Gabbatoir jinx in Cook’s head
THE Poms have already conceded an Ashes win at the Gabbatoir is a pipe dream with opening batsman Alastair Cook admitting a draw would “be a really good start to the tour”.
England are rank outsiders for the first Test, starting tomorrow, having not won in Brisbane since 1986.
The war of words between the fierce rivals exploded yesterday when Aussie off- spinner Nathan Lyon was plastered across the front pages of England’s biggest newspapers.
Lyon claimed England were scared of Mitchell Johnson during the 2013- 14 series in Australia and he wanted to see skipper Joe Root play so poorly this summer that he was dropped.
The last time Australia lost a Test at the Gabba was to the West Indies in 1988 and England have been given little hope of producing an upset.
Cook, who relinquished the England captaincy in February, said Australia had to lose a Gabba Test some time.
“It’d ( draw) be a really good start to the tour,” he said.
“You don’t go into any game thinking you want to draw it. You play every game wanting to win.
“Clearly, Australia’s record here is very good but records are there to be broken. They are to be changed.”
Cook is one of the few England players remaining from the 2013- 14 series where Johnson claimed 37 wickets with one of the most terrifying sustained stints of fast bowling ever seen.
Australia won the series five- nil after losing the previous three series but Cook said that meant little.
“There are not too many guys ( left) who played in that series,” he said.
“Mitch bowled outstandingly well in that series, one of the best periods of bowling I’ve ever faced, and was backed up by Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle. They’re no longer playing.
“In one sense it’s a bit irrelevant. It happened four years ago.
“England have won four of the last five Ashes series. You can look at what you want.”
Cook, a veteran of 147 Tests, has his own issues to overcome.
He has only reached 50 ( 70 against CA XI last week) once in his past eight in- nings and came under fire from former teammate Kevin Pietersen yesterday.
Cook averages 39.20 against Australia, below his career average of 46.33, and admitted he was underdone in the middle.
“The start of the tour ( duck in Perth warm- up game) didn’t go so well,” he said.
“Adelaide was a little bit better and in Townsville I found a bit more rhythm in my batting.
“In an ideal world you’d spend a bit more time out there.”