ASHES PREDICTIONS: AUSTRALIA TO GET A HELPING HANDSCOMB... BUT DON'T RELY ON JIMMY

Sam Morshead predicts an Aussie win... and a series to remember for Peter Handscomb

With the Ashes Test series closing in, we asked our writers for their predictions - from the obvious to the obscure.

Today it's the turn of digital content manager Sam Morshead, who expects big things of Peter Handscomb and Joe Root but not so much from Jimmy Anderson.

Result

3-2 Australia.

The build-up to the series might have been blindsided by the Stokes Saga but that doesn't mean it won't be a classic. Australia to win in Brisbane, England to claim the Adelaide day-nighter before back-to-back Baggy Green successes. Joe Root’s men to do what they only do in Ashes series and win the dead rubber.

Leading run-scorer

Joe Root

Forget his paltry Test average in Oz, the skipper is batting beautifully even with the added pressure of the captaincy and can cope with an Australian attack which, while quick, is not quite fearsome. Expect at least one century in a losing cause, a daddy hundred at that - a la Michael Vaughan in 2002.

Leading wicket-taker

Mitchell Starc

England's top order, Root and Cook aside, is yet to convince in the Test arena. Starc, mixing speed and swing in an impressive and potentially destructive bundle, asks the kind of questions the tourists won't like. Watch out for the in-duckers to threaten Gary Ballance’s pads, the away-shooter to draw Cook into an edge and the snorting bumper to surprise Moeen Ali.

^{Mitchell Starc is in fine form going into the series}

Overachiever

Peter Handscomb

Putting aside the fact that's it's very hard for anyone selected for an Ashes series to over-achieve, Handscomb’s short Test career has offered enough to say this winter could be a perfect fit for the Victorian.

From his first home series, against Pakistan, he emerged having not been dismissed for a score below 50. He is comfortable against both pace and spin and averages just a touch below 100 on Australian soil.

England could rue not finding a way to get this son of British parents to pick the Lions over the Baggy Green.

Underachiever

Jimmy Anderson

Sacrilege! I know, I know. But this unpopular prediction comes from a foundation of fact. Historically, Australia has not been kind to Anderson - his average of 38.44 Down Under is so noticeably inferior to his worldwide equivalent of 27.39.

Stuart Broad has a better record in Oz yet you can betcha the English cricketing public will be expecting Anderson to lead from the front this winter.

It might be prudent to slightly adjust expectations.

^{Jimmy Anderson is England's all-time leading wicket-taker}

England’s trump card

Can we say Ben Stokes? No? Okay… Moeen Ali

This England top order needs training wheels and the trio of Moeen, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes offer just that.

In the eventuality of Stokes having to stay at home, Moeen is the tourists’ premier all-rounder. He'll need to add crucial runs at crucial times, coax a fragile tail to as big a total as possible and, when Tests last the distance, prove to be a match-winner with the ball.

He can be Mr Fourth Innings in this Ashes series.

Australia’s trump card

David Warner

I think we're all agreed, we much prefer watching David Warner play cricket than listening to him opine about it.

Luckily for Australia, he's one of theirs.

Capable of bashing an attack into the ground in little more than a session, Warner has the brutal potential of Matthew Hayden and the off-field attitude to match.

He might not be a purist’s idea of the perfect Test match opener but by heck can he get the job done. Challenging targets can be munched in no time and tricky first mornings swatted to the cover boundary when this man is in the mood.

^{David Warner is a big threat at the top of the Australian order}

Water carrier (most likely to tour but see no action)

Ben Foakes

It's terrific to see genuine County Championship form rewarded with a place in the Ashes touring party but, given his return in various formats over the past two years, Jonny Bairstow ain't getting dropped any time soon.

Injuries aside, the best hope Foakes has of getting a game is as a middle order specialist batsman in the event of Stokes not travelling and at least two of Vince, Ballance and Dawid Malan self-imploding in the opening three Tests.

Total dropped catches

13

If the visitors are as sloppy in the field this winter as they were in the summer against West Indies, you can stick a line through their chances of series victory. Anyway, 13 is traditionally unlucky and as good a guess as any.

Most catches

Steve Smith

It's a lottery. Pick a member of one of the slip cordons and go with it. Smith has one of the safest pair of Aussie hands of a generation, though Handscomb also dabbles in a bit of keeping and both Cook and Root have a gazillion Test catches between them.

And what if Stokes plays? I mean, the guy can defy physics in the gully. No, Sam! No! Go with your gut.

Smith it is.

MORE ASHES PREDICTIONS: Huw Turbervill