The Ashes 2023: Australia on top of the world but frailties clear ahead of biggest test

In his excellent new book, On The Ashes, the Australian journalist Gideon Haigh summarises the nation's historic cricketing philosophy.

"Australian cricket doesn't have much time for elegance," he writes. "It looks unserious, brittle, even a little effete. Australians favour aggression — bustling, bristling, business-like. They like to think of themselves as all about effect and output; it's not how but how many."

This England have, of course, made their business not merely how and how many, but how quickly as well, their brand, with bat in hand at least, a sort of bastardised Olympianism: faster (scoring), higher (chases), longer (hits).

It is a contrast that has had these Ashes, which start at Edgbaston on Friday, set up as a shuddering clash of styles for some time, made all the more so by the vindication both sides have already acquired in their methods.

For England, 11 wins in 13 Tests have transformed an ailing culture. For Australia, yesterday's World Test Championship Final triumph over India represented the climax of something more sustained. It is Test cricket's now formally-crowned conquerors against its self-proclaimed saviours, and if it was already clear that the latter are unshakeably wed to their one way of playing, then The Oval this weekend reaffirmed that Pat Cummins's men will not be lured from theirs, either.

The fourth morning delivered the strongest case in point, Australia resuming with a lead of 296 and six wickets still in hand. Were Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes to bat for 90 minutes in the same scenario, England would no doubt have put the game to bed, accelerating towards a declaration and, with a bit of luck, 18 holes on day five.

The Australian equivalents, Alex Carey and Cameron Green, however, played with what, after a year of high-octane England, felt like strange conservatism until the latter's even stranger dismissal, adding only 44 runs. The ends, though, justified the means, Cummins batting on into the afternoon to leave a daunting world-record target on the board, before India were eventually skittled with two sessions of yesterday's fifth day to spare.

So, what did we learn? Chiefly, that Scott Boland must play at Edgbaston, despite his only previous experience here coming for a touring Aboriginal XI five years ago; that Steve Smith's unremarkable Sussex stint will likely bear no relevance to his returns this summer; that Travis Head is a different batter to the one that averaged 27 at a strike-rate below 50 in the 2019 Ashes, having belted 163 off 174 deliveries here; that Green does, as billed, have huge hands; and, above all, that this outstanding Australian side constitute the Bazball era's toughest test.

But there were passages, too, that will have piqued England's interest, chinks in the armour that, to some relief, emerged between the bookends of an opening two days and concluding fifth.