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There are a few observations I have made from the recently concluded series in the Caribbean.
Australia look in good shape. Steve Smith can do no wrong, Mitchell Starc is growing into a Test bowler and Josh Hazlewood looks the business. Oh, as for Adam Voges – good on him.
Now that’s out of the way, the inevitable pre-Ashes phoney war can get under way and already there have been pieces in the English press about…well, not a great deal really.
‘We want to win’, ‘it’ll be a tough series’, ‘we haven’t mentioned the ‘A’ word’.
Riveting stuff.
It should go without saying that the tourists will start, rightly, as favourites and England will have to play very well to stand a chance of winning. Nobody saw 2013-14 coming, just as very few would’ve predicted how 2005 panned out so I’ll put my flag into the not quite sure camp for the time being.
What I do know, and a couple of articles on this site have already touched on the subject, is that Darren Lehmann is going to have a tricky selection dilemma with regard to his choice of seam bowlers when the real action begins.
Ronan O’Connell believes Mitchell Starc is destined to miss out and Dennis Freedman reckons Ryan Harris doesn’t currently feature in Australia’s first choice XI.
Both have offered well thought out arguments but I beg to differ. When the men in green stroll out at Cardiff’s Swalec Stadium early next month they should do it without Mitchell Johnson.
Of course, there are a few of factors such as fitness, form and conditions to take into account but assuming all of these are in order, Johnson should be the man to mix the cordial. And here’s why.
Harris, if fit and this is the most concerning of the variables, is the best seam bowler Australia have got. Accurate, incisive and with a first-rate record, the Queenslander – if his body hasn’t decided to donate itself to medical science just yet – should be the first name on the teamsheet.
After captain Clark of course.
Going on what he’s produced so far in his embryonic career, Hazlewood should be a banker. Decent pace, aggressive without giving too much away, he’s the Peter Siddle deluxe edition and if someone is needed to do the donkey work, he’s your man.
Starc, now he’s not being treated as a little boy who isn’t capable of playing two games in a row, is gold dust. Left-arm, quick and consistently swinging the ball, there isn’t a great deal not to like and if he can’t get in the team then something is amiss.
Shane Watson’s medium pace – dobbers if you’d like the English term – will be a useful option and Nathan Lyon isn’t looking like being usurped by Fawad Ahmed quite yet. That leaves no place for Johnson.
The tattooed paceman needs speed in the surfaces if he is to be a significant weapon, something he is unlikely to get at Cardiff, Lord’s, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and The Oval.
England may not go down a similar route to 2013 when the pitches were left to dry out but it won’t make that much difference. English pitches aren’t quick, end of.
Secondly, no tress have been pulled up in his few Tests in this country. Yes, you can use statistics to prove whatever you want and Shane Warne wasn’t a mug just because he struggled in India, but Johnson won’t be the same over here. And while he had the wood over the English last time out, I’m not sure that means the same will ring true.
Alastair Cook ruled in 2010-11 but not in 2013. One doesn’t necessarily follow the other.
Thirdly, can he be used in the most effective manner, that is, very short and sharp spells, if the fitness of Harris can’t be guaranteed? That’s a big ask and if volume of overs is a criteria then Starc could well be a better bet.
So there you go, only one Mitchell required and it isn’t the obvious.