Mitchell Starc has thrown down the gauntlet to England over whether their Bazball style will cope with Australia’s world-class bowling attack.
But opposing paceman James Anderson is also in a bullish mood ahead of the Ashes, insisting England can hit a level “nobody in the world can cope with”.
Starc told The Sydney Morning Herald that the Aussies won’t be thrown off their game by England’s high-octane approach with bat and ball.
““If they are 5-50, are they still coming out and swinging? Dunno,” he told the SMH. “They’ve been able to maintain it for some time. Fair credit to them, it’s not just a one-off. It makes for an exciting Ashes contest. We’ll see if that’s the way they’re going to play, how it goes.
Mitchell Starc appeals unsuccessfully for the wicket of Rohit Sharma. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“From the guys I’ve spoken to this week, we’re not really buying too much into it.”
He also questioned whether England’s curators will be able to come up with fast pitches that captain Ben Stokes has requested.
“Have you ever seen a fast wicket in England? I don’t know if they can [prepare them to be fast]. They can certainly make them flat. I think it’s a bit of a smokescreen. There’s always a bit of chat around the Ashes.”
Anderson, as the elder statesman of English cricket, tends to steer clear of pre-series mind games – leaving the needling to fellow seamers Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson.
Yet as he prepares to play in his ninth series against Australia, the 40-year-old great cannot hide his optimism for the summer ahead.
A minor groin strain means Anderson looks set to sit out the first home Test of the year, against Ireland at Lord’s, leaving him to focus on the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on June 16.
He says he does not expect to play all five Ashes Tests matches at next month’s home Ashes series against Australia.
“I think playing all five is a little bit optimistic,” he said.
“I think three, not just for myself – if you said to any of the bowlers three out of five, I think that’s probably more realistic, more sensible. If it’s four then great.”
Anderson’s long-time bowling partner Broad recently declared England’s 4-0 defeat Down Under in 2021/22 as ‘void’ due to the hangover of COVID-19 restrictions and, although Anderson makes light of that assessment, he strongly believes the current side are a completely different proposition.
“I get his point with the COVID stuff but, for me, I’ve voided the last three away series. I’ve lost four out of five, I think. That’s his coping strategy,” he said with a smile.
“I’m aware of what has happened, but I’ve played long enough to be able to park everything that’s gone before, good and bad, and focus on what’s about to come.
“I’m just excited about the way we’ve been playing. It’s about entertaining people and trying to enjoy ourselves while we do it.
“If you look at our team, if we play to the best of our ability with that mindset, I don’t think anyone can cope with us.
“If we do what we’ve been doing and play as well as we possibly can, I think nobody in the world can cope with it.”
(Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Since head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Stokes took over last summer, England have won 10 of their 12 Test matches, playing a brand of daring, innovative cricket that has ripped up several chapters of the old rule book.
Stokes’ utter commitment to the ethos, as a batting unit and a bowling group, is the driving force behind the reinvention of a team previously associated with conservative methods.
And Anderson, who has served under a host of England captains including the likes of Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Sir Andrew Strauss, has the highest possible praise for the all-rounder.
Asked if Stokes was the best of the lot, he took a long pause before answering: “Yeah. It is hard to say over a short period of time, but he’s had an amazing start.
“He’s a born leader. I think he is completely different from any captain I’ve ever played with before and I’ve really enjoyed it.
“The way he trains, whether it’s the gym or whether it’s catching or batting or bowling, he is the ultimate professional.”
Steve Smith has found himself upstaged by an English teenager as he missed out on the chance to warm up for Australia duty by making his opening ton in first-class cricket this year.
The Australian great still looked in pretty decent nick on his county home debut for Sussex at Hove as he moved fairly serenely from his overnight 68 on to 89 on Friday morning, looking to amass a big first-innings lead over Glamorgan.
