England must silence Aussie crowds to win Ashes: Swann
England must silence the baying home crowds if they are to stand any chance of getting on top of Australia during the upcoming Ashes series, said former spinner Graeme Swann.
Swann, who retired mid-way through England’s ill-fated tour in 2013/14, described the noise levels at the Gabba in Brisbane, hosting the first Test from Nov.23, as “unbelievable” and even louder than Real Madrid’s home supporters.
England are the current Ashes holders but go into the lion’s den on the back of two 5-0 whitewashes in their past three tours Down Under, although Swann was a key part of the side that won 3-1 in 2010/11.
“The thing you’ve got to do is stop the noise and the easy way to do that in Australia is to get on top of them,” said Swann, adding that England’s senior players such as Alastair Cook and captain Joe Root would have to lead from the front.
“If you get on top of the team, they’ll quickly turn on their own but obviously the hard bit is getting on top of them,” he said, speaking at the launch of BT Sport’s Ashes coverage in London in his capacity as a pundit.
“It’s the most unique wicket in the world, more than Perth, it’s quicker than Perth,” he added.
“It does a lot off the seam, especially early on, so you get a lot of slip catches there. It’s just very alien to anywhere else you bat in the world so teams struggle.”
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan, a fellow BT pundit, agreed that Brisbane offers unique challenges to touring teams.
“I always think of all the venues, Brisbane to me is the one venue where when you go out to bat you’re not just facing one bowler, you’re facing 40,000.
“It just feels that the whole of Australia are watching you. They’re the nastiest of the crowds. No idea why but they do seem to know exactly that they can get to the England side.”
Swann said he had more confidence in England’s powerful middle and lower order batting than the top-order batting, which is light on experience, but said the home side have problems of their own.
“It’s not an ideal thing but I think the Australians are in the same boat,” he said. “I think the Australians have got (David) Warner and (Steve) Smith in the top five who are undoubtedly world class.
“We’ve got Cook and Root who are undoubtedly world class. I think they’ve got some holes that haven’t been completely filled.” Australia are favourites, according to Vaughan, but are also not the finished article, and, with James Pattinson already out, would struggle if fellow paceman Mitchell Starc got injured.
Swann described his fellow offspinner Moeen Ali as a “brilliant” batsman and said he could play a crucial role for England with both bat and ball, especially given the likely absence, at least from the first Test, of talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes.
“I hope he (Ali) goes over there believing he’s a brilliant bowler as well because he is. He really can bowl but he still doesn’t believe it,” said Swann, adding: “He’s world-class when he wants to be with the ball.”
WOAKES’ SIX-FOR
In-form England paceman Chris Woakes claimed six wickets and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow had an injury scare as a Cricket Australia XI reached 249 for nine at the close on the opening day of their four-day tour match in Townsville on Wednesday.
The Warwickshire fast bowler finished the day with six for 54 in the final warm-up game before next week’s Ashes series opener against Australia in Brisbane.
The tourists didn’t help their cause by spilling three catches as CA XI skipper Matt Short topscored with 51.
England had an early injury scare when Test ‘keeper Bairstow was forced off the field for an hour after getting hit on a finger.
Bairstow was replaced by tour understudy Ben Foakes, who took a catch before Bairstow returned to the game with bruising to the middle finger of his left hand.
Woakes followed up his matchwinning four for 17 in the second innings against CA XI in Adelaide with an even better one, taking four for eight at one stage in Townsville.
Woakes heads into the first Gabba Test in terrific form after he was ruled out for bulk of last season with a side injury suffered during the Champions Trophy.
Test hopeful Craig Overton (2-32) also edged closer to his debut.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali had his first bowl on the tour after recovering from a side strain. He finished wicketless for 39 off 16 overs.
England’s spin pair Mason Crane and Moeen were astray with their bowling lengths during the morning session.
Leg-spinner Crane had two catches dropped off his bowling while a diving Bairstow also missed an opportunity when Woakes found the edge of Simon Milenko’s bat.