Published>Thu, Nov 11 10 12:37 PM
Sydney, Nov 11 (ANI): England cricket legend Sir Ian Botham tipped the visitors to win the five-Test series against Australia by at least two matches, and said off-spinner Graeme Swann will be the key player during the Ashes.
Botham, who was part of the last English side to win an Ashes series on Australian soil in 1986-87, said England had form, confidence and enough lead-up matches to fully prepare, while Australia were bereft of form and seemingly unsettled.
"England are on a roll, they're full of confidence, Australia are doing a little bit of bickering at the moment, a little bit of in-house fighting, which is always good from my point of view," Botham told AAP.
"To be quite honest the more problems Australia have the better it is from our point of view. We're just very happy to get on with it and see what happens," The Sydney Morning herald quoted the all rounder, as saying.
"England are doing what they have to do, their preparation is good, they've got another game starting tomorrow in South Australia, then they've got a couple more games, so they should be well and truly acclimatized," Botham said.
He said Australia were struggling to adapt after the retirements of some greats in recent years, such as Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.
Botham labelled Swann as the trump card, expecting him to exploit what he believes is Australia's biggest vulnerability.
"He's the best attacking bowler in the world at the moment, Graeme Swann. Regardless of all the stuff we hear from the Australians, their record against off-spin isn't good, it hasn't been good against finger spin for a long time," he said. (ANI)
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