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England captain Andrew Strauss says he’d like another paceman in his team, but an injury to Tim Bresnan has the visitors looking deep into their squad for reinforcements.
England had Australia reeling at 8-142 during the second one-dayer of the series in Hobart on Friday, but let the game slip, eventually losing by 46 runs.
Doug Bollinger and Shaun Marsh combined for an 88-run partnership to give the hosts their total of 230, which proved too much for the visitors.
Strauss admitted the team balance didn’t allow him to go for the jugular at what proved to be a crucial spell of the match.
“In hindsight, we probably should’ve got the fourth seamer in our side. That was a mistake,” he said.
“(We) probably didn’t think it was going to be as slow and stodgy as it was. A (Luke) Wright or a (Chris) Woakes would’ve been a good addition for our side.
“We were probably light of a fourth seamer to be able to bowl at that stage.”
England may have their options curtailed with Tim Bresnan suffering a lower leg injury, forcing the Yorkshireman to bat with a runner on Friday night.
“Bresnan’s got a very tight calf, we don’t know how serious it is at this stage,” Strauss said.
“(It’s) hopefully not too serious, but we’ll assess it in the morning.”
A short break until the third game of the series in Sydney could make finding a replacement quite difficult.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad both arrived in Australia on Friday, but Strauss indicated that the plan to rest the two until Australia Day wouldn’t change.
Woakes, who played in Melbourne, is the most likely inclusion, while bowling allrounder Wright could also be called up for his first game of the series.
Discarded batsman Paul Collingwood, who is also a useful medium pacer, may also be a possibility for the third game in Sydney.
Recalled wicketkeeper Matt Prior failed to make the most of his chance, and was out for a duck, but Strauss said he would not look to make sweeping changes to the order.
“We’re not in the business of handing out huge recriminations to our batsmen. We want to see our batsmen play positively,” he said.
“The last thing we want to see is batsmen do is go into their shells.
“In that sense, it’s not going to be all doom and gloom in our camp, we’ve just got to make sure we play smart cricket.”
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