England must capitalise in Adelaide to seize Ashes initiative

England will know that they have a huge opportunity to grasp in Adelaide. The fragility of the Australian attack showed in England’s second innings where only one wicket was taken in two days of play and even then it went to part time bowler Marcus North. Mitchell Johnson gave a performance that was nothing short of woeful, with figures of 0-171, and it really does continue to surprise me that he is entrusted with the responsibility of spearheading the Australian attack. The performance of Ben Hilfenhaus was also poor, and Xavier Doherty looked very ordinary indeed. Surely the best thing that could happen for England in Adelaide would be for Ricky Ponting to turn up at the toss and announce an unchanged team, although the chances of that happening are very slim. With fast bowlers Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger waiting in the wings, I feel sure that the Aussie selectors will be ruthless and drop Johnson, and then either Hilfenhaus or Doherty will go depending on whether Ponting wants to go with four seam bowlers or three seamers and a spinner. In fact, some sections of the Aussie media commented this week that Harris and Bollinger gained the most from the Brisbane test because they didn’t play!

As for England, although the last two days saw some of the best English cricket seen in a long time, I can’t help but feel that it somewhat masked an otherwise average performance in the first three days. Being bowled out for 260 showed that if England’s batsmen don’t fire then we could be in trouble, and a timely return to form for both Brad Haddin and Michael Hussey will not please England’s bowlers. The biggest concern for England moving forward in this series surely has to be the ability to take 20 wickets with a four man bowling attack in Australian conditions. The pressures that bowling long periods within matches will exert on England’s bowlers will be far greater with a four man attack, and tiredness will undoubtedly take its toll later on in the series. However, going in with a five man attack would mean greater pressure being put on the batsmen to score runs, so it really is a dilemma that England have to solve. I can’t help but feel that England will stay unchanged for Adelaide, but if the top five score runs and England don’t win then they might go with five bowlers for the rest of the series. The key for England in Adelaide will be batting like they did in the 2nd innings in Brisbane in the 1st innings, and therefore putting pressure on the Aussies right from the start.

So the 2nd test starts on Friday, which means more drama, more things to talk about and more ridiculously late nights. Ashes fever? I think so!

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.