England in a spin over its attack

ENGLAND has admitted it shot itself in the foot before the second Test even began by choosing the wrong attack for a pitch that turned right into Nathan Lyon’s hands.

Pre-match, Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough echoed South Australian captain Travis Head’s belief that picking a spinner was a must at a ground where Shane Warne and Lyon have taken more wickets than every other bowler.

But England axed its only specialist spinner, Jack Leach, and trotted out a vanilla attack of five right-arm seamers – four of them who do their best work with the new ball – and mystifyingly asked Ben Stokes to bang down 12 overs of bouncers on day one while 150km/h speed demon Mark Wood carried the drinks.

Wood would’ve been perfect to execute those tactics while fast bowler Ollie Robinson morphed into an off-spinner on day four as England finally figured out you could spin to win on this dry pitch.

Even batting anchor Dawid Malan, more of a casual bowler than part-timer, was asked to turn the ball as he picked up the first two wickets of his Test career.

“The wicket is obviously turning,” Lewis said.

“And we felt the ball would move around under the lights a little bit more than it has.

“In hindsight, you might say we should have picked a different side. But at the time, we felt like we picked a team that would win the game.”

Australian legends privately wondered whether England should’ve brought one of them into its tent to provide the knowledge of local conditions you can only get by living and breathing them every summer.

Veterans James Anderson (five Ashes tours), Stuart Broad (four) and Joe Root (three) have spent plenty of time on these shores, but there is no authentic Australian expertise in Chris Silverwood’s coaching ranks.

There is also a feeling that England has been so worried about planning for tomorrow that it has forgotten about today.

They left Broad and Anderson out at the Gabba so they would be primed for taking the pink ball in Adelaide and then rested Wood from that Test to ensure he was right for Boxing Day.

But the series will be all but over by the time Wood gets the ball back in his hands at the MCG.

Robinson joined Ben Stokes in picking up a prized wicket off a no-ball this series and England sent down 16 no-balls in Adelaide.

“We bowled 11 no-balls out of something like 700 (904) in the first innings,” Lewis said.

“It’s a small issue, but it’s an issue when you get wickets off a no-ball.”