But just as he appeared to be stepping up a gear after only scoring five in the first 55 minutes of play, pulling James Harris for six over mid-wicket – much to the delight of a thousand schoolkids who’d been let in free to the seaside venue for the day – the fun stopped abruptly.
Three balls after the indignity, Harris trapped the champion batter with one that seamed away and kept a little low, ending his near four-hour, 183-ball stay in which Smith had hit 10 fours and a six off 183 balls.
The groans of disappointment told of a crowd who had wanted to see much more from Smith, who hasn’t compiled a hundred anywhere since the two dazzling back-to-back tons he cracked in five days in the BBL in January.
But the cheers soon returned, this time for Smith’s 19-year-old partner James Coles, one of the bright young things of the English game who had looked in no way overawed in his 143-run stand with the Australian.
The teenager went on to make his maiden first-class ton, a superb 138, as Sussex built up a 358 first-innings lead, despite the best efforts of another Australian Test contender, Michael Neser, whose 3-81 off 21.5 overs included him giving Smith food for thought with his probing attack early in the day.
When Glamorgan batted again, Marnus Labuschagne, who’d been whittled out for just one by England paceman Ollie Robinson first time around, this time got his head down and looked set for a vigil, ending up unbeaten on 15 off 40 balls with the Welsh side on 1-118, still 240 behind.
At Bristol, Marcus Harris had also looked hungry for a big score in what was his final game for Gloucestershire before Australia duty.
Having had a bit of a lean patch since he took a century and half-century off Glamorgan at Cardiff, the opener reached his fifty against Durham off 118 balls, thanks to a carefree reverse sweep for four off Ajaz Patel.
Two balls later, though, the left-hander was gone, rocking back to cut and edging to the keeper.
Australian performance of the day came from Surrey allrounder Sean Abbott, who followed up his rumbustious, late-order 78 with a quick wicket before the close as the home side took control against Kent at the Oval.
Abbott and Gus Atkinson (55no) had helped dig champions Surrey out of a hole to take them to 362, a first-innings lead of 84, before fine bowling reduced them to 4-80 by the close.
Abbott struck to get rid of his countryman, nightwatchman Wes Agar, as three wickets tumbled in the final 16 balls of the day.
Abbott’s powerful 88-ball 78 and Atkinson’s blistering half-century from No.10, with three sixes and six fours, propelled them into the lead.
The 31-year-old fast bowling allrounder Abbott showed why he’s potentially so useful for Australia’s extended Test squad, coming in with the score at 6-180 to smash a six and nine fours with some clean, game-changing strikes.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan will return to BBC commentary duties after he was cleared of making a racist comment towards four Yorkshire teammates in 2009.
The BBC removed Vaughan from their line-up two years ago after Azeem Rafiq accused him of saying “there’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about that” to him and three of his fellow Yorkshire teammates of Asian heritage.
Michael Vaughan. (Getty Images)
He was also charged by the ECB of bringing the game into disrepute but was cleared two months ago by the independent Cricket Discipline Commission panel due to “significant inconsistencies” in the evidence put forward.
The 2005 Ashes-winning skipper will appear on radio and TV for the BBC for the June 1 clash with England and the Ashes series that follows.
Five of Vaughan’s teammates were found guilty of racist behaviour in the wake of the Yorkshire scandal and the panel’s sanctions are likely to be announced in the next few weeks.
The most matches by an umpire – Bob Crockett stood in 27 Ashes Tests from 1901-25 and the Melburnian was known for not being afraid to call no-ball if he thought a bowler was chucking the ball and also for favouring Victorian players.
On This Day …
Former Australian selector and Ashes combatant Andrew Hilditch was born in 1956 in Adelaide. He played 18 Tests from 1979-85, making his debut against England. On the troubled ‘85 tour, the opener began the series with 119 at Leeds but his form tailed off and he was dropped later that year after Richard Hadlee tormented him in Brisbane. He was Australia’s selection chairman during the difficult era after the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and a host of all-time greats.
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