Bond helping to plot Australia’s downfall
"They’ve shown a willingness to wield the axe and sometimes that can be tough for players to play under."
Shane Bond
It’s a cricketing week like no other for a fizzing Shane Bond, and he’s joined in the fun by declaring Australia’s batting lineup vulnerable at their own fortress Gabba.
The former New Zealand fast bowler and now England bowling consultant is counting the hours till the Ashes series starts today, having squeezed into the team photo alongside six other coaches including spin whiz Saqlain Mushtaq and former England internationals Paul Collingwood (fielding), Mark Ramprakash (batting) and Bruce French (wicketkeeping).
‘‘I was smack bang in the middle of the second row and it was pretty full,’’ he said.
As was the team’s central Brisbane hotel lobby this week, with Kangaroos league players preparing for a World Cup semifinal. There was one familiar Kiwi face: the former Otago opener Chris Gaffaney who’ll be third umpire in Brisbane then on-field in Adelaide.
‘‘He’s highly regarded and certainly earned his spot. He’ll love it.’’
But back to this trash talk business. It’s the way of the Ashes and largely washed over Bond who expected all the verbal fireworks in Australian accents. He’s not buying it and senses the hosts aren’t as daunting this time around.
‘‘We know they’re a good team in their own conditions, no doubt about that, and they’re full of good players but they’re certainly a beatable team.’’
It’s bold, against an Australian side who haven’t lost a Gabba test for 28 years, but Bond should know.
He conquered Australia’s batsmen on their own turf with the white ball in that unforgettable 2001-02 tri-series and is back ‘home’ where he’s bowling coach for Brisbane Heat in the Twenty20 Big Bash.
Bond won’t be teaching Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad any new tricks but he’s picked apart Australia’s batsmen. Wicketkeeper Tim Paine’s recall surprised them, they expected opener Cameron Bancroft’s selection but thought allrounder Hilton Cartwright would be No 6 instead of the experienced Shaun Marsh.
‘‘There’s some players from five down in that order who are under a lot of pressure going into this test match because the public over here aren’t overly happy with parts of the selection. They’ve shown a willingness to wield the axe and sometimes that can be tough for players to play under.’’
Choosing a specialist batsman at six leaves Australia with four frontline bowlers - a very good four of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. Even without Ben Stokes, whose involvement remains uncertain, Chris Woakes is England’s potential point of difference in Bond’s eyes.
‘‘We’ve got the bowling group and we also know we’re one bowler up on the Australians, They’re a strong bowling group but there’s only four of them. If we can bat for a long period of time it can have a knock-on effect for the rest of the series.’’
Anderson, Broad, Woakes and the towering Jake Ball are the likely four, with Craig Overton in reserve. Bond likes their bowling firepower on a pitch with no surprises: bouncy with something for everyone, and only a bowl first option if it’s heavily overcast.
‘‘Chris Woakes has had an outstanding start, got a lot of wickets, swung the ball and bowled fast; Craig Overton got steep bounce and is a handful and Jake Ball is a 140kmh bowler who moves the ball around and gets good bounce. He had an ankle niggle but was probably our best bowler up to that point.
‘‘There’s certainly enough in our bowling attack, when you combine them with Jimmy and Stu and Moeen [Ali], that we can cause problems for Australia.’’
Australia’s two kingpins are David Warner and Steve Smith and the bowling group has endless footage and theories on how to bowl to them. Former South African coach Russell Domingo wrote this week of how they aimed at Warner’s thigh pad as long as possible to stop him freeing his arms, and kept it straight to the shuffling Smith to try and trap him lbw.
Captain Joe Root might employ some inventive fields. Keep tight lines, restrict boundaries and pick their moments to attack was Bond’s simple mantra.
‘‘At times you have to really up the ante. You know they like to score quickly so you can deny boundary options. Sometimes that’s not a defensive play and it can be a way of getting a wicket. Everything we do is about trying to get these guys out and it might look a bit different. We’ve talked about doing some different stuff and we’ll see how it goes. If it comes off it will certainly build confidence in the team.’’