The last Ashes series in Australia was a nightmare for the English batsmen, all thanks to fiery spells of fast bowling by Mitchell Johnson. Johnson picked up 37 wickets in the last Ashes on Australian soil and single-handedly won the Ashes for the Aussies. The Aussies are looking forward to repeating the same tactics in the upcoming Ashes. According to the Australian coach Darren Lehmann, Australia has the resources to intimidate the English batsmen.
Australia has the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins who have the capability of touching 150 Km/hr on a consistent basis. Both the bowlers have already made their plans clear of unleashing a barrage of bouncers on the England batsmen. The Ashes is set to begin from 23rd November at Gabba in Brisbane, and the Australian coach cannot wait to unleash his plans and regain the Urn having lost it the last time they travelled away in 2015.
He said:
“It’ll be interesting. They’ll have to cope with that, they know it’s coming. Our quicks have been saying that, we can (intimidate England’s batsmen). They (Starc and Cummins) can certainly enforce some problems … especially (for) their middle and lower order on the bouncy tracks. They didn’t like it last time.”
With the first match to be played at Gabba which is best known for the bounce in the pitch, the Aussies will have an advantage as the conditions are completely different from England. Lehmann said:
“We know the conditions. It bounces a lot, It’s a totally different ball game than it is in England.”
The Australian bowling attack which came to India was depleted due to injuries to their prime bowlers, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. However, the injury woes seem to have ended as Starc made a successful comeback from a foot injury in the JLT Cup and Hazlewood is expected to return to action in the opening round match of the Sheffield Shield.
Lehmann said:
“Really comfortable with where we’re at as a bowling attack, the ‘GOAT’ (Lyon) has been probably the best-performed bowler for us for the last 12 months. I’m sure those guys can deliver, they’ve been very good at getting 20 wickets over the past 12 or 15 Test matches.”
The only sign of worry for the Australian management is the injury of Steve O’Keefe which he suffered while playing grade cricket on the weekend.