2 *** Thursday 1 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
WHO ARE OUR
EXPERTS BACKING?
The Ashes
ENGLAND MUST TOUGH IT
I
f England are going to
beat Australia then they
will have to bat better
than them. It is simple.
Can we make enough
runs to give our bowlers a
chance? Our first three in
the batting order have
been so flaky for so long
that nobody has any confidence
that they can deliver a good start.
Too often England are 30 or 40
for three, fighting an uphill battle
and hoping that Joe Root and our
superb middle order can get us out
of jail.
That is a recipe for losing Test
matches. You can get away with it
against new boys Ireland, as they
did at Lord’s last week, but against
the big boys it becomes a mountain
to climb.
You can never win a Test match
on the first day but you sure as hell
can lose it if you mess up your
batting.
Winning the World Cup was
about fast starts, scoring rates and
how many fours and sixes guys
could hit.
For opening batsmen in Test
matches it is about having a good
defence, staying in, seeing the
shine off the new ball and giving
the team a good platform to get a
sizeable first-innings total.
Our top-three batsmen have
been so bad, playing with poor
footwork and poor technique, that
you watch transfixed,
waiting for them to get
out. You dare not go to the
lavatory because you are
likely to miss one of them
being dismissed. Patience is
important, judgment of
which deliveries to play and
which to leave is priceless,
especially around off
stump.
Shot selection has to be
made with great care.
Why? Because Australia
will be picking from a high
quality battery of fast
bowlers that includes Pat
Cummins, James Pattinson,
Mitchell Starc, Josh
Hazlewood and Peter Siddle.
They will be bowling with
the red English Dukes ball,
which moves around a lot
more than the white
Kookaburra that they used in
the World Cup.
It can be tough batting up
front. I know just how tough
from experience. Why do so
many batsmen prefer batting in
the middle order against the old
ball? Because it is easier!I hope the introduction
of Jofra Archer into
England’s fast
bowling ranks will tip
the balance towards
the hosts, like he did inI hate predicting draws
but Australia’s strong
(and fit) attack could
negate home
advantage. England’s
James Anderson,It will be 3-2 to
whoever wins at
Edgbaston. Both teams
are vulnerable if they
go behind – neither
will be able to comeScyld Berry
Prediction
England 3-2 AustraliaPaul Hay ward
2-2
Michael Vaughan
3-2 or 2-3
the World Cup. The
second most likely
result, I think, is 2-2
with a draw in one of
the two northern
Tests.Archer and Mark Wood
have all had injuries
and their batsmen
have to switch quickly
from World Cup mode.
It is beautifully set up.back from 1-0 down.
Both sides have quality
but I am not sure they
have the strength to
fight back from a
major setback.England’s depth and quality in the
middle order is a major plus with
Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jonny
Bairstow all good players. Yes,
there is a question mark about
Bairstow after making a pair
against Ireland at Lord’s. But
scoring two centuries in a World
Cup as well as a 90 was a stellar
performance.
Maybe he needed an
embarrassing failure at the home
of cricket to bring him down to
earth and make him figure out he
cannot bat the same way in the
Ashes Tests as he did in the
one-day games.
When he opens in one-dayers he
tends to stay a bit more leg side and
take risks driving on the up
because the white ball does not
move much and there are hardly
any slip fielders
But by staying leg side against
the red ball he is a long way away
from good length balls. That is a
recipe for being lbw and leaving a
big gate between bat and pad
through which you are likely to get
bowled.
It is not that difficult to sort out
if you understand the angles and
technique of batting against the
moving ball.
Australia’s batting is not special.
A lot depends on David Warner
and Steve Smith so England should
target them both and have Plans A,
B and C so if one does not work
they have the imagination to try
something else.
Do not keep bowling the same
way and let them dictate terms and
score big runs. You have to get
them out, not necessarily cheaply,
but without them scoring big.
Some members of our crowds
will boo and give them hell for
their part in the sandpaper affair in
Cape Town hoping it will unsettle
them. It will not.
They are both tough,
experienced cricketers who may
use that negativity to spur them on.
I do not condone what they did.
For me it was blatant cheating and
they got away leniently with only a
one-year suspension.
No matter. It is done now. Water
under the bridge. The England
cricket team cannot control what
our crowds do but our players
should put it out of their minds and
focus only on winning Test
matches.
Do not get sucked in to any
sledging or trash talking with the
Australian players. The only thing
that matters is winning the Ashes.
Bat better, bowl better, catch
better and keep your cool.If the front three can dig in and deliver, glory can be theirs, says Geoffrey Boycott,
but if they keep collapsing the series will be long and miserable for the hosts
ttt,
The cupboard is bare of openers
because too much emphasis is
still being put on scoring rates
Opening the batting is the most
difficult job in cricket but
somebody has to do it.
England need a couple of guys
who are capable of staying in. Very
few Flash Harrys succeed up front
in Test matches. Consistency,
dependability and stickability are
boring attributes to the modern
young batsmen.
Those words do not thrill them
like being told they are amazing,
exciting and thrilling to watch. Yet
England could do with a David
Steele from 1975-76. He was a
tough, over my dead body type of
individual who loved a scrap.
Those players are rare in the
modern era because youngsters
grow up now on a diet of Twenty20
cricket.Too many of our coaches teach
children how to slog and whack
boundaries.
When kids bat nicely, they are
told they faced too many dot balls
and their scoring rate was not high
enough, so we should not be
surprised that we have not been
able to find any good opening
batsmen. The cupboard is bare
because too much emphasis is still
put on scoring rates.
There is not much to choose
between the teams. With a Dukes
ball in English conditions,
Jofra Archer, Jimmy
Anderson, Stuart
Broad and Chris
Woakes will be a
match for the
Australian seamers,
provided they stay fit.
Playing five Tests in just
seven weeks will put a huge
strain on all the fast
bowlers, particularly for
Anderson at 37 years of age.
Australia’s off-spinner,
Nathan Lyon, is a better
bowler than Moeen Ali.
Lyon tends to clean up
England’s left-handers
easily – but we always
had Moeen’s batting to
compensate.
At the moment, though,
Moeen’s batting is so bad
he is a walking wicket. The
Australian fast bowlers will
bomb him because he plays
the short ball so badly and
habitually hooks upwards.Ready for action:
Trevor Bayliss
(centre) makes a
point to England
at Edgbaston on
the eve of the
first Test (right)
and (left) Jason
Roy, whose form
at the top of the
order will be
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