Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Take early wickets. Sounds like a bit of an obvious statement, and there is no doubt that taking early wickets helps win any game of cricket, but early wickets will be even more crucial for England this winter. The strengths of the Australian batting line up lie with the top three of Simon Katich, Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting. Katich and Ponting are classy players who rarely fail to deliver, and Watson is one of the few Australian batsmen who is entering the Ashes series in good form, having scooped the coveted Australian Player of the Year award for last season. Get these players out quickly and England will have a real chance.
Learn how to bowl with the Kookaburra ball. Leading on from the first point, England’s bowlers need to adapt quickly to bowling with a different ball. In England home series’, a Dukes ball is used which will swing for a long period of time. However, in Australia a Kookaburra ball is used, which will only swing for about the first fifteen overs. This is crucial for England because James Anderson is a bowler who relies on swing, so he must make early inroads with the swinging ball in order to be effective this winter. Plus, England will only play four bowlers in the series, meaning that the attack cannot afford to carry anyone, especially someone with Anderson’s experience.
Expose the Australian middle order. The Aussie middle order is their main weakness. Michael Clarke is carrying a back injury and is out of form, and there have been many calls from the Australian media that Marcus North and Michael Hussey should be dropped for their abysmal recent form. Wicket keeper Brad Haddin is a reckless batsman at times and often gets out playing rash shots when exposed to longer periods of pressure. If England dismiss the Australian middle order cheaply then we stand a good chance of winning the first test and forcing the Australian selectors to bring in younger, less experienced players such as Callum Ferguson and Usman Khawaja. This would almost definitely play into England’s hands because while Ferguson and Khawaja are talented, the pressure of an Ashes series would almost definitely be too much for them to handle.
Target the Australian spinner(s). I’ve used the plural here because I am sure that the Aussies will use more than one spinner during this series. For me the Aussies have already made the first mistake in the series by dropping Nathan Hauritz in favour of the little known Xavier Doherty (no test caps) and Steven Smith (2 test caps). If England can target these bowlers and not let them settle into a rhythm of bowling long spells, then it will make it harder on the other bowlers to bowl England out.
So there you have it, a four point plan for Ashes glory. My prediction? Well I think it will be close but I fancy England to win 3-1 with one drawn test. The time for talking is now over, and Thursday just can’t come quickly enough...
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