England primed to attack fortress WACA

 

Roar Rookie

By Stevie G, 15 Dec 2010 Stevie G is a Roar Rookie

Tagged:

 Ashes, Ashes series, Australian Cricket, Cricket, England cricket, The Ashes, WACA

3 Have your say

Email

The Ashes series rolls into Perth and Fortress WACA for the Third Test match. Hopefully it will be a fortress for the Australians.

Australia and England have faced off at the WACA in 11 Tests, with England winning only one back in 1978/79 when the Aussies were under strength due to World Series Cricket.

England coach Andy Flower admitted his squad had spoken about the record and this can only be a positive for the Australians.

If Australia can get on top early at the WACA they could play on that uncertainty of England winning games at the WACA.

The talk around the WACA pitch will continue right up until the toss and then continue throughout the match.

Each year the public is told the pitch is going to be faster and bouncy and curator Cam Sutherland has said that the wicket will be grasser than previous years and offer pace and bounce. Only time will tell.

So far this season spinners have taken 25 of the 102 wickets that have fallen at the WACA. I don’t think that is a big enough ratio to play a front line spinner and a leg spinning all rounder.

Australia need to make the running and the first step would be to pick four fast bowlers on a pitch that will offer something early and send England in and by doing that they say to the English “we coming at you”.

They need to learn from the errors in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Don’t bowl short to Alistair Cook, keep it full and outside off stump and be patient and the same goes for Jonathon Trott. Trott can make runs at will if you bowl straight due to his bottom hand grip, bowl wide of off and be prepare to stick with it for long periods.

Eventually Trott will have to score runs and then opportunities should come from there.

Patience is the key for the Australians. They must stick to plans rather than chopping and changing all the time.

The Australian selectors came up with a selection from left field with WA spinner Michael Beer making his first squad ahead of the out of favour Nathan Hauritz and NSW spinner Steve O’Keeffe.

Australia have four quicks in the squad and the choice appears to be between Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus should they wish to play Beer.

“[Peter Siddle] had none-for in Adelaide but I think he bowled a lot better than that. I thought he got better as the game went on and never got any results to show for it. I’m very comfortable with the way he’s going and I was very impressed with [Ryan] Harris. To come back into the side and bowl that way was really exciting,” Australian captain Ricky Ponting said.

England’s attack is also under the microscope after the loss of Stuart Broad and none of their back-up pacemen starring in the drawn match against Victoria at the MCG.

Chris Tremlett appears to be the favourite due to the likeness of his bowling to Broad while Tim Bresnan’s ability to make lower order runs keeps him in the frame.

The rest of the lineup is set barring injury with the only question mark over how Jimmy Anderson recovers after his whirlwind trip to the UK for the birth of his second child.

It should be a great Test match and Australia is every chance if they can bowl England out cheaply in the first innings.

The Ashes journey begins

The Australian cricket team have left Australia to begin their tour of England, with a mission to reclaim the Ashes.

Australian captain Michael Clarke and his teammates were optimistic about their chances before jetting off.


Click here to hear the thoughts of our Australian cricket team as they left for England.

Looking to join The Roar team? We're searching for an experienced Group Sales Manager to lead our team in Sydney. Yes, this does mean you get to work with the site all day long! If you're a digital media sales star, we want to hear from you. Apply now.