The build-up to the Ashes

• Analysis

From averaging three to 115: Ashes form guide for every Aussie and Englishman

T20 tune-ups, tight hamstrings, bags of wickets and batting slumps. This is how every potential Test player shapes up for the series opener.

• Dan Walsh

• Exclusive

‘It would be the best achievement of my career’: Joe Root’s big Ashes ambition isn’t what you think

In an exclusive interview, the England great opens up on his past struggles in Australia, his ramp-driven renaissance, Ben Stokes and “Bazball”.

• Daniel Brettig

• Opinion

‘Get up into that ribcage’: Inside the Ashes master plan to take down England

Mike Hussey, Australia’s Mr Cricket, breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of the England top seven so you don’t have to. 

• Mike Hussey

• Opinion

Form, injury, unrest, homesickness, fright: How England’s pre-Ashes bravado typically comes undone in Australia

Bellow as you like, England, lay claim to the Ashes, declare them to be coming home – but come back and see us when you’ve won a Test match.

• Greg Baum

England’s No.3s have had a terrible run in Australia. Will Ollie Pope be the next to suffer?

Performances against Australia this summer will dictate whether the batter keeps his place in the England line-up.

• Nick Hoult

• Analysis

Why Hazlewood’s hamstring injury hurts Australia’s Ashes chances more than most

Josh Hazlewood’s hamstring injury on the eve of the Ashes has put Australia in territory not charted for nearly 10 years - and the outcome wasn’t pretty.

• Daniel Brettig

Australia’s Test squad flew to Perth on Sunday. Sam Konstas played an under-21s match

In a bid to regain form, the former Test opener played in an age-restricted competition for his Sydney club.

• Tom Decent

‘I said a prayer to Phil’: Inside the Marnus Labuschagne rebuild

Neil D’Costa has worked with the best, including Michael Clarke and Phillip Hughes. But an urgent car trip from Sydney to Brisbane might be the catalyst for a big Labuschagne summer.

• Tom Decent

• Opinion

Move over, Guardian - these are the greatest Ashes cricketers of all time

The Guardian is naming its top 100 male Ashes players, but here’s my “Magnificent Seven”.

• Peter FitzSimons

• Opinion

Australia won the Ashes in 1983 after a wretched run of injuries. This team can do the same

After Terry Alderman was taken out by a pitch invader in the first Test, second-string bowlers were called upon to play key roles in the series. This series looks destined to follow a similar path.

• Geoff Lawson

• Opinion

The paradox of pace: What Australia and England have to do to win the first Ashes Test

The hardest, quickest pitches in the world demand the slowest hands and the calmest mind.

• Greg Chappell

‘What would Warnie do?’ Joe Root, a bottle of tequila, and the night Warne took his last wicket

Shane Warne, Joe Root, Michael Vaughan, an orange, and tequila. It sounds like the start of a joke, but was it, in fact, the beginning of Bazball?

• Daniel Brettig

‘Richie only spoke when it was time to speak’: Daphne Benaud on cricket’s greatest love story

Ten years after his death, Richie Benaud’s widow remembers her life with one of the game’s most revered figures.

• Oliver Brown