00:00The start of the Ashes is now just around two months away and England have named their 16-man squad to take on Australia Down Under, hoping to win back the famous urn.
00:14The last Ashes series was in the summer of 2023 and was played in England. It finished 2-2 after five games, England winning two matches, Australia winning two matches.
00:26With the game at Old Trafford in Manchester being cut short and called as a draw because of rain.
00:33Captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendan McCullum will have thought long and hard about their selections for the Ashes, especially after the long and arduous five-match series in the summer against India.
00:45Batter Harry Brook was always going to be on the plane, but he has now been named vice-captain.
00:50Here is what he had to say following a T20 win in the summer over the West Indies.
00:54Yeah, absolutely. The way that Smudge and Joss both batted in that period after losing an early wicket as well, they went out there, they played with the same aggression they would have done if we were non-down.
01:08So I think the power play really set us up beautifully and I think that helps with the batting line-up we've got with the depth in the batting we have.
01:15Bowler Brydon Kars enjoyed a useful summer, playing both red ball cricket and white ball cricket for England. This will be his first Ashes.
01:25Yeah, Baz mentioned it to me yesterday on the way up from London.
01:29Yeah, it's obviously great to be back involved in that group. We had a training camp a couple of weeks ago down at Loughborough, which I was a part of, so to be back amongst that group after, you know, a busy test winter with them is very exciting, because obviously there's a massive challenge against India coming up this summer.
01:48And it's more on your home ground as well, wearing an England shirt, it's very special for England already.
01:55Yeah, look, obviously, you know, always coming back and playing at Durham is pretty special, you know, over the last couple of years, a couple of games, yeah, for England with the likes of Stokes and Potts and Mark Wood.
02:06And, yeah, always coming back, yeah, seeing familiar faces is always a nice touch.
02:13What's the feeling with this squad, especially, you know, one-day series, you saw a free-null white ball, so fans, we're all feeling pretty confident?
02:20Yeah, look, obviously, you know, the last week has been an incredibly positive period of time for this group over such a short period.
02:29You know, under the new leadership of Harry Brook, you know, everything has pretty much gone according to plan so far.
02:38So the guys are all full of confidence and excited, and, you know, the most important thing is everyone's enjoying each other's company.
02:44So, you know, a new challenge now in the T20 series, you know, the West Indies will come back stronger, and they've got a couple of different players in their squad now.
02:52It will also be the first Ashes for bowler Matthew Potts, although his opportunities may be limited, depending on the fitness of other bowlers in the 16-man England squad.
03:05However, his focus has always been on heading down under.
03:09Yeah, I'm more than aware of we've got a big international summer coming up with Zimbabwe, India, and then the Ashes in the winter.
03:15But it's about one game at a time, one day at a time. The game's quite fickle, and it can bite you in the backside if you don't kind of have that approach.
03:24You get too focused and too fixated on where you want to be rather than what you are doing right now.
03:29So, just for me, it's about putting in big performances and big shifts in for the team and see if that can get us in a good position.
03:35I suppose performing here for Durham as well is key for now to making sure you're in the right place for the summer and for the Ashes as well.
03:41Yeah, exactly. Every game, when I put a Durham shirt on, I'm trying my best to win the game and put the boys in a good position.
03:47If that works favourably for me in terms of my position, then that's brilliant.
03:51But ultimately, they're trying to get the win across the line for the Durham boys and see where we are.
03:56England's last Ashes series in Australia was something of a disaster.
04:00In the five games between 2021 and 2022, England lost by four games 2-0, with one game being a draw.
04:10They will certainly hope to improve on that record.
04:14And, as mentioned earlier, the last Ashes series in England ended in a 2-2 draw, meaning that Australia retained the earn.
04:23England will be under no illusions as to how difficult winning in Australia will be.
04:28And, after the summer series against India, which was also drawn 2-2, there was a little bit of criticism that England did not see out the victory, which they were very close to gaining.
04:38Australia, of course, will be different, and England will go into it with a can-do attitude.
04:43Aus-a-an-a-an-a-an-a-an-o-b channel, England will get everything they were innocent.
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