Since the omission of Nick Compton, the English batting order for the first Test has been known. After some warm-up matches the next point on the agenda for Australia is to conjure up a plan to dismiss the English batsman.
Below are a few strategies the Australian bowlers need to employ for each of England’s top seven batsmen.
Alastair Cook
Bowl full, full and full. The English captain is more comfortable on the back foot than any other player around in world cricket.
Australia’s bowlers need to ensure they starve him of any back foot play and ensure he hits most of his shots on the front foot.
Cook rarely comes forward and when he does he does not move his front foot to the ball, he prefers to play with his hands.
Cook succeeds playing off the back foot to reasonably fullish deliveries due to his crouched technique, low hands and strong bottom hand.
To get Cook out of this comfort zone, the Australians need to bowl that slightly fuller length and angle the ball across him.
Ideally as a bowler, you want Cook to play through the covers on the front foot because that is one way of inducing an edge.
Mitchell Starc is often criticised for bowling a lot of full half-volleys but against Cook they might just do the trick.
Joe Root
The young man from Yorkshire stands tall and loves punching off the back foot.
Like Cook he is extremely good off the back foot and through the onside, and in his few Test matches Root is a known to have a slight waft outside the off stump.
A short of length ball moving away is Root’s weakness. When he does play the cut or the square drive off the back foot, the feet remain stationary and he is likely to give you a catch at gully.
A bowler like Peter Siddle is the likely man to trouble him with the length he can bowl.
Jonathon Trott
Bowl outside an inch outside Trott’s off-stump and he will still work you through mid-wicket.
He can work balls through the onside from the stumps but he does it with risk of playing across the line. The challenge is to keep the inswinger as a surprise.
Bowlers have to try and get Trott to play the off-drive and keep a strong leg side field. Australia’s objective should be to let Trott get the majority of his runs on the off side.
Trott is also not the most accomplished player against spin, he plays from the crease and Nathan Lyon should bowl wide of the off stump, with six men on the leg side and a vacant cover.
Kevin Pietersen
The English grounds are small and top edges can go for sixes but Pietersen is a compulsive puller or a hooker.
Australians need to come hard at KP, it may require plenty of effort from bowlers half but the short ball needs to be a weapon.
South Africa undid him last year by peppering with short balls and then throwing in a quick yorker.
Starc and Pattinson both need to be in Pietersen’s face. Bowlers need to dangle the short ball carrot because KP will take it on and he can be vulnerable.
Starc with his pace and bounce is a likely optioin, and when done it should be followed up with a yorker at his toes.
Ian Bell
The most technically equipped batsman in the England team, so the Australians need to outsmart him.
Recently Bell has been dismissed a fair bit edging wide half volleys.
Australia needs to keep it well wide of off stump and quite full. Bell has opened a lot in one-day games lately and is not as patient as what he was some time ago.
A bowler like Starc needs to keep angling the ball away from him and deprived him of laying bat on ball.
It might seem boring and negative, but it will be effective against a restless Ian Bell.
Jonny Bairstow
The little man from Yorkshire is a aggressive batsmen who likes to counter attack.
He is still young in his test career but from what he has shown, he can be susceptible to short balls.
Because he is not so comfortable with the short ball, he likes to shuffle across towards off stump so the Australian bowlers should try to trap him LBW.
Another player with a strong bottom hand, he is not a great driver of the ball through the offside so encourage him to drive with the ball leaving him.
A back of length bowler such a Siddle or Pattinson with pace can expose Bairstow.
Matt Prior
The England wicket keeper is one of the main reasons for their resurgence but he too like the others has a weakness that can be exploited.
Prior favours the offside and likes to stay leg side of the ball. You almost need to encourage him to hit through the leg side and bowl at off and middle stump.
As a natural driver of a cricket ball, one gully is a premium for Prior and if Australia is on top a second gully is a must.
Prior goes hard with his hands the bat can get away from the body at times so the bowlers need to try hit the seam and jag one back at him.
Starc with his full length and ability to bring the ball back in is Australia’s biggest asset against Prior.
MervUK
Guest
to add to all the nonsense about compton coming from the aussies, only a few weeks ago they were calling him the weakest link and siddle in particular said they would target him- its all bluster. Bairstow may give more chances than compton, but he is eminently more destructive and will score at a quick rate. I'd be worried if the top order get going on a flat deck, because you dont want to be bowling at bairstow and prior with runs already on the board- v dangerous players. If you guys couldnt get compton out, who looked like a walking wicket against the kiwis, good luck with cook and trot
MervUK
Guest
That's the thing Ronan, he played him initially well and then actually got out to a short delivery. But then from being a very good player of short bowling at county level, people thought he had a problem due to one dismissal. The saffas started with the short stuff and then realised it was silly and gave up. I'm presuming the Aussies have done their homework and will pitch it up, lehmann knows both root and bairstow well enough
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Merv didn't Kemar Roach rough up Bairstow a bit with the short ball last year? In any case, I'm certain the Aussie bowlers will be happier battling him than Compton.
