da pinnacle： It was England’s batting that let them down at Perth, but it is thestate of their bowling that will give Andrew Strauss and Andy Flowerthe greater food for thought in the build-up to the Boxing Day Test atMelbourne
da leao： Andrew Miller at the WACA19-Dec-2010It was England’s batting that let them down in Perth, but it is thestate of their bowling that will give Andrew Strauss and Andy Flowerthe greater food for thought in the build-up to the Boxing Day Test inMelbourne. Speaking in the aftermath of a series-levelling defeat,Strauss insisted there would be no knee-jerk reactions, but hintednevertheless that changes were on the cards for the MCG, as an intensecampaign takes its toll on England’s resources.Despite an impressive return to Test cricket for Chris Tremlett, whoseeight-wicket haul included a career-best 5 for 87, there were jadedperformances from the remainder of the seam attack – in particularSteven Finn, who looks in need of a rest – and an anonymous one fromtheir trump card, Graeme Swann, who came off a distant second-best inhis latest duel with Mike Hussey and bowled just nine expensive oversin the second innings.While Swann’s ineffectiveness can be put down in part to the vagariesof the WACA wicket – a surface on which even Shane Warne failed toclaim a five-wicket haul in 12 visits – it had a knock-on effect onthe remainder of the attack, with Australia scoring their runs at morethan three-and-a-half an over in both innings, compared to rates thatbarely exceeded three an over on the more placid surfaces in Brisbaneand Adelaide.The most culpable bowler in that regard was Finn, who claimed afurther five wickets in the match to cement his position as theleading series wicket-taker with 14 at 33.14, but who conceded 183runs in 36 overs all told. Despite showing immense promise at the ageof 21, he currently lacks the experience and conceivably the staminato last the distance in a five-Test series, and he could well make wayin Melbourne for the sturdy Tim Bresnan, who proved in Bangladesh thathe is an asset on unresponsive wickets, or the more explosive AjmalShahzad, whose particular penchant for bowling at left-handers couldbe useful in dislodging Australia’s main man, Hussey.”I wouldn’t think there will be wholesale changes because it’s not atime for panic, but I certainly wouldn’t rule anything out at thisstage,” said Strauss. “We have played a lot of good consistent cricketover this tour so far and we’re going to need to do something similarin these last two matches. It’s all about bouncing back now. We’vedone it well in the past and we’re going to have to do it inMelbourne.”We have a got a few days to take stock of the situation,” he added.”There are definitely lessons to be learned from this game, it wouldbe wrong for us to wash our hands of it completely. But our intensityin the field was pretty good and the bowlers for the majority of thetime did a very good job. Bowling Australia out for 260 and 300 on apretty reasonable wicket was a decent effort.”One character whom England most certainly missed was Stuart Broad, whotore an abdominal muscle in the closing stages of the victory inAdelaide, and whose tally of two wickets at 80.50 did not do justiceto the hostility and control that he brought to the attack in thefirst two Tests, in which time his economy rate was 2.30, the best byany bowler on either side. All things being equal – and to judge byEngland’s pre-match comments – both he and Tremlett might well haveplayed here, with Finn missing out on rotation, but Strauss rightlyrefused to be drawn into “what ifs”.”I think Broad would have been very effective on this wicket butunfortunately he was injured and there is no point crying over spiltmilk,” said Strauss. “Chris Tremlett came in and bowled outstandinglywell, I thought. His hostility all through the game was there to see,batsmen didn’t enjoy facing him. He grabbed his chance with both handsso I’m delighted for him. But to win Test matches you need 11 guys toperform, not just one or two.”After a fortnight in which his own team’s bowling issues had beenscrutinised in minute detail, Ricky Ponting was glad to be able to pass someof the problems over to England. “I think England will now be startingto have a bit of a look at their team make-up and the sort of cricketthey have to play to beat us,” he said.”Broad has been an important player for them for a couple of years,”he added. “He is their most hostile bowler and would have enjoyedbowling here, although Tremlett was probably the pick of theirbowlers, so it was going to have an impact on their team. But we haveplayed Swann particularly well. He bowled well in the second inningsat Adelaide, but that was on a pitch that suited him.”Given how integral Swann has been to England’s recent upsurge infortunes, it is inconceivable that he will be kept this quietthroughout the remainder of the series, especially when one considershow quickly he bounced back from some rough treatment in the firstTest at the Gabba. “He understood the situation, that’s the way itgoes,” said Strauss. “Sometimes he will be very effective, sometimesless so. The great thing about him as a bowler is that he’s provedover the last two years that he’s going to be a threat more times thannot.”There was nothing in it for the spinner,” added Strauss. “He did wellto get a couple of wickets in the first innings but there was no turn,the ball skidded onto the bat pretty well. In those circumstances, itwill always be difficult for a spinner to exert any sort of pressure.Australia played him well and positively. But the remaining twowickets in the series should suit him more than this one.”England’s other major talking point is the positioning of Ian Bell inthe batting order. Despite the loss of five wickets in less than 50minutes on the final morning, Bell once again looked the classiestbatsman on show as he stroked a range of cover-drives before fallinglbw for 16, the first time he had failed to reach fifty in the series.With Paul Collingwood looking horribly out of sorts with his seriestally of 62 runs at 15.50, Bell needs to be given more of a chance tomake a positive impact higher up the order, rather than being left tomilk his runs with the tail.Strauss, however, said that there had been no thought given topromoting him in the second innings of this match, despite Englandlosing five wickets on the third evening, including Collingwood for 11to the last ball of the day. “We have got to keep perspective aboutthings and realise there has been a hell of a lot of good batting onthis tour so far,” he said. “We have no reason to expect that to beany different going forward.”
