The upcoming Ashes may just be a lot closer than anyone thinks.

On face value, this claim seems a bit ludicrous. Australia are 13-0 against England in the last 15 Tests played Down Under since 2013 and the Poms have basically not come to the party in their last three visits.

There is also a very good chance that the trend continues this summer with England fielding an inexperienced bowling attack without James Anderson and Stuart Broad and the batting line-up bar Joe Root largely untested on Australian pitches.

However, this English side under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum has played a style that has taken Test cricket by storm. While it has certainly drawn its fair share of detractors and has been made to look foolish on many occasions, the Poms can perhaps exercise some cautious optimism as they set out to regain the Ashes, a prize they have not held since they surrendered the urn on their 2017-18 tour.

For one, while England’s bowling is raw and inexperienced, they will be coming up against an incredibly unstable Australian batting lineup.

With Sam Konstas having a poor series against the West Indies, concerns over Usman Khawaja’s age and doubts as to Cameron Green’s long-term future at No.3, predicting Australia’s top order by the time the first Test rolls around in Perth is an exercise akin to throwing darts blindfolded.

However, for England to capitalise on these supposed batting frailties, they will need a strong bowling attack that has the venom to regularly take 20 wickets. Given the nature of Australian pitches in recent seasons as opposed to the flat pitches in England in the Bazball era, the English pacers, such as Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue, should enjoy bowling on this side of the world.

With Australian conditions favouring X-Factor bowlers who have weapons such as pace and bounce, two bowlers that England will rely upon and could prove to be the point of difference are Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.

In the third Test against India at Lord’s, we saw the value of Archer’s raw pace and penetration and he is someone who has had a history of troubling the Australian batters.

Likewise, in the last two Ashes series in England and Australia, Wood’s pace has been of tremendous impact to England and sent more than a few shivers through the Australian dressing room.

Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

However, with both players having poor runs with injury of late, it will be vital for the English support staff to manage the duo both before and during the Ashes so they can take advantage of both a brittle Australian top order and conducive wickets.

The one concern for England’s bowling is their spinner with Shoaib Bashir still finding his feet at Test level and history dictates a quality spinner is key towards winning series in Australia.

Regarding the English batting, the fearless, hell-for-leather approach taken by England under ‘Bazball’ may have drawn both plaudits and criticism. Nonetheless, it will be riveting to see how this aggressive approach goes against a world class Australian attack on difficult pitches.

While the English top order can be hit-and-miss, the likes of Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook have the ability to play match-shaping innings, a quality that is a must in a series as big as the Ashes.

And then of course there is Root, undoubtedly the best batter of the past five years. You feel that for the English batting to have success, Root simply needs to break his century drought in Australia and have a series as prolific as the likes of Michael Vaughan in 2002/3 and Alastair Cook in 2010/11.

While the bowling is undoubtedly Australia’s strength, the elephant in the room regarding their age cannot be ignored. While the bowlers seem to be showing no sign of stopping down, age can catch up with an athlete very quickly and the Australian bowling has occasionally been found wanting when the conditions are against them such as in the second innings of the WTC Final.

Therefore, if England can play cricket in a balanced but aggressive manner, which they are capable of doing, they may just be able to quell the dominant Australian quartet.

All of these are big ifs, and England will need just about everything on and off the field to go their way if they are to win their first series against Australia since 2015 and their first away since 2011.

However, given the surprises and drama that we have seen in Test cricket in the last few years, you can never rule out an upset and it seems as though the conditions are there for England to potentially have a summer to remember.