MervUK
Guest
I do think Siddle and pattinson are pretty good however, if they pitch the ball up... I'll guarantee theyll certainly not be trying to bowl short to the majority of the players. Siddle especially, his renaissance under McDermott was all about pitching the ball up
MervUK
Guest
Bairstow doesn't have a problem with the short ball, he does have a problem falling over offstump playing across the line.
Tasman
Guest
ha ha. good one.
Tim Whelan
Roar Rookie
Frankly, I'm happy with bowlers that don't have money on their team losing.
gav
Guest
Merv, Study the players dismissals against South Africa last year, KP was undone by full ball's after a barrage of short balls. As Flingtooff admitted last week, a short ball is not bowled to get a batsmen out but its to ensure he's footwork is in a mess when the full ball is delivered. i think you have misunderstood the short ball plan. Bairstow got those 45 and 95 but because he shuffles across to get inside the line of the ball [a full ball when he expecting a slower one can undo him] Perhaps if you have doubts about Pattinson and Siddle then you haven't watched them enough. Let the plans and the ashes begin
Nick
Guest
Oh the outrage! You could just about bottle it!
Johnno
Guest
This aussy bowling attack could use a bowler of Amir's quality. A fast left arm fast bowler, who can swing the ball both ways, and bowl in swingers and can bowl at 150km/hr, Amir would be a handy bowler to have in the Aussy team.
James
Guest
can you really see cook getting tired of scoring runs? or sweating?
MervUK
Guest
This s nonsense, I'm presuming you've never seen any of these players bst, you bowl short you'll get spanked by kp and bairstow, who is fine with the short ball as he showed with 95 and 45 against the saffas. Pitching it wide outside off stump to Ian bell- ridiculous, he has a good technique, you have to bowl good line and length or prey on him with the chat. Trott, again bowl him a good ball, how can you bowl outside off with a strong leg side field- he'll smack you through the off side...it's not like he can't play through there, he's just very good through the onside. Roots not an onside player, his technique is similar to Ian bell but he plays a bit later with softer hands, he's a classical Yorkshire opener, raised on seaming wickets with cloudy overcast conditions. He'll try to play the ball after it swings, leaves well and won't push at the new ball, so if he nicks it will invariably drop shot- pure Geoffrey in hs defensive attributes, with a more expansive range of attacking strokes. No obvious technical deficiencies to date so pitch the ball up and look for some movement. England won't look to drop short to any batsmen, other than hughes, they'll pitch it up and bowl with as much discipline as possible, australia would be wise to follow suit...if Siddle or pattinson start bowling half trackers to intimidate they may as well go home
Lee
Roar Rookie
Do you think Trott would even bother playing anything a foot outside off?
Adam Weinberg
Guest
Any chance of Bopara playing you reckon?? susceptible to the short length delivery!
James
Guest
would work v pieterson so long as you start it from the get go, if he gets comfortable and is playing well letting him pull and hook could be a problem for australia.
jameswm
Roar Guru
I like your plans on the top 3 gavjoshi. And overall I like the premise of the article, some nice analysis. On Bell, how you'd get him (if he has the weakness you say) is to bowl straight and keep him tied down, then push the fuller one a bit wider and moving away. Don't bowl them all wide and full, just the occasional one (and it must have some slight outswing). Not so sure about the pulling and hooking option to KP either.
josh
Roar Rookie
Might as adopt the Hauritz method; everyone on the boundary, and hope they get tired slogging.
Lancey5times
Guest
When the method for dismissing a batsman is bowling wide half volleys you know you're in trouble.....
josh
Roar Rookie
Three words; leg side theory.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Good write up Joshi ji The one that stands out is Cook- I have long thought he is suspect to the ball full and swinging in from a good left armer as seen in his struggles against Zaheer and Amir....Which puts a focus on Starc, who if he gets it right could be lethal- but can he get it right for he is very inconsistent KP- you need to strangle him when he comes in for he is a bit like a cat on a hot tin roof and wants to get busy- you see this with all the singles he takes- you dry this up and he can get impatient Trott- as you rightly point out- attack a line a foot outside off- you need to be so disciplined in this attack Bell- a third man or I would even employ a fly slip with him for he scores so much with the late cut- you block that and you will dry up his biggest scoring region Bairstow/ Root- I have not seen enough of Prior- very tough- i struggle seeing a flaw in his game Lastly, to neutralis England batting- you MUST keep a lid on their tail from being a factor for they have rescued/won many games for the Team