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Australia enter the second Ashes Test at the splendid-looking Adelaide Oval against England as favourites but the nature of the pitch could have a lot of say. Join us for live scores and updates from 11.00am AEDT.
The track at the Gabba behaved exactly as was expected out of it. There was bounce, there was some sideways movement and combined with decent pace, it made batting a tad more difficult than most other pitches around the world.
Mitchell Johnson enjoyed the track but as Michael Clarke and David Warner showed in the second dig, there were runs for the taking. Especially if the opposition captain allowed you to do that with his tactical blunders.
It was less of a blunder in fact, more a question of a habit that seems to have seeped into Alastair Cook’s psyche.
His defence mechanism pushes him into sending his fielders back at the first sign of being attacked and the first leg of the Ashes series allowed Australia a good look-in to their opponent’s mind to take advantage of that situation.
Some may argue it’s too early to change things around, especially after only one defeat given Cook’s record otherwise.
England have been in this position where they have taken time to adapt early in the series but without too many tactical changes, have come back strongly in the rest of the series.
Where this could be slightly different is that Australia have smelled blood.
Starting from the 2009 Ashes series played in England, Australia have always had to do the catching up and lost the urn each time.
And it’s gotten progressively worse for them – they lost that series 2-1, went down 3-1 at home in 2010-11 and were then relegated to a 3-0 defeat earlier this year.
The situation has, therefore, turned desperate for Australia. Unlike in India late last year, England can expect no complacency from Australia.
They will come out hard, they will play aggressive and irrespective of the nature of the pitch in Adelaide, if lessons from the Gabba game aren’t learnt quickly, England could well find themselves staring at a mountain.
For starters, England need to select right. Ben Stokes, for now, looks like a player who can do a bit of both, batting and bowling, but can he maintain his place in the Test side on the virtue of one of them alone?
If the answer to that question is no, England would do well to play either Jonny Bairstow or Gary Ballance at the number six spot.
As far as the number three position is concerned, vacated by Jonathon Trott’s unfortunate exit from the country, it needs to go to Ian Bell. Joe Root will turn out to be a fine player in the future but for now, his batting is more suited to down the order.
At number three, you need a batsman who can take up one of the two roles – push the opposition back with some aggression but if the situation demands, he should be able to absorb all that’s thrown up to him.
Root fulfils the second of these criteria but as his strike-rate of 40 shows, he has been more averse to taking on the bowling.
The good news for England is that Tim Bresnan is fit enough to make the squad and I will be highly surprised if he does not replace Chris Tremlett in the starting 11 for Adelaide.
Tremlett, at best, was steady at the Gabba, and while he grabbed a couple in the second innings, his speeds were terribly disappointing.
Australia have a decision to make of their own. It’s a flat Adelaide pitch, which could necessitate the coach and captain to bring in an extra bowler in James Faulkner to replace George Bailey.
It’s difficult to tamper with a winning combination and I would like to believe Bailey will remain in the 11 unless the track looks to be an absolute belter and a number six batsman is deemed superfluous to the team – especially given that Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson have both shown they can hold the willow.
A word on the pitch. There were earlier reports that the curator would allow for some bounce on the surface but according to latest reports, it’s turning out to be quite dry – something that will make life easier for the batsmen and Graeme Swann.
Swann had an average opening Test as the Aussies looked to take him from the very start but he could find his calling at Adelaide if the surface continues to remain as dry as has been made out in the media.
It could also assist someone like Shane Watson, who tends to excel on pitches where the ball comes on to the bat and does not provide much assistance to the seamers. Like the one at the Oval where he hit a century.
Follow the live score of this second Ashes between Australia and England from 11.00am AEDT.
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