Ashes: Australia signals intent to play hard-nosed gritty cricket
For years Australia’s bowling plan was bowl fast and if that didn’t work bowl faster, but the team selected for the Ashes signals brains could win over brawn this series.
- Matt Wade’s Ashes sacrifice pays off
- The phone call that revived Peter Siddle’s career
- The reinvention of David Warner
- Paceman Pat’s warning to England batsmen
Australia plans to bowl smart and bat ugly, breaking with tradition in the hope of winning its first Ashes in England since 2001.
You don’t show your hand in these situations, but there’s a tell from the team’s brain trust and all signs suggest a radical approach to the series.
Expect clever bowling and clever use of bowlers, gritty batting and a frugal approach with the ball. Runs will be hard to come by for batsmen and Lyon Nathan could be the only bowler who appears in all five Tests. But even that is not certain.
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The R word is taboo in Australian cricket, but it is back and the quicks will be rotated through the series.
For years Australia’s bowling plan was bowl fast and if that didn’t work bowl faster. While there is still respect for the damage that can be wrought by the likes of a James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins, there is a belief that brains are as important as brawn.
Australia has almost as many bowlers and batsmen in the squad and the team is expecting the first to compensate for low scoring from the second.
Chris Rogers, a batsman who knew England cricket inside out after spending much of his career on the County circuit, used to say to David Warner that an inside edge was as good as a boundary when the ball is swinging and seaming.
Cameron Bancroft was not pleasing to the eye in Southampton but he batted for four hours, snicked them and wore them in an innings that guaranteed his place in the squad.
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It was the same story with Marnus Labuschagne in the first innings when he hung around for a 41 that was, in effect, as good as 141. Both players were bruised and battered and both had some luck, but they showed a way to get keep their innings intact. Pretty boys do not last long when it gets tough.
Some, like Matthew Wade — and to a lesser extend David Warner — are valued because they know how to score runs. They will not waste opportunities.
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