David Lloyd says England can win the Ashes 5-0. Brett Lee says these two bowlers hold the key

Former England coach and batsman David Lloyd has cheekily declared his countrymen can win the Ashes 5-0, but Australian fast bowling great Brett Lee believes the tourists’ only hope is to unleash an all-out pace assault with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood in the same XI.

With less than a month until the first ball of the series in Perth, Lloyd became the latest ex-cricketer to offer a hot take on the highly-anticipated contest.

“I hate predictions … but I’m going to turn into Glenn McGrath. It’s going to be 5-0 England,” Lloyd said on SEN.

“Our guys right now, there’s a real sense that we can do something here. We’ve come over there and lost before. [But] there is a real thought right now that England have a massive chance to win the Ashes in Australia.”

England have never won an Ashes series 5-0 and haven’t beaten Australia in a Test on Australian soil for nearly 15 years. The last time they won the opening Test of an Ashes series in Australia was in 1986, when Bob Hawke was still prime minister.

Much has been made of England’s strong batting line-up, but it is the fitness of Archer and Wood – two genuine 150km/h spearheads – that shapes as pivotal to their hopes.

Archer, who produced a memorable spell against Australia in the 2019 Ashes, has been rested from England’s opening ODI against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

The 30-year-old has played just two Tests since 2021 but took five and four wickets respectively in matches against India at Lord’s and Manchester earlier this year.

Wood, meanwhile, said last week he was “quietly confident” of being fit for the opening Test at Optus Stadium, starting on November 21.

He boasts a decent record in Australia, claiming 17 wickets at 26.64 in the 2021-22 series.

Lee, who won multiple Ashes campaigns, said England’s best chance was to fight fire with fire.

“If England want to win, in my opinion, they’ve got to play Jofra Archer – and Mark Wood’s got to be fit, too,” Lee, a Fox Cricket expert, told this masthead. “If Mark Wood’s fit, he’s the key to this whole series. I’m putting a lot of emphasis and pressure on them.

“I want England to come out swinging in the first Test, and they’ve got to knock over the Australian top order because there’s a lot of conjecture around who’s an opener.

“From what I’m hearing, Wood is getting over his injury and he’s back bowling fast. He will be the difference. You can look at the stats after three Tests and say he’s taken ‘X’ number of wickets. I don’t care about that. He’s a guy that can bowl 150km/h. I don’t care what anyone says, no one wants to face 150km/h bowling.

“What England have got to do is expose that top order for Australia and get into that middle order in very quickly. What better way to do it than Jofra Archer back after four years in the wilderness? I watched him bowl live at Lord’s a couple of months ago against India, and he’s a beautiful athlete.”

Wood and fellow quick Josh Tongue will ramp up their conditioning this week.

Lee said Pat Cummins’ likely absence from at least the first two Tests would have a “massive impact” but backed Australia’s next wave of fast bowlers.

He even name-dropped Nathan Ellis as a possible Ashes bolter, despite the Tasmanian having played only 10 first-class matches.

“Pat is our best bowler and sets the tone with the ball,” Lee said. “If I’m a young bowler in the Australian set-up playing Shield cricket, I’d be doing whatever I can to be fit and bowling fast and taking wickets. There’s a few guys carrying niggles who won’t get the opportunity.

“One person who I think could potentially play a role, and I think unfairly has been pigeonholed, is Nathan Ellis. He’s been earmarked as a white ball specialist because he’s got a great slower ball. He could be a guy that could play red ball cricket if he wanted to.”