Spinners could decide third Ashes Test
LONDON: England will look to leave Australia in a spin and retain the Ashes by taking a 3-0 series lead at Old Trafford from tomorrow with team selection seen as key on the famously dusty track.
The wicket in Manchester may have been moved by 90 degrees since Australia last played there in the nerve-jangling drawn 2005 Test but it is still expected to turn and there is an outside chance both sides will play two spinners.
The ground where Shane Warne bowled his ‘ball of the century’ to bamboozle Mike Gatting in 1993 and where Jim Laker took 19 wickets in 1956 is calling out for another spin hero and England’s Graeme Swann is the only man who really fits the bill.
England, on the verge of a third successive Ashes series win after almost 20 years of previous Australian dominance, have included Monty Panesar in their squad as they mull two spinners but it is more likely Australia who will plump for the gamble.
Ashton Agar, 19, has made more impact with the bat than ball after scoring 98 on debut in the first Test at Trent Bridge and fellow spinner Nathan Lyon, with 76 wickets in 22 Tests, looks set to come in either as a replacement or accompaniment.
‘‘I know how you’re going to get all the England players out. That’s an easy one. We’ve just got to execute our plans for it, and I think we’ve done that pretty well over a period of time,’’ Australia coach Darren Lehmann said.
‘‘We’d be mad to pick [Agar] if we didn’t think he was technically up to it. He’s 19, I’d hope he has plenty of room for improvement, the same as Nathan, they’re both young kids, although Nathan’s played a lot more.’’
Pundits expect Michael Clarke’s men just to go with Lyon and replace injured fast bowler James Pattinson with Mitchell Starc, dropped after the first Test, or Jackson Bird.
England fans were so used to their own team being in disarray through the 1990s and during the 5-0 drubbing Down Under in 2006-07 that they can hardly bring themselves to contemplate a whitewash series win this time.
The team management have their eyes secretly on 10-0 with a five-Test series starting in Australia in November. They are keen to manage their pace bowlers’ workloads and have rotated their squad with Chris Tremlett coming back in with Steven Finn and Graham Onions missing out.