Michael Vaughan criticises the Australian bowling attack
Former England Test match captain Michael Vaughan has criticised the Australian bowling attack, saying they lack a special edge.
England and Australia meet in the first Ashes Test match on 25 November and Vaughan says he firmly believes that the Australian bowlers lack the fire power needed to win a long and important series.
Vaughan was in charge of the England team that won the Ashes in 2005 with a bowling attack that included http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Steve-Harmison-c2576 and Andrew Flintoff. Vaughan says Australian power players like this are missing
from the side.
Australia does have a few weaknesses in the bowling department that England should look to exploit. However, there can be no ignoring the fact that the Australians are better suited to bowling in their
own country than the English.
Weaknesses in the attack
The biggest problem with the Australian bowling attack is that there is no reliability, which has been a benchmark of all Australian sides throughout history.
The likes of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have long been retired and these are the sort of player that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 lacks. Mitchell Johnson may have a Test bowling average of under 30 but he cannot bowl
a hole in the pitch in the same way McGrath could.
There are serious questions over how the Australian bowlers will react if they are put under the sword by key English batsmen. They will not be used to having to bowl defensively and this could provide
a chance for England to make some huge scores.
"It's harder being a captain when you don't have the ammunition in your bowling attack. If they got 300 a few years ago, they knew that Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath would get them back in the game. He
[Ricky Ponting] doesn't have the 'X factor' bowlers who can change games," said Vaughan.
The things that will not change
There are a few things that will never change in terms of strengths in the Australian attack. There can be no dancing around the fact that Australian bowlers are better suited to bowling in Australia than
England bowlers.
This is because they have much better experience of using the Kookaburra ball on flat and hard wickets. The difference will come when the Australian bowlers are forced to use tricks and variations they
may have been practising from their school days. England won't be able to draw on this.
Support for the home team is not going to change. This can be very influential in inspiring bowlers when they are getting tired or losing focus.
"That puts your batsmen under a lot more pressure because they know that you have to get lots more runs to give your bowlers something to bowl at. England can win it. The likes of Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen,
Stuart Broad and Andrew Strauss are real match-winners and we therefore have a great chance," he added.
Betting advice
News stories such as this are going to be more common as the first Test match in Brisbane approaches. Very little will change in terms of the context in betting on either side.
England still looks very good value for a 2-1 series win while Australia must not be counted out because of the home advantage. A better option could be to ignore the first Test match to see which side
looks the strongest.
Out of all the Australian bowlers, Johnson could have a very big series. When he bowls perfectly, there is not a single player in world cricket who can handle him. Back him to take five wickets in any
Test match.
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