After a nail-biting first two tests we are in for some contest for the last three tests. England’s nervous start to the campaign let the Aussies dominate in the first test, and their was big talk on how after that Australia will sail through 4-0 to win the Ashes, most notably from Glen McGrath who did say he found laughable England’s claims that they were the better and more complete side of the two before the contest. But now England have shown they are big contenders and maybe favourites we are in for a mouth watering 3 tests.
Team News
England have just received the shocking blow that the KP will miss the rest of the Ashes, Ian Bell is set to replace him in the team. This is quite bad news as he is one of very few players in the team who is a match winner. As proved in the last test Freddie Flintoff is the other. In other news Andrew Strauss has confirmed England won’t be using Monty Panesar for this test and he has been sent home to do his First Class cricket duties.
Apart from that one replacement it looks as though England will be unchanged from their win at Lords, Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad will be under the spotlight for not performing so well in the previous tests, but to be fair their really is no great replacement for them at this time, so the pressure will be off for now and hopefully this will give them freedom to perform better.
Australia will most likely keep the same team, in the first innings of the 2nd test their whole team collapsed so no individual can be blamed, this happens to every team once in a while. Mitchell Johnson has been in the spot light since the first test and their recent game against Worcestershire still causing problems for the Australian pace man, there are talks about Stuart Clark replacing him, so we will have to wait near to the end who will be Australia’s bowling line up. Brett Lee has been ruled out for the third test officially which is a shame as when it comes to pace he matches right up their with Flintoff. With Lee you can’t always guarantee wickets but you can guarantee pressure and a hitting the rib cage of the batsman at 95mph, lets hope to see him on the fourth.
Predictions
It is easy to get excited over England’s win in the last test, but people seem to forget the first test when Australia looked their usual dominating selves. This is a mistake England make all the time, they get hyped up over a win, the media go crazy and the fans start rejoicing in the view that they will be the best team in the world. Australia have a completely different view on winning, its normal to them, and this is why they do better.
England do look strong as a team, but this match will be the biggest test from them, because Australia will bounce back, they don’t like to lose, and people like Mitchell Johnson will be looking for revenge so this is key for him.
As a prediction to the way the pitch looks like its defiantly going to be a lot for batters and not much for the bowlers to work on, the pitch has dried over the last few weeks and their won’t be much for both spinners to work on.
Its hard to say overall but I say Australia should win this if not then the rain will take the game to a draw.
