Flying Lyon has Poms on run

ON the eve of a historic Perth Test, I am hoping to see a pitch with loads of pace and bounce, but I am not holding my breath — the WACA Ground has not been itself for a long time.

The WACA strip in days gone by was a genuinely nasty proposition if you did not like the short, quick stuff. However, a new danger awaits the battling English bats in the third Test.

This will be the last Test match at this famous ground where so many wonderful players have graced its surface, not to mention witnessed some terrifying fast bowling, so Australia will want to go out in style.

I have always had great memories, well mostly, of playing at the WACA.

We regained the Ashes there in 2006-07, which was a highlight, and we won many other matches there, but let us not speak about the 99, please!

I must admit I will be a little sad to see the WACA close its doors but the new stadium looks amazing and one thing will not change — the Perth crowds are very sports minded, love supporting cricket and are very knowledgeable about the game.

Anyone in the England camp thinking Nathan Lyon will not be a threat in Perth, think again, as the tweaker is red hot, just like the temperature in the west, and his confidence is sky high.

He is getting big revolutions on the ball which means the ball is fizzing, dipping and curving, making batting against him difficult if you have a negative frame of mind.

The lead-footed English batsmen are making his job easier by not being aggressive against the offie. They are playing into his hands.

You can see the tweaker has a spring in his step when he is about to bowl. He is becoming a bit like Dumbledore from Harry Potter — when the ball goes into that right hand it is like he has a wand and is casting spells over the Poms’ left-handers.

And the Fremantle doctor in the afternoon is a perfect breeze for him to bowl into while the quicks rotate down the hill.

England needs to show some courage and be brave when he comes on. The bats have to cast aside the previous two Tests and throw caution to the “doctor” and hit him out of the attack.

Australia will have Mitchell Marsh in the side for this Test as a bowling backup, at the expense of Peter Handscomb, who must take the opportunity to go back to domestic cricket and work on his technique.

Peter must work out what type of player he wants to be. Unfortunately watching him currently is painful as he cannot hit the ball with his ugly technique.

Speaking of batting, the WACA is a great place to do just that once you get in — and that is the key to batting in Perth.

You have to find a way to get in and leave the ball well; if you do not, you will be on your bike quick-smart and will not have many to your name.

The other area of importance is behind the wicket — you must hold your slips catches as there will be plenty of edges flying to the cordon. It is great fielding in there at the WACA.

England has shown glimpses of form this summer but has not been able to

match Australia’s intensity and it has lost all the big moments so far in this series. And not getting a single hundred from any batsmen has hurt.

It has been another horror week off the pitch for the visitors with more headlines for the wrong reasons; there seems to be all sorts of things going on behind closed doors and in the pubs around Australia.

I am feeling for the skipper Joe Root as he must be feeling extremely let down by his players.

If the players respect Joe then they will come out and fire in the west and stay in the series.

But if the camp is divided then the wheels will come off and the kill will be quick in Perth, and once again this fine piece of cricketing dirt will witness a regaining of the Ashes.

Lastly, congratulations to Alastair Cook on reaching 150 Test matches.

It is not easy to open the batting day in, day out and survive as long as he has. Sure he is not the easiest on the eye and bowlers now realise he does not have a cover drive. But more than 11,000 runs on — yep, that many — he walks on to the WACA as a mentally tough cricketer who has performed exceptionally well over a long period. Take a bow, champion.