Former Test quick Harris fires Broad-side at England’s Ashes hopes

MELBOURNE: Former Test paceman Ryan Harris has dismissed Stuart Broad’s scathing assessment of Australia’s quality ahead of the Ashes and tipped England to leave the country without the coveted urn once again.

Broad rated Pat Cummins’s side as “probably the worst Australian team” since that which lost 3-1 in 2010/11, while judging Ben Stokes’s outfit the best since that triumphant England campaign.

Harris, who played in three Tests of that series, said the former England quick was well wide of the mark on both counts.

“No way. He has got to be joking if he thinks this is the worst Australian side since those Ashes,” the 46-year-old told Reuters.

“Obviously, he’s in the media, so he’s drumming up the hype.

“We had some pretty good players but they were just better. England were unreal, relentless with the bat and the ball.”

While praising the quality of the current England squad’s bowling, Harris questioned how anyone could compare them with the formidable England outfit captained by Andrew Strauss.

“Their batting is unproven. Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett on our wickets. Joe Root’s been a number of times and hasn’t scored a hundred, has he?” said Harris, who took 57 Ashes wickets at an average of 20.63 across three series.

“So there’s a lot of unproven stuff there. Broad is obviously drumming up interest but you can’t just sit there and say they’re the best team since whenever, because they haven’t been out here and played – and the ones that have, haven’t (won).”

Australia have won the last two home series 4-0 and whitewashed England 5-0 in 2013/14. Now a Sheffield Shield-winning coach of South Australia, Harris expected the hosts to retain the urn though he rated England a good chance to end their 15-year wait for a Test match win in the country.

England’s hopes of doing better than that will rest largely on the all-round performance of talismanic captain Stokes, who took 17 wickets against India in the recent home series.

Harris tipped Stokes for a big Ashes despite his relatively modest batting and bowling record in Australia next to his lofty career standards.

Harris said Australia must target Stokes, just as the 2013/14 side did to opposing skipper Alastair Cook, England’s batting hero from the 2010/11 triumph.

“We’ve got to make sure we put Stokes under pressure,” said Harris.

“One thing that we’ve done successfully in the past is put the England captain under pressure.

“We did that with Alastair Cook, not allowing him to dictate how he wants to play and get them off to good start.

“It will be similar with Stokes if we can contain him with the ball.”

The opening match of the five-Test series begins on November 21 in Perth.