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If head curator Damian Hough’s not too sure how the new drop-in wicket at Adelaide Oval will play, where does that leave Michael Clarke and Alastair Cook at toss time tomorrow?
“I think it will be a bit slower than a normal Adelaide wicket, but it should assist the spinners,” was Hough’s rating.
Best to bat first would be the best bet to avoid batting last.
This second Ashes Test could well hold the key to the series with the baggy greens 1-0 up after the near 400-run flogging of England at the Gabba.
This Adelaide Test looms as the most pivotal of the series. If the Australians can go two-up in Adelaide, with the third Test on the renowned fast WACA pitch next week, it’s on the cards the Ashes could be regained in straight Tests.
Getting ahead of myself?
No way.
The Wallabies have won their first four Tests in a row since June 2008 and the cricketers their first real dominant Test in four Ashes series.
They are kindred spirits thanks to Ewen McKenzie and Darren Lehmann, the two newly appointed coaches on the international scene.
Both are old school if you like, both adept at communicating with their troops. And it works wonders.
There are two other issues in play here, and both are detrimental to England.
Losing Jonathan Trott to depression for the series will prove vital, and both Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen, two of England’s most pivotal performers, decided a 3.30am drinking session last Sunday in Adelaide was their way of preparing for tomorrow.
And they weren’t punished, like McKenzie punished the Dublin Six for an identical offence.
Momentum in any sport is paramount, and it’s all with the Australians.
England coach Andy Flower was either too weak or too afraid to punish Broad and Pietersen. McKenzie punished the Dublin six with a one-game suspension apiece and still beat Scotland.
McKenzie drew a line in the sand, that took courage.
Flower is still pottering on who to replace Trott at three – either Ian Bell or Joe Root will step in.
Lacking courage and decision-making,
Now is the time for Australia to knock down a dispirited and confident lacking England, and place the ‘foot firmly on the throat’.
In two words – screw them.