Ashes 2023: England in best possible shape for Australia series
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England thrash spirited Ireland by 10 wickets
You can't really know where you're going until you know where you have been.
At this point in their preparations for the 2019 Ashes against Australia, albeit against a stronger Irish team and with half of their side still nursing a hangover from winning the World Cup, England were almost on the wrong end of the biggest upset in Test history.
Bowled out for 85 in their first innings, they needed 92 from noted batter Jack Leach and an Ireland implosion to 38 all out to eventually win by 143 runs.
Some things haven't changed.
Four years ago, the pace-bowling debutant was Olly Stone, this week it was Josh Tongue. Then, the opener under a question mark was Jason Roy, now it is Zak Crawley - both made half-centuries. James Anderson sat out both matches to nurse an injury.
England will hope that is where the similarities end, not least because Stone has only played two Tests since, Roy was dropped before the summer was out and Anderson bowled just four overs in the subsequent series against the Australians.
England would go on to draw the Ashes series 2-2, ending a run of four successive home series wins against the Australia.
Looking back, it was a result that flattered them. Without Ben Stokes playing one of the all-time great innings by an Englishman at Headingley, they would have lost 3-1 or even 4-0.
Fast forward to 2023 and England are transformed, almost playing an entirely different sport thanks to the life breathed into the Test team by captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.
Whereas the class of 2019 and plenty of other England teams would have viewed the prospect of the Irish as an accident waiting to happen, Stokes' men brushed them aside, the idea of an embarrassing defeat never crossing their minds.
Yes, Ireland produced some whole-hearted defiance on the third afternoon, but that should not detract from the fact England's 10-wicket win was a one-sided shellacking.
They declared on 524-4 just after tea on the second day, with Stokes saying he only made that decision because the match was shortened to four days.
Had it been five days, the skipper was eyeing batting for another three sessions. England might have got 1,000.
At this stage, it is right to acknowledge the gulf in class between the two sides, even if Ireland arrived at Lord's having played more Tests than England this year - three to two.
The threat carried by Mark Adair, Graham Hume and Fionn Hand is in a different universe from facing Pat Cummins and co.
That takes nothing away from the notion that England are in the best shape they could be for a tilt on regaining the Ashes urn.
They are blessed with a clarity of thought, confidence and calmness that 11 wins from 13 Tests will bring. Their style has been grooved with success from Manchester to Multan and Mount Maunganui.
Victory great for maintaining winning habit - Stokes
Belief has been given to players such as Ollie Pope and Ollie Robinson, whose first Ashes experience 18 months ago ended in a 4-0 steamrolling.
Ashes debutants Ben Duckett and Harry Brook have been in fearsome Test form. Old-stagers Anderson and Stuart Broad are re-energised for what could be one last crack at the Aussies.
Four years ago, Test cricket was an afterthought in the pursuit of World Cup glory. Now, it is the sole focus. England have not played a white-ball game since March and will not again until September.
Any questions over the lack of meaningful red-ball batting done by Brook, Jonny Bairstow and Stokes himself were dismissed as "old fashioned" by the captain. Would a knock against Ireland really have helped when it comes to facing the Aussies in two weeks' time?
That does not mean there are not issues to be addressed, chief among them the status of Stokes' knee, which has become the most important bodily part in English sport since David Beckham's metatarsal.
In his nursing of the troublesome left wheel through the Ireland Test, Stokes became the first captain in Test history to preside over a victory without batting, bowling or keeping wicket. This England team's love of golf has manifested itself to the point where the leader can be their own version of a Ryder Cup skipper.
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Stokes being Stokes, he is adamant he will be able to bowl come Edgbaston on 16 June but, even if he is, for the first time in generations, the presence of a fully fit Cameron Green will mean the Australians have the all-round option better covered than England.
In the pre-Stokes, post-Andrew Flintoff era, England did win three successive Ashes series and climb to number one in the Test rankings without a genuine all-rounder, instead building their attack on three frontline seamers and the spin of Graeme Swann.
If Stokes cannot play a full part as a bowler, the Swann role would fall to Leach. Perhaps as a rehearsal for such responsibility, Leach was on in the 12th over on the first morning against the Irish, the earliest an England spinner has bowled in a Lord's Test since 1954.
Can Leach, who was mullered by the Aussies down under last time around, withstand any fresh attack? If Leach fails to hold an end, England's seamers will be bowled into the ground.
There also remains a doubt over the form of Crawley, who ended a run of eight Test innings without a half-century against the Irish with an unconvincing 56 that included 15 runs off the inside edge.
In fairness, recent Ashes history suggests openers have not had a huge impact on series in this country and questions of the top order are shared by Australia, who are once again preparing to push David Warner into Broad's crosshairs.
They have their own fitness concerns over Josh Hazlewood, as well as the effectiveness of his fellow pace bowler Mitchell Starc, who was trusted to play in just one Test here four years ago.
Attention now turns to Australia's curtain-raiser, the high-stakes World Test Championship final against India at The Oval, a clash that will be much more revealing than England's romp against the Irish.
One way or another, Cummins' side will arrive at Edgbaston buoyed by their new-found status as the best team in the world, or deflated by a final defeat.
For England, the on-field preparations are complete. Everywhere they have been has gone. Where they are going is the Ashes and the bid to get their hands back on the urn.