5 reasons to be excited about the Ashes

It's not been a good month of sport for the Australians, and the Ashes haven't even begun.

First came their 2-1 series loss to the British and Irish Lions on home soil. Then, as result of Andy Murray lifting the Wimbledon men's singles trophy, they became tennis' new 'nation in waiting', Mark Edmondson the last Australian man to win his native grand slam trophy back in 1976. Now the English cricket team look ready to compound the Aussie woes.

Paying close attention to Australia's final reckoning is Radio 1's Greg James, a man whose excitement for the coming tour has reached eye-watering levels. As he readies himself for Five Live's coverage of the series, he's found time to share his five reasons as to why this Ashes series is worthy of your attention.

We will win

The most important reason to be excited about The Ashes, ladies and gentlemen, is because we're going to win. And we're going to win 4-1. We'll lose at Lords and it'll give the Aussies a glimmer...Only for that glimmer to be extinguished by Cookie and the boys in the following three tests.

Joe Root is fired up

Joe Root needs his revenge on the Aussies for being hit in a Walkabout in Birmingham. Instead of getting down the gym and pumping those guns ready for a rematch, all he needs to do is bat them out of the series. Which he will do. This guy is the real deal. He's bright, young, insanely talented and most of all, not a knob. Man of the series.

Kevin Pietersen's back

CHANGE YOUR PHONE NUMBER EVERYONE! Kevin Pietersen's back! I heard some old fart the other day describe KP as England's 4th most important player after Jimmy, Swanny and Cook. Although I don't agree with the idea of ranking the players in order of importance, it raises an interesting point. Do England need him as much as he thinks they do? I don't feel as though he's an integral part of the team and it's well documented that he isn't exactly Mr Popular. Having said that, if a match-winning innings is needed, there's still no one better. We still need him…but only just.

Captain Cook

This is the guy. Mr Cool. An Essex farmhand who is as happy on the receiving end of a slippery delivery from the herd as he is with one from Peter Siddle. He is absolutely the right man for the job. Popular and well-respected. If you've got someone leading from the front scoring a million runs, you can't help but be inspired by him.

Swanny and Jimmy

It has been a pleasure getting to know these two chumps over the last couple of years on our cricket radio show on BBC 5Live, but now the talking stops. I mean, contractually they're not allowed to do the show during the series but they are kind of busy anyway. Unstoppable and, at times, unplayable. They are loved by the fans and are crucial to our success this year. It's such a joy to watch them both bowl. Especially if they drop catches off each other.

(Images: Getty/Rex)