My six-point plan for England, who are the underdogs, to win the Ashes
England might be underdogs this winter, but there are ways they can stifle the Australians — and cause damage themselves:
Do not worry about run-rate
Nobody seems to teach defence in Test cricket and tell batsmen to stay in. Nowadays, it is about how many fours you hit, how quickly you score and strike rates. But that is wrong. It is about sound starts. Not losing wickets in a cluster is far more important. It is crucial England get through the new ball of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins without losing early wickets. I do not think it matters how many runs they score early on. It is about staying in.
Starc is a real handful with the new ball. He can bowl some swinging, fast magic balls, but he is a bit erratic. Cummins is right-arm, fast but inexperienced. He has played plenty of one-day matches but only five Tests, so he is used to bowling only three-over spells and then resting for two or three days. Make him bowl 20 overs in a day. He could break down again if we force him into a heavy workload.
Bore Warner out
Our bowling has to focus on David Warner and Steve Smith. The rest are very ordinary. Warner gives the Australian innings impetus, quickly taking the initiative away from new-ball bowlers. Bottle him up by bowling very straight, giving him no room either side, with a midwicket, cover and straight mid-on and midoff. Push mid-on and mid-off back five yards further than usual.
There are more ways to get a batsman out than bowling magic balls. Sometimes a batsman can be over-eager, aggressive and get himself out. He is that sort of player. It will demand, patience and discipline from the bowlers.
Smother Smith’s strengths
Steve Smith is one of the top three batsmen in the world and he sucks bowlers in. Just before the point of delivery, he moves back and across his stumps, giving them the impression he has moved too far over, so that if you bowl straight and he misses it, he will be out lbw.
The trouble is, he hardly ever misses Brisbane Adelaide Perth Melbourne Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Sydney Adelaide Venue TBC
Forget sweeping Lyon
Hobart Melbourne because you are bowling to his strength, which is working it to the leg side. If you are going to bowl straight at him, you need to put a man in at short midwicket and block him up with a mid-on, square leg and even another man on the midwicket boundary.
For Smith, pack the leg side to give yourself some protection, and that short midwicket will just make him think a bit if he hits it in the air. Plan ‘B’ is to bowl wide of off stump, giving him nothing to hit through the leg side. You have to pitch it up.
Nathan Lyon has had a lot of success at bottling up our right-handers by bowling around the wicket. He bowls straight, pitching on wicket to wicket. Our righthanders struggled because the modernday batsman sweeps and reverse sweeps.
But you are not able to sweep and reverse sweep when it is pitching on the stumps, because if you miss it from around the wicket, the umpires now give you out lbw. Last time he bowled like that in Australia, he messed us up good and proper. What England should do is forget the sweep. Play him to mid-on and mid-off.
Use your brain — not your mouth
Do not get involved in a war of words. Sledging is, and always has been, part of the Australian cricket culture. Some of their players use it as self-motivation. It gets their juices flowing.
Words have never won a Test. It is about performance.
Never underestimate Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood does not have the pace of the other two but his strike rate is 55.5 and he is a mean, accurate bowler. It is easy to think that after the fire and aggression of Cummins and Starc it is going to be easy. That would be a big mistake.
Hazlewood he bowls the corridor, holds the line consistently and keeps control. I was say even when you are not getting people out, it is about trying to not lose control. Hazlewood gives his team control.