Australia’s chances in the Ashes Series
Australia is gearing up for this summer’s battle against England in the upcoming Ashes series. Australia always rates Ashes as one of the highest contests ever and almost considers it as a mandatory and holy duty to be won. For Australia,
ground realities have changed from what they were four years ago.
Even though Australia have not been performing too well, they are always a big threat for any opposition. Their Test form of late has been in question but their one day form has been quite impressive. They are currently the top ranked
team in One day cricket. Though they have lost a few test matches but overall they have a well balanced side.
Up till now Australia have played 4 test series after Ashes 2009. Australia has won two of the series, lost one test match and drawn one. They might have lost the series against India and one test against Pakistan but didn’t play
badly as these losses might suggest. They were quite impressive in New Zealand at the start of the year by giving a clean sweep to the kiwis in the test series.
In England, where they played Pakistan in MCC spirit of the cricket Test series, they drew 1-1. In the first Test match they outplayed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 with a 150 run victory. All their batsmen chipped in with runs and their bowling was up
to the mark as well.
In the second test match at Leeds they were made to bat first, under moist conditions, and from the start they had to face problems. They lost early wickets and were not able to recover from their troubled start. The first innings
cost them the Test match and eventually a series win. It is very rare for Australia to witness such collapses.
Australia’s success rate has no doubt come down a bit. In the Border Gavaskar series they had to bear a series loss of 2-0. If Australia could take something out of that series and the one in England, it should be linked with their
batting collapses. In the first Test match they started quite well and made 400 plus runs. But again we witnessed a “batting collapse” when they were bowled out at 192.
It was an even competition where India just pulling out a win at the very end. For Australia Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 made a century in the first innings and Johnson and Hilfenhaus impressed with their bowling. What was worrying for Australia
in both the test matches was that they crossed over four hundred in the first innings but were still unable to win the matches. In the second test match their second innings batting once again collapsed where they were bowled out for a small total. It was
a slow Bangalore wicket where Aussies found it difficult to play against spins. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in return chased their target and won the series.
Some positives for Australia out of these two Series were that they have played reasonably well in both of them but. There have been a number of notable performances in their camp like Ricky Ponting has been in a good form with the
bat lately. Mitchell Johnson has been bowling well and has taken vital wickets for Australia, Hilfenhaus has also been impressive with the ball.
For Australia it’s just about exploiting the weaknesses of other teams. They have done this throughout the years and it’s something they are very good at. England is an old rival for them and Australia has enjoyed major victories
over them.
What the two series wins over Pakistan and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 do have serious match winners in their side but they have to be a bit more consistent and persistent.
The way they defeated New Zealand and Pakistan reflects the depth of their bowling and batting line. None of their players are in poor form. Another factor that goes in their favor is that they had some test cricket to play recently
which is good for the preparation for the test series.
Australia has the home advantage against England and we all know what record they have when they play at home. Australia is one team that has lost very few test series at home and this would be a huge advantage for them if they have
to regain the Ashes.
It would be one very close series and one expects Australia to take as much advantage of playing at home as they can. Unlike in the past, this time Australia does not have the
upper hand over England but keeping all aspects in mind one can rate them as a balanced side at the moment as none of their players are playing badly and adding the home advantage factor they can have slightly more chances of winning the Ashes
than England.
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