Jake has a Ball as Bond theme helps bowlers

ON A tense second day at The Gabba, no moment better summed up England’s meticulous approach under Joe Root than the wicket of his old nemesis David Warner. Deprived of the strike as England gave him a single early in the over, Warner had faced only 36 per cent of the deliveries by the time he selfcombusted, pulling Jake Ball straight to Dawid Malan at short midwicket. It was only Ball’s third Test wicket, though all three have been high pedigree — Pakistan’s Azhar Ali (World No 9), India’s Cheteshwar Pujara (No 4) and now Warner (No 6). More importantly, it sent Australia a message: England are determined not to be out-thought. ‘We have our plans for each batter and we feel we executed them almost to perfection,’ said Ball after the second day’s play. ‘With Warner, we starved him of the strike, then there was a bit of a loose shot to get the wicket. We executed that really well.’ It’s clear that England’s temporary fast-bowling coach Shane Bond has formed a close alliance with Root as the tourists ensure they give themselves the best chance of retaining the Ashes. ‘Bondy and Rooty have spent a lot of time looking at the stats and where batters score runs in their first few balls and overs,’ said Ball. ‘The amount of time those two have put in is really showing out on the field. We had a meeting the other day when we had a lot of analysis and a lot of stuff on each player. ‘It’s great for the bowlers to go out there and know where their batsmen’s weak areas are.’ A leg slip in place for Steve Smith was another Bond ploy, and helped keep Australia quiet during an attritional post-tea session in which only 11 runs were scored in 10 overs.