Ashes 2019: Brian Lara predicts a 5-0 thrashing for Australia at the hands of hosts England

The Ashes 2019 series commenced on Thursday at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. The first day saw hosts starting off well by reducing the visitors to 122/8. This was extremely impressive given that their main bowler James Anderson bowled only 4 overs in the day due to stiffness in his calf.

The Ashes 2019 also mark some of the new changes in the Test cricket, as for the first time in the 142-year history of Test cricket, the players wore white jerseys with their names and numbers on the back, similar to ODI and T20I. The series also marked the beginning of the inaugural ICC Test Championship. Brian Lara, former West Indies captain gave his prediction for the victors of the Ashes series.

Brian Lara sees a clean chit by England after Day-1 of the first Test in hindsight

“My predictions for the Ashes 2019, winners: England; most runs: Joe Root; most wickets: Chris Woakes,” Lara tweeted. Some of his predictions are based on the form of the two teams, as England are the current World Champions of the 50-over format and Joe Root was one of the highest run-getters in the tournament, hitting two centuries as well. Chris Woakes proved to be one of the best bowlers for the new world champs.

My Predictions for the Ashes @icc

🔶 Ashes 2019
Winners: #england
Most Runs: @root66
Most Wickets: @chriswoakes#ashes #lovecricket #cricket #icc #engvsaus #testcricket pic.twitter.com/8AB4W0nHmj

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) August 1, 2019

Meanwhile, despite England reducing Australia to 122/8, former skipper Steve Smith, with help from Travis Head and Peter Siddle helped the visitors made a miraculous recovery. Head made 35, adding a half-century partnership with Smith, while Siddle made 44 and added 98 runs with the Australian batsman at no.4. Smith ended up making 144 and the Kangaroos made 284 runs. For England, Stuart Broad picked 5/86 and Chris Woakes picked 3/58 and despite these figures, they will rue that Anderson’s fitness cost them a chance to bowl their rivals out for a subpar score.

“I think it has got to be one of my best hundreds, definitely, first Ashes Test match, the ball was doing a fair bit out in the morning so I had to work really hard. I got beaten a few times but I just had to let that go and concentrated on the next ball and kept digging in, I know that the first Test for an Ashes series is always big. I didn’t want to give my wicket up easily, I wanted to keep fighting and fortunately I was able to dig in today and get ourselves to a reasonable total I think,” Smith was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.