Australia skipper Michael Clarke and his men, who are not acquainted to losing heavily, must be deeply hurt with their performances in the ongoing Ashes series, where they have suffered big losses to England in the first and the third Test matches.
Their only victory was during the second Test match at Lord's, where they dominated England in all departments of the game. Australia needs to come up with a similar performance against England in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, starting Thursday, if they are to have any chance of coming close to retaining the Ashes, as they currently trail 2-1 in the five match Test series.
On the other hand, England must be a confident unit after their sensational performance in the third Test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham, where they completely demolished Australia in a matter of three days. James Anderson and Steven Finn were the heroes with the ball in the first and second innings of the Test match as the Australian batsmen failed to come to terms with their swing and seam.
However, England received a major blow in the same Test, as Anderson suffered a side strain which ruled him out of the fourth Test. Hence, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn has to shoulder the bowling responsibility for England.
Mark Wood is expected to replace Anderson in the fourth Test, but it is going to be a huge ask for the speedster to step into Anderson's shoes. Former Australian great Glenn McGrath believes England are going to miss Anderson, who loves bowling at Trent Bridge.
"It is tough, especially when it is someone like Jimmy. When he has done well, often England have won the game. Trent Bridge is his best ground and he is a key within the English line-up," Australian fast bowler told The Telegraph.
"It gives an opportunity to another bowler to really perform well. They go one or two ways. They either struggle because they don't have the leader of the bowling attack, which puts more pressure on someone else, or the replacement comes out of Jimmy's shadow to make a name for themselves. It is 50-50."
Without a shadow of doubt, he is going to be a huge miss for England, while Australia will be breathing a sigh of relief as Anderson has proved why he is one of the best swing bowlers in the world, taking crucial wickets at regular intervals.
Australia's top order of Chris Rogers, David Warner and Steve Smith have batted consistently in the series, but it is their middle and the lower order, which has failed to deliver. Even captain Michael Clarke is under immense pressure after his inconsistent showing in the series.
With middle order batsman Adam Voges out of touch as well, left-hander Shaun Marsh could replace him in the middle order, after scoring centuries against Kent and Derbyshire during the warm-up matches.
Compare this lineup with England, the home team's middle order has looked a lot more assured with Joe Root, Ian Bell, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali scoring runs when required. Still, Adam Lyth's form as an opener is a cause of worry for England.
The fourth Test match at Trent Bridge is expected to bring out the best out of both teams as an Australia win can make the series even more interesting with the fifth Test match being a decider, while a victory for England means a series victory for the home team.
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A huge match is in store for all cricket fans with England taking on Australia in the fourth Test match of the series, which is scheduled for a 11am local time (3:30pm IST, 6am ET, 7:30pm AEST) start with live TV coverage in India on Star Sports 1/HD with live streaming on starsports.com.
Sky Sports 2 will offer live coverage for UK viewers, who can also follow the Test match online on on Watch Sky Sports and Sky Go.
Australian cricket lovers can catch the action live on Nine Network and live streaming is available on CA website.
The fourth Test match of the Ashes can be watched by the viewers in the US on One World Sports with live streaming on Watch ESPN.
