It’s unlikely there’s a man better qualified to talk about this summer’s Ashes series than Rod Marsh.

Rod Marsh Rod Marsh
Images: Getty Images

In his 14-year international career, “Bacchus” played in winning Ashes series, losing Ashes series and a lone drawn series in England. He faced men like John Snow, Bob Willis and Tony Greig, kept to men like Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Max Walker. In his 96-Test span (42 of which were against the Old Enemy), he hit over 3500 runs and garnered 355 dismissals behind the stumps. Skilful with the gloves and handy with the stick, he redefined the ‘keeper’s role in the modern game.

Six years after retiring from the Test arena, Marsh took up the head coaching role at the Australian Cricket Academy. When he arrived, the academy was still putting down roots. When he left, in 2001, it had churned out a golden generation of talent, its alumni gilded by names like Warne, McGrath, Ponting and Gilchrist. The following year he shifted to England to head up their fledgling academy. Again, he oversaw a rich output, with old boys Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones and Kevin Pietersen playing starring roles in England’s ’05 triumph.Gruff, blunt and brilliantly insightful, Marsh has overseen four decades of Ashes conflict. So pull up a pew and hear his wisdom as Strauss’ men begin their defence of the urn

The Ashes are here – are you willing to hazard a prediction?

No! And I think anyone that says one team’s going to win 5-0 is kidding themselves … Look, we’re rebuilding and I think England have rebuilt more than we have at this stage. They’ve got a better-established team at the moment; I think they’re leading in a few departments. They’re certainly leading in the spin bowling department – Graeme Swann’s had a magnificent 12 months. But I go back to when I was a kid: I remember Jim Laker taking 19 wickets against Australia at Old Trafford, yet he came out here in ‘58-59 and bowled on the hard Australian pitches and hardly took any wickets at all. Australia is a notoriously hard place to bowl off-breaks, so perhaps Swann won’t be as big an influence as some people are suggesting. I’d be mortified if he was able to take 35 wickets. If he does, then we lose the series.

But have a look at their pace men – I think they’ve got an exciting bunch of fast bowlers there. And the one bloke that really impresses me is Stuart Broad. I think he’s a really good cricketer. He’s about six foot nine, so if he bowls the right length out here, he’ll be the biggest danger man.On our side, we need to have Bollinger fit, and we need to have him and Mitchell Johnson swinging the ball back in to the right-handers. Englishmen don’t like left-handers swinging the ball back in – in fact, I don’t think anyone does. So if those two can move the new ball back in, then I think we can make some real inroads into their top order.