The oldest rivalry in cricket, and one of the longest running contests in sport, is back this week and it promises to be a riveting one.

England have landed in Australia for the start of the five-Test Ashes, the first contest of which takes place in Perth from Friday.

The Aussies have held on to the Ashes urn for close to a decade, and enter the series as the favourites - even if not overwhelming ones - to retain the coveted trophy.

England have not won an Ashes Test in Australia since 2011. It was also the last time they won a series in Australia. That span includes a 5-0 loss in 2013/14, and 4-0 defeats in 2017/18 and 2021/22.

But the mood has changed following a spate of injuries to key Australian players. Star captain Pat Cummins has failed to regain fitness following back issues while pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood has picked up a hamstring injury. Even stand-in captain Steve Smith copped a blow to the hand while training.

Will England be able to make the most of Australia's sudden fitness concerns?

First Test: November 21-25 in Perth (match starts 6.30am UAE time)

Second Test: December 4-8 in Brisbane (Day-night Test from 8.30am)

Australia (first Test): Steve Smith (captain), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Jake Weatherald, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Beau Webster, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser

England: Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vc), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Ollie Pope, Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Matthew Potts, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood

For Australia, it could boil down to Scot Boland. In the absence of two of their frontline quicks, Australia will need their X factor seamer to step up and basically lead the attack in the opening match. Boland will likely have to bowl a bulk of the overs and also keep the runs in check.

England will be banking on Harry Brook to be the enforcer in the middle order. The opening Test will be a great opportunity for England to go after Australia's attack once Starc and Boland are done with their overs. England's young star batter against Australia's aging pacers.

Only one Australian player in their entire squad is under the age of 30 - Cameron Green. Even their replacement players are above 30. England, on the other hand, have a total of three players on the other side of 30 - Stokes, Wood and Root.

Steve Smith on Australia's bowling attack: "We've got a pretty good replacement in Scott Boland, who I think is arguably one of the best bowlers in the world. His record in Australia is outrageous. We're lucky to have Scotty there ready to go."

Ben Stokes on England's limited preparation for the Ashes: "We've not been preparing for this tour over the last three weeks, we've put a lot of thought and process into this for a few years now.

"The landscape of cricket has changed. You used to be able to come out on a tour a month-and-a-half, two months before the first game started. Now there's so much cricket packed into the schedule, it's impossible to do it how it used to be done."

Cricket fans in the UAE can watch all the action on the Starzplay app.