion, it's a reality – it is likely the worst Australian team since the 2010 era. Meanwhile, it's the strongest English team in over a decade. These factors match up to the reality that it’s going to be a thrilling Ashes series."

Parallel to 2010-11 Series

"Australia have been so consistent for a prolonged duration that you just knew who was going to open the innings, who would bat, what bowlers there were, and they lack that certainty now. It closely resembles a comparable scenario to 2010-11 when England went and won there. The fact of the matter is Australia generally have to be bad to lose in Australia and England must excel. England have a great chance of being very good and the Australians face a real possibility of being bad."

Selection Decision for the Visitors

A major issue for England remains their choice at No 3, with Ollie Pope and Jacob Bethell contesting the spot. Cook, whose prolific scoring paved the way for the visitors' series victory over a decade past, thinks it would be "strange" for Stokes' team to move away from Ollie Pope, who has been a consistent at first drop for the past three seasons.

"I'd select Pope at number three," said Cook. "In my view it’s a straightforward decision. You’ve got a player who has been part of this buildup for several years. He has led the team, he’s played some extraordinary innings for England and he’s a hundred-maker. He knows how to score hundreds in the domestic game. If you get rid of him now, I think that changes the whole dynamic of what they’ve built up over the recent years."

While hailing Jacob Bethell as "a hugely gifted cricketer", Cook added: "It would represent a big, big gamble [to pick him] because if that doesn’t work where do you move back to, someone you’ve just got rid of? They’ve invested so much in people like Ollie Pope and [Zak] Crawley that it would seem such a strange thing to make a switch at this stage."

Captaincy Change and Broadcast Team

Ollie Pope has been succeeded by Harry Brook as England’s vice-captain but, according to Cook, that will "ease the burden on" the Surrey batsman.

"They’ve been proactive on that, thinking if there is an injury to Stokes, they have a player in Harry Brook who has taken the [captaincy of the] one-day side and everyone has seen that he seems to be well suited to it. This will take the pressure off. I don’t think undermine him. Certainly it will have disappointed him because whenever you're removed from a leadership thing it wouldn’t be ideal, but I don’t think it undermines him."

Alastair Cook will be in the host nation as part of TNT’s coverage of the series, and will be joined by fellow Ashes winners 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 Eykyn and Hatch to work off-site in the United Kingdom, while the trio provide co-commentary from on location. Ebony Rainford-Brent is also part of the commentary team working off-site, with the on-ground coverage to be presented by Becky Ives.