Brian Lara predicts England will win Ashes series

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New Delhi: Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara has predicted that World Cup winners England will beat Australia in the ongoing Ashes series.

Along with the winners, Lara also predicted that England skipper Joe Root will end up as the leading run-scorer by the end of the five-Test series while Chris Woakes will be the leading wicket-taker. 

"My predictions for the Ashes 2019, winners: England; most runs: Joe Root; most wickets: Chris Woakes," he tweeted on Thursday.

My Predictions for the Ashes @icc

 Ashes 2019
Winners: #england
Most Runs: @root66
Most Wickets: @chriswoakes#ashes #lovecricket #cricket #icc #engvsaus #testcricket pic.twitter.com/8AB4W0nHmj

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) August 1, 2019

On Thursday, Steve Smith scored a brilliant hundred to single-handedly drag Australia out of a hole and help them post 284 before being bowled out in the fag end of the opening day of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.

Smith recorded his 24th century in 118th innings and he went past Indian skipper Virat Kohli who had achieved the feat in 123 innings.

Woakes picked up three wickets while Stuart Broad scalped five during the course of the Australian innings. 

At stumps, England were 10 for no loss and were still 274 runs behind.