We’re still around a month out from the start of the Ashes, so with many markets yet to be priced up, and others still to become properly formed, value is generally thin on the ground. But not everywhere.

The England markets don’t appeal much at this stage. For once, the tourists head Down Under with a settled side, and I only need to see Mark Wood bowl in the flesh after a summer of false promises before I officially get excited about England’s chances.

And with Australia captain Pat Cummins highly unlikely to feature in the series opener in Perth – and I’ve said already that I don’t think we’ll see much of him all winter – I do harbour hopes that England can be competitive in Australia for the first time since the 2010/2011 series.

In the main, Australia’s concerns centre around their top three. Cummins would be a huge loss, of course, but that is still a mighty fine bowling attack with or without him. The top three is anything but.

Usman Khawaja is the ‘rock’ at the top of the order, but take out a hundred on a flat pitch in Sri Lanka and it’s been a lean couple of years for the 38-year-old who doesn’t look the player he was. Expect this series to be his swansong.

Refreshed Labuschagne back on song

After that, Sam Konstas is the other incumbent opener, fresh off another duck in the Sheffield Shield overnight, while Cameron Green is a very inexperienced number three who could yet move back to six in order to make room for the return of MARNUS LABUSCHAGNE.

It’s remarkable to think that Labuschagne, who averages over forty in Ashes cricket, was dropped from Australia's starting XI in the Caribbean a few months ago, but this remains a high-class operator who has 11 hundreds, 23 fifties and over 4,000 runs to his name in Test cricket.

His form has clearly tailed off in the last 18 months, but that happens to most players at some stage in their careers, and in the last home Ashes series, Labuschagne finished as the second highest runscorer on either side, just behind Travis Head.