Mark Waugh confident of Australia retaining Ashes

SYDNEY - Former Australian star, Mark Waugh, has expressed confidence in the Australian squad ahead of the historic Ashes series, saying that Australia is well placed to retain the trophy in England.

“Australia take a good form line from South Africa, winning the series over there. I think Australia will probably win the series,” Fox Sports quoted Waugh, as saying.

“The keys for England are Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff again. And there’s question marks over their fitness and without them, I don’t see how they get the firepower to beat us,” Waugh added.

Waugh further said that Australia’s disappointing exit from the Twenty20 World Cup, in which they failed to reach the Super Eights following losses to West Indies and Sri Lanka in the group stage, would have no bearing on the coming Test series.

“The players have probably now had a better preparation, a longer preparation, for The Ashes. Twenty20 is a different game, and different players were involved, compared with the Test series. But now it’s finished, they’ll be concentrating on The Ashes and I don’t think the defeats will have any bearing at all on the five Ashes Tests,” he added.

Waugh also highlighted the need for match practice for some of their faster bowlers, particularly Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, who are coming back from injury.

“Brett Lee and Stuart Clark; they just need to bowl. They’re world-class bowlers, both of them, and Australia can do with both of them if they’re at the best. It’ll be interesting to see how they go in the next two games,” Waugh said. (ANI)