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Ryan Harris retires and The Ashes get even tighter

Ryan Harris has played his last Test for Australia. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Expert
5th July, 2015
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1954 Reads

In the lead-up to the Ashes, there was one clear difference between the sides: Australia’s superior depth of pace options.

Although Australia’s attack still looks stronger than England’s, the retirement of Ryan Harris means the gap between the bowling units now is significantly smaller.

Crucially, Harris had a mental hold over England’s two best batsmen – skipper Alastair Cook and middle order lynchpin Joe Root.

The canny seamer identified weaknesses in their approaches to batting and exploited them masterfully over the back-to-back Ashes.

Root and Cook both were playing in a one-dimensional fashion, overly reliant on slicing the ball away square on the offside.

Harris drew them on to the front foot, where neither looked at ease, as he directed the ball at the top of off stump with relentless precision. Neither Englishman had an answer to this simple strategy.

By the time Australia claimed the urn with a 5-0 victory, Harris looked to have left the two batsmen mentally frazzled.

Among other emotions, Root and Cook will have felt a soothing surge of relief upon learning they would not have to combat Harris again.

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Harris spent almost half of his Test career playing against England. Across 12 Ashes Tests, he reaped 57 wickets at an average of 21, a remarkable record which stands with the greats of all time.

The brutal, blistering bowling of Mitchell Johnson may be the lasting memory of Australia’s Ashes triumph, but Harris’ composure and consistency laid the foundation for his pace partner’s blitzkrieg.

Over the past 18 months, Johnson has tended to look more potent and more assured when in tandem with Harris.

It will now fall to beanpole youngster Josh Hazlewood to carry out the Harris role of being simultaneously frugal and incisive.

Hazlewood’s phenomenal start to his Test career suggests he has the tools to do this.

The major question, though, is whether he can produce his best, or at least something very close to it, across a long, intense and extremely high-profile series.

Suddenly, Peter Siddle looks like playing a pivotal part in this Ashes after it appeared unlikely we would see him, barring unforeseen circumstances.

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Siddle has been less effective as a Test bowler over the past two years or so as his pace has dropped into the low-to-mid 130s.

He does, however, own a solid record in England, with 37 wickets at 31 from 10 Tests.

He also has been in fine touch this year. Siddle is coming off a dominant Sheffield Shield campaign, with 28 wickets at 20, and also excelled during his recent county stint with Lancashire, taking 18 wickets at 20 from four matches.

Siddle surely won’t be in the starting XI on Wednesday at Cardiff. It would not be a surprise, though, to see him included in the team for the second or third Test.

Even with Harris now retired, it still seems probable Australia will look to rotate their quicks over the five Tests. The visitors will want to maintain a freshness to their attack over what will be a gruelling series.

Of their five quicks, only Johnson and Siddle have played every match of a five-Test series.

Starc has never played more than three Tests in one series, while Hazlewood has only ever taken part in two. Both young quicks also have had plenty of injuries since making their domestic debuts.

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It stands to reason then that Australia would have concerns about how best to manage the fitness of Starc and Hazlewood, with supremely fit and strong attack leader Johnson less of a headache.

We could see a situation where Hazlewood and Starc each take a turn of sitting out a match within the first three Tests, before Australia then stick to what they consider their strongest line-up for the final two matches.

Australia rotated Starc in the last Ashes in England. He played the first, third and fifth Tests, seemingly being employed on surfaces where his pace and reverse swing would be needed.

In recent years, Test teams have begun to place a high value on keeping their pacemen fresh not just during a session, a day or a Test – but over a whole series or season.

That’s why every Test side now fields an all-rounder in their top seven who can operate as a solid fifth bowler. This eases the workload on the frontline quicks and helps them to be at their most potent when they are employed.

Bringing a fresh and experienced bowler like Siddle into your team during a long Test series is an attractive option. England’s pace stocks remain weak by comparison, even with Harris gone.

James Anderson and Stuart Broad are so experienced and so important to the England line-up that both will likely be asked to play all five Tests, as they did in the past two Ashes series.

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For the opening Test, sharp right armer Mark Wood looks set to be their partner. Skidding the ball through at up to 150km/h, he impressed at times in his debut series against New Zealand.

But beyond Wood, England’s pace options are ordinary. Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes are the other three fast men to have been used recently in Tests, although it is Steven Finn who has won the backup pacemen spot in England’s squad for Cardiff.

Jordan, Plunkett and Woakes all have struggled at Test level and would look out of their depth in such a high-profile series against a strong opponent. Finn is more talented than that trio but is unpredictable and has lost pace since making his Ashes debut as an express 21-year-old in the 2010-11 series.

Despite being England’s leading wicket taker over the first three Tests of that series he was dropped for the fourth match because of the manner in which he was bleeding runs. In his four career Tests against Australia he has conceded an incredible 4.3 runs per over.

His inability to build pressure could be a major hindrance for an England attack which lacks a frontline spinner and has a fifth bowler in Ben Stokes who is also extremely expensive.

England’s lack of bowling depth is crucial because there appears very little chance Wood will play all five Tests. The youngster has had such problems stringing games together in the past that some English pundits questioned whether he should have been rested for the second and final Test against New Zealand recently.

If there are concerns he can’t even handle two Tests back-to-back, what are the odds of him surviving five Ashes Tests and remaining potent throughout?

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Wood’s weapon is his pace. If he bowls consistently in the 140s and up to 150km/h, he could trouble the Australian batsmen. However, even if he manages to play all five Tests, there are slim odds he could do so while maintaining close to his top speed.

Operating in the 135-140km/h zone, Wood would present a comfortable foe for the Australians. And it seems that is the kind of speed he will produce if asked to play a lot of cricket in this series.

On debut, he began with venom, hurrying most of the Kiwi batsmen as he bowled at an average speed of 142km/h. By the second Test, Wood was either running out of gas or afraid of getting injured, with his average speed dropping dramatically to 136km/h.

England will have noted this and may look to use him in bursts. They have poor choices for his replacement though and this could be pivotal over the course of five Tests.

By comparison, Australia have three quality fast bowlers, and a fourth in Peter Siddle who is not to be underestimated given his solid record and experience in England.

The loss of Harris, though, is a major boon for England. What already shaped as a close Ashes series just got even tighter.

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