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Australia’s spearhead Mitchell Johnson created so much doubt in the minds of England’s batsmen in Perth that he may not need to swing another delivery for the rest of the Ashes series.
As expectations grow that the MCG pitch will offer at least some of the assistance afforded to fast bowlers during the Australians’ 267-run victory in the second Test, Johnson’s pace partner Ryan Harris and England coach Andy Flower agreed the visiting batsman would now be forced to look for the inswinger that so confounded them in Perth.
This will lead to batsmen playing wider of off stump, and so provide the chance for nicks into an increasingly hungry Australian slips cordon.
“He’s bowling very well. He’s not where he wants to be with his pace, his pace is a fraction down, but he’s swinging it,” said Harris.
“I think that showed with Ian Bell (in the second innings). He’s in pretty good nick and the balls he bowled to Bell he was back to bowling that line where it was either swinging or it’s not, that’s really hard to judge at 140-145kph, whether to play or leave.
“As a mate of his it’s just great to see him back. He’s worked so hard, he’s copped a fair bit of stick, gone away and worked on it.
“It shows you he’s a true professional and a very, very good cricketer. A great cricketer.”
While arguing that the England batsmen did not play Johnson as well as they should have, Flower admitted they would now have to be on constant alert for the ball that swings back at them, having not seen any evidence of it during the first Test in Brisbane.
“I don’t think we handled him particularly well, but it was a superb piece of fast left-arm swing, so the way we will prepare for Melbourne is that we expect the ball to swing and we also expect us to play it better,” Flower said on Monday.
“When you play international cricket you expect international bowlers to be able to move the ball sideways, and that is what we will prepare for.”
Sideways movement can be hard to come by at the MCG, but Harris was optimistic of a surface that offered enough to force a result.
He returned match figures of 6-68 for Queensland against Victoria earlier in the season, and will be encouraged to know that the curator Cameron Hodgkins has chosen the more moist of two drop-in pitches prepared with Boxing Day in mind.
“The wicket we played on in the Shield game was quite good, fast and had a bit of grass on it, so I’m not sure what the Test wicket is going to be like,” said Harris.
“I enjoy bowling in Melbourne, it’s one of those wickets where I compare it a bit to Adelaide where you’ve got to hit the deck to get the results, so hopefully if there’s a bit of grass on it that’d be good for us.”
The Australian pace quartet is closer than most, and attended U2’s second Perth concert together on Sunday night.
Describing the deployment of four fast bowlers as a “luxury”, Harris hoped for more of the same in Melbourne, though left-arm spinner Michael Beer has been retained in the squad.
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