Paine expects 'really strong' England team to travel for Ashes

By Sports Desk October 08, 2021

Tim Paine expects England to bring a "really strong" team side to Australia for the Ashes with only "one or two" players opting out of the tour.

Captain Joe Root and his deputy Jos Buttler are among the England players who stated they were not ready to commit to the five-match series due to uncertainty over coronavirus restrictions.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is expected to confirm the tour will go ahead following a meeting on Friday, a day after chairman Ian Watmore stepped down.

Australia skipper Paine insisted the Ashes will be starting at The Gabba on December 8 regardless of whether Root decides to travel.

Paine on Friday revealed he has been informed that England will not be hugely depleted.

"I'm hearing a lot of their players will commit," the wicketkeeper told SEN Radio.

"There might be one or two that don't, but I think we'll see a really strong England side come out here."

Australia's prime minister Scott Morrison last month warned England will not benefit from any "special deals" regarding quarantine rules when they arrive in the country.

Paine says he has spoken to the prime minister as Australia wait for confirmation that England will make the long journey to try to regain the urn.

"He was keen to find out what the sticking points might be from a player's perspective," said Paine of his conversations with Morrison.

"I shared a few text messages with him. He loves his cricket."

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    Smith made a stunning catch to dismiss Hardik Pandya midway through India's innings, diving away to his right at first slip to give Sean Abbott (3-23) a wicket.

    That prompted Smith to be asked about whether it could be considered a "catch of the century", but he appeared slightly bemused by the suggestion.

    "I don't know about catch of the century," he said at the post-match presentation. "It was nice I held on today.

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    This match rapidly got away from India, who had won the series opener by five wickets.

    "It was a quick one – 37 overs for the game, you don't see that too often," Smith said. "I thought our bowlers were outstanding this afternoon. Mitchell Starc in particular with that new ball swinging it back down the line and putting them under early pressure.

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    "We always knew that was not enough runs on the board," Rohit said. "Obviously it was not a 117 pitch at all. By no means. We just didn't apply ourselves and kept losing wickets. That didn't allow us to get the runs we wanted."

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    Australia hammered India by 10 wickets with 39 overs to spare in Visakhapatnam to level their three-match ODI series at 1-1.

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    Returning skipper Rohit Sharma (13) started well with a couple of boundaries, but he did not last much longer and India never found any real rhythm.

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    Starc starred with the ball, responsible for the wickets of Mohammed Siraj (0), KL Rahul (9), Suryakumar Yadav (0), Shubman Gill (0) and Rohit.

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    The defeat was India's first in 10 ODI matches on home soil, ending what was the second-longest active winning streak of any nation in the format.

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