Ashes Series Tips: Get ready for an epic with little to separate old rivals

• Australia warmed-up and ready

• Injuries restricting England attack

• Hosts' no-fear approach should ensure a classic

The chaotic versus the considered

If England had any doubt about the size of their task in the Ashes, then Australia's dismantling of India in the World Test Championship may have provided a timely reality check. That's if they were watching. Under the McCullum-Stokes regime they were probably racing golf carts or ensconced in a longest drive contest.

That is what is fascinating about the five-Test series. It pits an England side so committed to chaos theory that their red-ball preparation has been almost non-existent against a textbook, almost swot-like Australia who sense it is their duty to dimiss England's upstart methods and put an end to the craziness.

And it could make for an epic. England's method is far from madness, and is bordering on genius. Australia have the balance and brilliance with bat and ball to take it on.

The tourists are 1.9310/11 favourites, a price that has hardened since their shellacking of India. England are 2.727/4 with the drawn series 8.4015/2.

So, where's the value? Well, there can be little doubt that Australia's 'warm-up' against India means they are better prepared for the first Test at Edgbaston, which starts on Friday.

It was the perfect way to tune up for the series on an Oval surface which could well be repeated throughout.

Australia so menacing

Their bowling attack is menacing and varied. Scott Boland's emergence has given them a significant extra option meaning that an injury to Josh Hazlewood is not even considered a negative anymore. Hazelwood can take his time to recuperate and he may not even be able to force his way back in.

The expected preparation of wickets which have pace and bounce, hoped for by Ben Stokes not so long ago, is much to their liking. The last thing they wanted was green tops, the sort of wickets which have ensured they have not won a series in England for 22 years.

It is clear why Stokes wanted un-English surfaces. He needs his batters to have the best tracks to rattle along at five an over, putting fear of the Lord into bowlers.

But it was also so he could utilise Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone. With only Wood now fit, it could be that this was the first of a clutch of misjudgements.

The second, of course, may prove to be believing that a solitary Test against Ireland was enough. Consider that in the wake of their last Ashes humiliation Sir Andrew Strauss was commissioned to undertake a hard-nosed review recommending a significant restructuring of staff and indeed the entire county system. Not to mention the introspection, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

England undercooked

When it comes to actually getting ready for Australia, Joe Root and Harry Brook have batted once in red ball cricket in four months, Ben Stokes hasn't bowled with the red for the same amount of time and Jack Leach's replacement is a man who has come out of retirement and averages 65 against Australia.

There are also doubts as to how many times England will field their first-choice attack which includes both Anderson and Wood. The former has already said he won't play all five. Wood's body surely won't allow him to.

It is highly unlikely they rest both for the same game so England could be at full-tilt in only three Tests. Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head loom large.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the 2.727/4 isn't big enough.

A classic in store

And yet there is a faith. Faith that England will not be cowed like previous iterations. That they will never abandon their ultra-attacking gameplan.

And, simply, they have absolutely no fear of losing whatsoever. That's what makes coach Brendon McCullum such a revolutionary. He has been able to convince, somehow, his charges that the result doesn't matter.

When you take away that terror (and that's not an injudicious word in the context of these events) from professional sportsmen anything can happen. And it has with England.

What is in store, then is something terrifically hard to predict. Perhaps it will be a 'new-ball series' with both pairs of openers looking particularly vulnerable only for dashing middle-orders to hold sway before a second new ball mop-up.

Perhaps England will come horribly unstuck in game one and, completely unfazed, smash back in game two.

Maybe the Aussies won't know what's going to hit them, although that is hard to reason.

What we do know with absolute certainty is that on result pitches, in a baking-hot summer and with England believing the draw is a dirty word that there could well be a fag paper between the two.]

Splitting stakes then on the correct score by backing 3-2 the pair is an early dose of rationality among the forthcoming anarchy. In short, this is one for the ages.