The Ashes, England in a good position
With each day passing, the hype around The Ashes is reaching new heights. The Ashes has always been portrayed as a war where two teams would be battling it out. The pre-Ashes banter starts with both the teams making sure the other is scornfully hated.
Early favourites Australia are already in the news after their dismal tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 is proving to be a struggle too. With six consecutive losses in all three formats
of international cricket, the selectors are in a whirlwind as to what to do.
Former players and fans alike are questioning the ability of current Aussie captain Ricky Ponting and Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120’s limited-overs leadership. They are also being criticized about the Australian side’s bowlers as most of them are struggling with injuries.
There have been reports on ongoing dressing room tensions following their incredible defeat against Sri Lanka. But batsman, Mike Hussey, has denied any rift between the Australian players saying everyone has a “good relationship” with Michael Clarke, who
led the team on Wednesday’s match.
On the other hand, England is in a happy place. Any loss of Australia’s is England’s gain. They are practising on a bowler-friendly pitch. They have a strong bowling attack and it looks like that they have plenty of bowling options.
England has three first-class warm-up matches and they have come up with a very intelligent plan in testing their bowlers before announcing their first Ashes Test squad. Reports suggested that they would be sparing their first choice bowlers for the first
Test a long flight. They would be flying directly to Brisbane from Adelaide and in this way the players could easily adapt to the conditions of their first Test on 25th November. The weather is quite different from the heat of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Queensland-c834 but the
England board mentioned that this is merely an “option” that they are considering.
However, England Captain Andrew Strauss had his doubts about this option as they might be using the back-up bowling attack in the warm-up games. Currently, they have a consummate line-up of Test bowlers as James Anderson and Graeme Swann recovered fully
after minor injuries.
Strauss admitted that although it is an unlikely option to spare bowlers in the warm-up matches, they are a bit concerned about the “temperature and humidity” differences between Brisbane and Hobart.
The first warm up match would be played on Friday and the squad line-up would likely resemble the Test squad. Strauss further commented that it is obvious they would be giving a chance to the intended players for the first Test match so that they can have
“as much cricket as possible”. Yet, he admitted that there are one or two places still undecided and up for grabs in that team.
The first warm up match is taking place early Friday against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Western-Australia-c865 at Perth. The England team includes Alistair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson,
and Steve Finn with Andrew Strauss leading the pack.
The team is seeking a win to build up momentum for the Test series. The English are seeking their first Ashes win in the land Down Under since 1986-1987. The English Cricket Board (ECB) made sure that the team gets enough time to focus on cricket in Australia
so that they get acclimatise to the heat of the Australian summer.
The ECB went one step ahead in “banning” the player’s wives and girlfriends and families in joining them for the long tour so that they can give their full concentration to the game in order to defend the Ashes title.
The Ashes outcome would also give a fair idea to the selectors ahead of the World Cup in February. However, it sure looks like that the sun is shining bright on the English side.
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