England captain Andrew Strauss has predicted more blow-ups between the Ashes combatants on the eve of the second Test at Lord’s.
The series stirred to life during the ill-tempered final day of the drawn opener in Cardiff on Sunday and the tension between the sides is set to spill over at the home of cricket.
With Australia and England both desperate to snatch an early advantage in their Ashes campaign, Strauss felt heated confrontations between players were part and parcel of the contest.
When asked if he expected more clashes this series, Strauss said: “It is not an Ashes series without a few of those.
“As pressure builds, obviously that strains people and once they are put under pressure they react in a number of different ways,” he said.
“One thing which I think is important is that the series continues to be played in a good manner and I certainly think those first five days it was played in that manner (in Wales).
“I think with those individuals involved, I can’t see us straying too far from that in the coming days.”
Strauss thought relations between the sides were fine but conceded there were few signs of any fraternising going on.
“Both sides have been pretty friendly when we have seen each other,” he said.
“But we have not seen a hell of a lot of each other to be honest.”
England’s time-wasting tactics at Sophia Gardens have captured most attention but equally noteworthy has been the way some of the newest faces to the old rivalry have set about marking their turf.
It will be interesting to see how Mitchell Johnson and Kevin Pietersen react on the field after both underperformed following their heated exchange before the start of the final day’s play.
Peter Siddle, who was in the thick of it at Cardiff, said he was looking forward to locking horns again with England following his run-ins with Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad.
“I reckon I’m bowling at my best when I get fired up, charging in,” said the man nicknamed Sid Vicious.
“The sooner it happens, the better it is for the team.”
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting saw no problems with the way the players had behaved at Cardiff outside of the time-wasting debacle.
“The entire game I felt was played in terrific spirits, it was on for young and old out on the field as we saw with the Siddle and Swann battle,” he said.
“But otherwise it was a great Test match.”
Ponting will continue his march into the history books at Lord’s, needing only another 64 runs to equal Allan Border as Australia’s greatest Test runscorer.
Ponting bears the scars from his last contest at Lord’s, where a short ball from Steve Harmison opened up his cheek.
The skipper said he hadn’t thought much about his war wound.
“I guess they are the battle scars you end up with after playing a sport like this for as long as I have,” Ponting said.
“I’ve got a few others as well,” he added as he pointed to other parts of his face.
“My fingers are not that straight. It’s part of what we do I guess.”
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