{"id":213667,"date":"2025-10-14T21:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/213667\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T21:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:41:08","slug":"stuart-broad-says-australian-cricket-team-at-its-weakest-ahead-of-ashes-series-against-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/213667\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuart Broad says Australian cricket team at its ‘weakest’ ahead of Ashes series against England"},"content":{"rendered":"

England great Stuart Broad has lit the fuse ahead of the men’s Ashes series, saying Australia is set to field its “worst” team since 2010.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the BBC’s For the Love of Cricket podcast, Broad responded to David Warner’s prediction that Australia would win the series 4-0.<\/p>\n

Injured Cummins in doubt for Perth Test<\/a><\/p>\n

Pat Cummins all but rules himself out of the first Ashes Test, saying he is still a way short of completing his condensed recovery schedule from a back injury.<\/p>\n

Broad said there were “question marks” hovering over Australia’s squad, particularly given the concerns surrounding captain Pat Cummins’s fitness.<\/p>\n

Cummins, who is dealing with a lower-back injury, has said he is “probably unlikely” to play in the first Test in Perth<\/a>, which begins on November 21.<\/p>\n

Broad said the Australian squad would not be as strong as those that claimed victory in the past three series on home soil.<\/p>\n

England last won the Ashes in Australia in the 2010\/11 series, when Broad played in two Tests.<\/p>\n

“You wouldn’t be outlandish in thinking \u2013 it’s actually not an opinion, it’s a fact \u2013 it’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010 when England last won and it’s the best English team since 2010,” he said.<\/p>\n

The AshesFirst Test: November 21-25 (Perth Stadium)Second Test: December 4-8 (Gabba, D\/N)Third Test: December 17-21 (Adelaide Oval)Fourth Test: December 26-30 (MCG)Fifth Test: January 4-8 (SCG)<\/p>\n

D\/N = day\/night Test<\/p>\n

“So those things match up to the fact it’s going to be a brilliant Ashes series.”<\/p>\n

But Broad said Australia deserved to be considered the favourites.<\/p>\n

“It’s very, very difficult to win in Australia as an England side, or any side \u2014 it just is,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Australia have to be massive favourites. The question really was, ‘Which team’s under the most pressure?’<\/p>\n

“Well, Australia are under the most pressure because they’re expected to win.<\/p>\n

“They’re brilliant at home, but they’ve got question marks over their team and question marks over [the fitness of] captain [Pat Cummins].”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Stuart Broad took more than 600 wickets during his Test career. (Getty Images: Mike Egerton\/PA)<\/p>\n

Broad said England had its best chance to win the Ashes in Australia since its 3-1 triumph in the 2010\/11 series.<\/p>\n

“It’s very much a similar situation to 2010\/2011 when England went and won there,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The fact of the matter is Australia generally have to be bad to lose in Australia and England have to be very good.<\/p>\n

“England have a great chance of being very good and Australia have a decent chance of being bad.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think anyone could argue that it’s their weakest team since 2010 \u2026 it’s just a fact.”<\/p>\n

Broad played 167 Tests for England, taking 604 wickets at an average of 27.68.<\/p>\n

He finished his Test career in the 2023 Ashes series, which was drawn 2-2.<\/p>\n

Australia has held the Ashes since winning the 2017\/18 series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England great Stuart Broad has lit the fuse ahead of the men’s Ashes series, saying Australia is set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[13285,46931,64,63,128883,740,18754,9364,1948,46,85,131013,131015,131014],"class_list":{"0":"post-213667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-ashes","9":"tag-ashes-2025","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-vs-england","13":"tag-cricket","14":"tag-david-warner","15":"tag-first-test","16":"tag-pat-cummins","17":"tag-perth","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-stuart-broad","20":"tag-when-does-the-ashes-start","21":"tag-who-will-win-the-ashes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}