With Olly Stone, another tall, 90mph/145kph bowler, also pressing his case, England were amassing an artillery fit for Australian pitches. But it was never going to be that easy, was it? Any lingering hopes that Archer could be unleashed once again were finally scotched by the long-term impact of his elbow problem, while Stone picked up a third back stress fracture in as many years. That has left Wood as the last fast man standing – and he has only played two T20Is competitively since the Lord’s Test against India in August.And so it is that England’s Ashes hopes once again rest with the old firm. Anderson and Stuart Broad are taking part in their fifth and fourth Ashes tours respectively, and both know the feeling of silencing – however briefly – the jeers of an Australian crowd. They will be backed up by the shock potential of Wood, as well as three seam-bowling thoroughbreds in Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton. Ben Stokes’ impact with the ball could be significant, too. But can a switch in focus from pace to “supreme accuracy” work for England, or will it be death by right-arm medium?It may sound obvious, but for things to go well one of aforementioned names will likely have to have a stormer. Since the early 20th century, England victories in Australia have almost invariably been led by totemic fast-bowling performances – from the bodyline battering inflicted by Harold Larwood, through “Typhoon” Tyson to John Snow in 1970-71, the combination of Ian Botham, Bob Willis and Mike Hendrick (’78-79), right up to Anderson’s 24 wickets at 26.04 in 2010-11.But if Anderson is to lead the way again, he will be battling history as much as the opposition. Among specialist “pace bowlers”, only Tom Emmett – who was 40 on England’s 1881-82 tour – has played Test cricket in Australia at an older age than Anderson will be (39 year and 131 days) when the series starts on Wednesday. If Anderson manages to take a five-wicket haul, as he did at Adelaide four years ago, he will pass Sydney Barnes’ record as the oldest fast bowler to do so in Tests in Australia (though some of the categorisations going back in time are a little sketchy – Barnes, for instance, described himself as a spinner of the ball – and Freddie Brown did claim 5 for 49 at Melbourne in 1951, aged 40, bowling what described as “medium pace throughout”).Anderson is already one of only seven seamers (again, a term to be applied loosely) aged 35 and above to have taken more than 10 Test wickets in Australia; a list that Broad will join should go he go even halfway to matching his best overseas Ashes haul of 21 wickets in 2013-14.The fear, of course, is that in the past is where the best of Broad and Anderson will remain – and although rewriting records has been standard practice during careers that have reaped a combined tally of 1156 Test wickets, both currently average the top side of 35 in Australia.

Root’s other options are either short on experience of bowling in Australian conditions – Wood has never played first-class cricket there – or still looking to prove themselves. While Woakes is generally held to have improved on underwhelming early showings with the Kookaburra ball, he averaged 49.50 from four Tests in 2017-18; Overton toiled hard for eight wickets at 41.62 after making his debut on the same tour.Perhaps the likeliest star in the ascendant is Robinson, who has been compared to Australia’s Josh Hazlewood (albeit minus a few mph). Robinson’s impact during the English summer was such that he already seems inked into the first XI, and he has enjoyed himself in Australia before as part of the 2019-20 Lions tour – which he credited for teaching him the “discipline” needed to succeed. The fact that Robinson and Overton shared 13 wickets with the pink ball against Australia A at the MCG adds a layer of intrigue to suggestions that the fifth Test could yet be converted to another day-nighter in Melbourne.After all, Australia are not invulnerable on home ground, as India have shown across two of the last three southern summers. Broad and Wood, in recent days, have both referenced the success India’s seamers had – particularly in 2020-21 by bowling straight to leg-side fields. You could certainly do worse than follow the example set by Jasprit Bumrah, one of only three visiting fast bowlers this century to have taken 20 wickets at an average of less than 30 in Australia (the other two? Dale Steyn and Tremlett). But then Bumrah is a sphynx delivering riddles at 90mph/145kph, while England’s attack is rather more orthodox than outside the box.There is still the template of 2010-11, of course, when England dropped their fastest bowler, Finn, in favour of the strangulating control offered by Tremlett and Tim Bresnan. Matt Prior, England’s wicketkeeper on that triumphant tour, recently suggested to ESPNcricinfo that a similar approach could serve them well again – but there was another small factor to bear in mind. “The key will be,” Prior said, “can England score enough runs to give the bowlers an opportunity to take 20 wickets?”And that’s another head-scratcher for Root entirely – never mind what he should do if he wins the toss come the first morning at the Gabba.