Allan Lamb laughs off Dennis Lillee claims ahead of the Ashes
Former England captain Allan Lamb has laughed off suggestions from former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee that Australia has a better bowling attack ahead of the winter Ashes series.
Lillee has suggested that there is a real concern over how England is going to take 20 wickets in any Test match against Australia. He also suggests there is far too much pressure on off-spinner Graeme
Swann.
However, Lamb has reacted by saying that Lillee is talking nonsense and that he must be on another planet if he thinks the Australian bowling attack is superior to England's.
Each bowling unit has a number of different qualities. Lillee's comments have probably come more from the fact that the Australian bowlers are more suited to bowling and taking wickets in Australian conditions.
England strengths
England's biggest strength in the bowling department is that there is a lot of versatility across the attack. There is pace and bounce from Stuart Broad and Chris Tremlett, swing from James Anderson, and
Graeme Swann has been the best spinner in the world over the last 12-18 eighteen months.
England has the recent edge over the Australians following the 2-1 series victory in the 2009 Ashes series. This may seem insignificant, but it will be playing on the minds of one or two Australian batsmen.
England has one of the best coaching set-ups across the world. England's bowlers will have the best advice and technology available. This can be used to bowl efficiently in different conditions and to
deploy clever ideas to get certain batsmen out.
"I think Dennis Lillee has lost it. He's talking absolute nonsense. He must be drinking that Bundaberg rum or something. I think on paper the England side is a far better all-round team and they should
win pretty comfortably 3-1. Swann will be a huge trump card. He's got better figures than Warne [Shane Warne, one of the best bowlers in Australian history] at the same stage of their careers," said Lamb.
Australia strengths
Australia's biggest strength is the fact that the team is playing in their own back yard. Australian bowlers are far better suited to bowling with their own Kookaburra ball and on their own pitches.
There is still a lot of pace in the Australian attack, which is something that side has been historically known for. Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger can bowl very accurately and quickly, which is difficult
to defend against.
Former Australian players have said that losing the Ashes to England is one of the lowest points in any Australian player's career. This means there will be an entrenched determination to get out important
players such as Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.
"If I look at both attacks I think Australia, even without [Shane] Warne and [Glenn] McGrath, have a better attack than England. England's spinning attack, they may use spin twins [Graeme Swann and Monty
Panesar], may be better than ours because Nathan Hauritz is still evolving, but overall our attack is better and that's where games are won," said Lillee.
Betting advice
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 is probably the slight favourite at this stage purely because of the home advantage. If England starts the first Test match in Brisbane on 28 November, then it will be no surprise if any odds
on an England series win are slashed dramatically.
This is going to be a huge series for Graeme Swann and one that is likely to define his career after he's retired. Back him to take five wickets in any Test match because he seems good enough to keep his
edge over Australia.
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