How to win this test of character
THE main ingredient England need to be successful on this Ashes tour is character. It’s going to be very hostile and they will have to stick together.
I go back to 2005 and there was an incident in a one-day game at Edgbaston when Matt Hayden hit the ball back down the pitch. England bowler Simon Jones shied at the stumps but the ball hit Hayden on the chest.
Hayden went at Jones, then Paul Collingwood came in from cover point and Ashley Giles rushed in from somewhere. You could see there and then that England were not going to be bullied.
Joe Root’s team are going to need that culture of ‘you take one of us on, you take all of us on’.
They will face a barrage of pace bowling from Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood and they’ll need a bit of ‘ticker’ to cope with those difficult periods.
But as the Kookaburra ball gets older it becomes easier to play, so soak it up, suck it in and — especially against a four-man attack, three of whom are fragile and have suffered a long list of injuries — keep them out in the heat and humidity as long as possible.
Perhaps Jimmy Anderson should read Nathan Lyon’s comments about Hazlewood being the best seam bowler in the world and use them as motivation. There is a lot of talk about Hazlewood but from what we saw of him in England last time, it didn’t quite match up with what he delivered.
If I was Jimmy, I would be saying, ‘Sure, my stats aren’t great in Australia but I’ll go head to head with him and prove Lyon wrong’.
At his age, Root will have to look after Anderson rather than turn to him time after time when he needs a wicket. He will have to go to Stuart Broad for his shock factor. And the pair of them have a major job on with that new Kookaburra ball because if there is one wicket I want when England bowl first, it is that of David Warner. He could set the tone for the series.
So the plans have to be crystal clear. Keep Warner quiet and don’t let him get Australia off to a flier.
Root is going to have to be strong with his management of Broad and Anderson, too. They might want only three slips and a gully, with an extra man in the covers from the start, but as a captain you have to realise the Kookaburra only swings for a short time in Australia and you have to make use of that.
If that edge is found, you’d better have fourth slip in. Yes, you know Warner will come at you and smash a few fours and Root’s two senior bowlers might be waving at him to take a slip out. It would be very easy for him to agree — and just as easy for the next ball to be nicked through the vacant region.
England are also going to have to get their plans for Steve Smith spot on. You can only go at him straight for a limited number of overs in Australian conditions.
Sides make the mistake of seeing him move a long way across his stumps and continuously try to get him out lbw. Early on, yes, but if he gets in he will work you to the leg-side for four all day long.
Historically, the Gabba is a batfirst pitch, but if Joe’s gut feeling is that it merits a bowl he shouldn’t refuse to just because I made a fool of myself in 2002 and inserted Australia. You have to look down on the 22 yards beneath your feet and trust what you see. Don’t get clever on the game.