Perth, Nov 18 (IANS) England pacer Josh Tongue is pleased with the squad’s preparations for the Ashes and remains confident of registering a series win against Australia.

The five-Test series will commence at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Friday, as both teams give it their all to take the urn.

England have not won the Ashes in Australia since 2015 and faced heavy defeats in their last three Test visits Down Under.

England, who are facing backlash for playing only a lone warm-up match against the England Lions at Lilac Hill, remain confident about their build-up before the series opener.

“It feels very exciting. We’ve had a good build-up. A few of us were in New Zealand beforehand prepping for this. I feel like we’ve had good prep. I feel like the group of bowlers that we got now, obviously the likes of Joff (Jofra Archer) and Woody (Mark Wood) being in our squad, the X Factor,” Tongue told reporters here on Tuesday.

“The pace, the bouncy wickets definitely help the faster bowlers and the skills that we’ve got as a group. I think we can give it a good shot.”

Australia will be without senior pacers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for the first Test, but wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith is aware of the fact that the hosts have enough strength to fill vacant places in the side.

“I’d still feel they’ve (Australia) got a dominant attack… Obviously, the two guys missing, obviously world-class players. But any time you play Australia, you know that the guys coming in are also fantastic players as well,” Smith said.

“You show a lot of respect to the guys that are missing out and the guys coming in just trying to focus on, you know what we can do well, leading up to this first Test.”

–IANS

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