Stuart Broad says Australia has their worst Ashes side since 2010

Stuart Broad has lit the touch paper for the Ashes series by claiming that Australia's team for this summer will be their worst since England's 3-1 thrashing of the team led by Ricky Ponting 15 years ago.

The provocative claim, made by Broad on his podcast with fellow England cricketer Jos Buttler, kicked off on the basis that Australia will be missing captain Pat Cummins from the first Test in Perth and perhaps the bulk of the series.

“You wouldn’t be outlandish in thinking – it’s actually not an opinion, it’s a fact – it’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010 when England last won, and it’s the best English team since 2010,” Broad said.

“So those things match up to the fact it’s going to be a brilliant Ashes series.”

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In addition to the doubts around Cummins, Broad also pointed to the uncertainties around the composition of the Australian top six, with the likes of Marnus Labuschagne and Sam Konstas vying for a spot and conjecture about where Cameron Green and Steve Smith are going to bat.

But it is a far more settled side than the 2010-11 group, which got home from a 2-0 series defeat in India and were then unbalanced by the naming of an unprecedented and never again repeated 17-man squad for the first Test at the Gabba after Cricket Australia gave the selectors and early deadline to announce their team.

“Australia have been so consistent for a long period of time that you just knew who was going to open the batting, who was going to bat where, what bowlers there were – and they don’t have that,” Broad said.

"It's very much a similar situation to 2010-2011 when England went and won there. The fact of the matter is Australia generally have to be bad to lose in Australia and England have to be very good.

"England have a great chance of being very good and Australia have a decent chance of being bad.

I don’t think anyone could argue that it’s their weakest team since 2010 ... it’s just a fact.”

Australia’s current Test side has been ranked the world’s best since winning the Test championship final against India in 2023. They lost the decider to South Africa this year in a closely fought match but retain the top ranking. Australia also hold every bilateral trophy against opposing Test match countries, having regained the Border-Gavaskar trophy in January. England are ranked the No.3 Test team in the world.

None of the Australian teams of the 2010-11 (India were ranked No.1 at the time), 2013-14 (South Africa), 2017-18 (India) and 2021-22 (India) Ashes summers had as high a ranking, not did they hold all bilateral trophies.

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The England side that came to Australia in 2013, meanwhile, held the Ashes and was considered the among world’s best team at the time.

“It’s very, very difficult to win in Australia as an England side, or any side – it just is,” Broad said.

“Australia have to be massive favourites. The question really was ‘Which team’s under the most pressure?’ Well, Australia are under the most pressure because they’re expected to win. They’re brilliant at home.

“But they’ve got question marks over their team and question marks over the captain.”

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