The comparative strengths of the two captains Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke with near parallel careers set for another test of their mettle against one another.

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World class performers
They both are, of course, Cook with exactly 9,000 runs in his 114 Tests and Clarke within 500 of him in 110. At 50.66, the Australian’s average output is four runs superior.

The bare statistics set a scene of two protagonists eminently capable of ruling the summer – but only one will. Cook did it as a mere prolific opening-bat footsoldier in the southern hemisphere in 2010/11, and Clarke helped others to do so three years later as England suffered their second whitewash tour in three attempts.

The Ashes head-to-head reads 3-2 to the Englishman, but the odds are currently stacked against him protecting or enhancing his lead.

These are two wonderful careers which seem destined to remain intertwined.

Staying power
Five Tests in under seven weeks, this is a quality not to be underestimated or taken for granted.

Both men have a physical frailty in the back, Cook’s significantly less of a problem to date in matches missed or compromised performance. He has age comparatively on his side too, four years younger than Clarke.

The mental energy required in this summer’s spotlight will be beyond reasonable experience. Both men are long attuned to that, of course, but when another Ashes assumes a momentum all its own, the strongest in mind and body will prevail.

These are two exceptionally tough and hugely talented cricketers, practised at digging deep and raising the standard. To win this summer, they will need to peak again and hold the pose for almost two months.

Motivated
England’s all-time record Test runscorer and Australia’s dual World Cup-winner may be brilliantly high achievers already, but this summer really matters to both of them.

Cook’s Ashes tour as captain to Australia could hardly have gone much worse – a miserable and grotesque contrast to his previous run-laden success there.

In the 18 months since, he has just about managed to stay upright on the rockiest of roads – losing two coaches, a world-beating yet problematic batsman, his own form for a worryingly long period and then the one-day international captaincy on the eve of a World Cup Clarke’s Australia went on to win.

If England, as most expect, lose the Ashes again this summer their Test captain will be clinging on too.

Clarke, for all his many successes, has yet to win the urn in England. After three failed attempts so far, he made no secret in his first press conference how badly he wanted to halt the sequence.

Leadership qualities
Clarke is perceived as the more proactive. In the last Ashes, though, it turned out he simply had all the aces – an unstoppable Johnson led an unrelenting pace attack.

Cook’s England had nowhere to hide, and it could be misleading to draw conclusions about their captaincy credentials on the basis of that embarrassingly one-sided series.

Through all Cook’s troubles in the last two years, it has become abundantly clear that whether, as many contend, he lacks flair in field settings and bowling changes, he has the unqualified support of those alongside him.

Only the exiled Kevin Pietersen has been critical, and even he has subsequently said the negativity in his autobiography was not personal towards Cook.

Otherwise, player after player has made it clear they like, believe in and respect their captain.

Clarke has not always had such a harmonious rapport with all. He is undoubtedly a strong leader, though, evidently confident in his own plans.