Ashes 2017: Australia must decide whether to rest quicks or push hard for victory in Adelaide

MITCHELL Starc has made it clear Australia’s fast bowling cartel do not want to be rested and expect to be given the chance to go for the throat in Adelaide.

Australia’s pace trio of (l-r) Patrick Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood with Peter Handscomb at the Gabba on Sunday.

MITCHELL Starc has made it clear Australia’s fast bowling cartel do not want to be rested and expect to be given the chance to go for the throat in Adelaide.

Selectors are facing an agonising decision over whether to try to land the killer blow with an unchanged attack or play the longer game this Ashes series.

Australia’s natural instinct after what looms as an emphatic victory in Brisbane would normally be to back in the same fast bowling attack for the second Test with a view towards delivering a knockout blow.

Going up 2-0 heading to Perth would put Australia in an almost unstoppable position to reclaim the urn.

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However, after a match of heavy workloads for the pace trio, pink ball specialist Chadd Sayers could be on the cusp of a stunning Test debut.

Asked if workloads were a concern after getting through approximately 40 overs each at the Gabba, Starc said he Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood expect to be given the chance to back up for the second Test.

Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood want to play in Adelaide.

“We bowled about 50 overs every Test match last summer and that was a six-Test match summer,” said Starc.

“I don’t see why it’s any different this summer and as far as I know we’re all going pretty well.

“I expect it to be the same squad and hopefully the same line-up going into Adelaide as well.”

England missed a gigantic opportunity to truly push the trio to breaking point at the Gabba on Sunday, but even so, Australia has plenty to think about when it comes to over-exerting their prized quicks.

Starc (44 overs for the match) appeared to be clutching at his right ankle towards the end of the bowling innings, although that didn’t stop him tearing through the English tail to take three wickets in 10 balls.

The big left-armer said post play there were no injury concerns at all, and it was simply an issue with the uneven footholes.

Hazlewood (38 overs) was far from his best in this Test, but still produced two absolute jaffers, including one to knock over England’s master general Joe Root at a moment when the match could have gone either way.

Mitchell Starc doesn’t want a rest.

Cummins (43 overs) was for the most part Australia’s most dangerous bowler, but selectors will be wary of the fact his young body has never lasted more than two Tests on the trot.

Whichever way Australia elects to go, there is inherent risk.

The risk of pushing Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood too far and breaking them, versus the risk of going into a crucial Test match without one of your three world class bowlers at your disposal.

You never want to die wondering in Ashes cricket.

England will be kicking themselves that they couldn’t make the decision even harder than what it already is.

One more hour for the Aussie quicks in the field could have proven deadly, based on Stuart Broad’s theory that 50 over plus overs is in the red zone for “critical workload”.

That hope was destroyed when Jonny Bairstow aimlessly paddled a Starc bouncer to third man.

Instead of hitting the wall, it was Australia’s quicks who finished with their tails up, emphatically slaughtering the England tail.

Sayers’ record at Adelaide Oval and under lights is simply unbelievable. All pointers suggests he would be a success in Test cricket.

But the bigger certainty is that Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood is one of the most comprehensive and ruthless pace trios Australia has ever produced.

It’s one hell of a conundrum to digest for a team that now finds itself way on top.