Aussies eyeing Thanda Royals out with next year’s Ashes whimper
ENGLAND and Australia play the first of a five-match one-day international (ODI) series at Lord’s in London tomorrow, but the tourists are already looking to their return trip for next year’s Ashes.
Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has played in two Ashes Test series defeats and is desperate to emerge victorious.
“After being involved in two Ashes losses now, it is a burning desire inside me to be a part of a successful Ashes series,” Watson said.
“Any time you play against England you want success. It is the ultimate rivalry and the ultimate challenge for an Australian cricketer, to play against England and win.
“I haven’t been a part of that in Test matches and now is a time to be able to put some things in place so we can have some success when we come back here during the Ashes.”
Australia are the world’s top-ranked ODI side but England come into this match on the back of six straight home series wins in the 50-over game and a run of six wins in as many completed matches.
England’s recent success has been built on their top-order batsman, with Ian Bell filling the gap as opener created by Kevin Pietersen’s limited overs retirement by scoring a hundred against the West Indies at Southampton earlier this month.
The hosts are likely to play five specialist bowlers, with Tim Bresnan at No 7, and medium-pacer Watson believes that if Australia can make early inroads there is an opportunity to put England’s middle order under pressure.
“For England to be able to go in with four frontline quick bowlers is a very good thing for them against our batting lineup – but if we are able to make inroads into their batting early they may be one short,” Watson said.
“Very important for us to have success here is to try and make early inroads. That has been one of England’s strengths over the last period of time, to be able to score heavily.
“We know if we are able to make inroads it may expose a part of the England team that hasn’t been exposed.”
In their 179-run thrashing of an Essex side featuring England one-day captain Alastair Cook on Tuesday, Australia opened with Watson and David Warner, leaving wicket-keeper Matthew Wade at No 7.
“I’ll never sell Tim Bresnan short, I think he’s an excellent cricketer, he’s a very highly skilled bowler and he got 70-odd against us in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy a few years ago as well, so I know he can bat,” said Watson.
“But there’s no doubt it does put a bit more pressure on him batting at seven, and Matthew Wade has had some pretty good success in his short career anyway, opening or batting at seven as well. That could be to our advantage.”
However, a confident Bres- nan said: “I know I can always improve with bat and ball but I’m striking it nicely.
“We are expecting a decent test against Australia. They are number one in the world and we respect them accordingly.”
Australia have an exciting pace attack with veteran Brett Lee alongside Patrick Cummins and James Pattinson.
“Pat Cummins is a very highly skilled young man. No doubt he will be a handful, especially for the English who haven’t seen him much. That will be a nice little wildcard for us,” Watson said.
“Lee’s experience and his quality as a bowler are very important. The two others haven’t played here so Brett is going to be a hugely important part of our bowling.” – Sapa-AFP ANOTHER season in the lowglitz, low-income National First Division awaits the ambitious men of Thanda Royals after their promotion hopes were killed in a crucial 3-0 loss to Chippa United of Cape Town at Richards Bay Sports Complex yesterday.
While the KwaZulu-Natalians reflect on this latest failure to get out of the unsponsored second-tier of pro football in South Africa, Chippa will either advance to the Absa Premier League or neighbours Santos will retain their place in the top-flight after they clash in the final match of the PSL promotion play-offs at Philippi Stadium on Saturday.
Thanda finished on four points from their four assignments in the three-team, roundrobin competition, while unbeaten Chippa sit on five points and Santos have four points going into their derby in the Mother City, which ends the month-long event.
Attacking midfielder-cumforward Andile Mbenyani gave Chippa a perfect start after seven minutes in windy conditions in Richards Bay, and substitute Mfundo Shumana sealed the points for the visitors in the 57th.
Diminutive Buyani Sali completed the unexpected rout two minutes from the end of regulation time.
Desperation
Thanda missed a number of opportunities in the first half, two of them from muscular striker Peter Nwadikwe, and second-half desperation also failed to produce much-needed home goals.
This left them at the bottom of the standings on goal difference and they now have to rush into planning for next season, considering the contracts of their players and head coach Neil Tovey end on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Nhlanhla “Brilliant” Khuzwayo is leaving for Soweto glamour club Kaizer Chiefs while Nwadikwe might be linked to Bloem Celtic, where he reportedly had trials before coming to “Amabhubesi” in January.
Said Tovey: “We are disappointed, obviously. The scoreline is not a true reflection of the game.
“We conceded an early goal and made things difficult for ourselves. We had our chances, but you can’t balloon the bar over the bar if you want to win. The second goal killed us.
“We have to now forget about today and start looking ahead to next season.”
First Division clubs don’t normally keep their head coach into the new season, especially when objectives have not been met, so Tovey will be lucky to be kept on board by the Bell Equipment-sponsored club in northern KwaZuluNatal.