Steve Smith (right) and Marnus Labouchagne made minimal contributions during the first ash test. Credit: PA/Mike Egerton
England have issued an Ashes warning as Australian dangerous players Steve Smith and Marnus Labouchan have had extra batting sessions at Lord's to recover from their first test no-show.
The pair, who were the best batsmen in the world, outpaced the first Test combined by just 35 runs at Edgbaston as Australia took the lead to win by just two wickets. Labouchagne's 13 runs out of two innings included a golden duck after being sacked twice by Stuart Broad.
But England's hopes of a return to the Ashes have received a major boost with the MCC working to increase speed in the Lord. innings.
Beauty from Stuart Broad to fire Marnus Labouchan! pic.twitter.com/y62l8J8K6S
— Sky Sports (@SkySports), June 19, 2023
Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson were critical of Edgbaston's “spineless” pitch as England lost a stunning match by two wickets. Broad called it “soulless” while Jimmy Anderson in his Telegraph Sport column said it was “kryptonite” and that he “passed away” at Ashes if other fields were similar.
“How can I be polite [on the pitch]?” Brod said on the second day in Edgbaston. “It's a very slow, low surface that sucks the energy out of the ball.
“So far, it's quite characterless, quite soulless, but you can only judge the surface towards the end of the match and see how it develops.”< /p>
Anderson wrote in his Telegraph Sport column on Thursday: “This field was like kryptonite to me. There was no backswing, no backswing, no seam, no bounce, no tempo. Over the years, I tried to hone my skills to play in any conditions, but everything I tried made no difference. It felt like I was fighting an uphill battle.”
However, seasoned bowlers should find Lord's surface more to their liking in Ash's second test, according to the MCC. Jamie Cox, a former Tasmanian and Somerset batsman who is now MCC Assistant Secretary for Cricket and Operations, says Lord's gardener Carl McDermott was looking for faster coverage.
During the winter, McDermott made what Cox called “a pretty significant repair”, removing 10mm of topsoil and replacing with new grass to speed up the passage of the fields. The field against Ireland was, according to the British, an improvement on what they have played in the homeland of cricket in recent years.
“It will be a field similar to the test match in Ireland,” Cox told Code Sports. “It has just passed. It wasn't fast, but it was easy to score. It was a good field to play in when the sun shone. It's always said here to look up, not down. So if the clouds clear, the game will speed up. On nice sunny days, batting will be fun.”
When asked if it would be faster than Edgbaston, he replied: “I think a little. Well, that's what we want. We want a little more tempo and carry. Our biggest battle here is to always pick up speed and carry. It's just not a fast, bouncing surface.
“There's always something for bowlers with overheads and lean and all. Historically, it doesn't spin much. But it will do if there are four or five hot days.”
Australia coach Andrew McDonald said this week it was “appetizing to think” that his team won despite key players faltering and warned England that the pair were keen to hit back. -The Edgbaston show, Smith and Labouchan were among the nine players who completed an optional training session at Lord's Club on Saturday. They are expected to do the same in another extra session on Sunday before both teams step up their preparations on Monday.
“I think there's always a desire to get better, so there's no way we're going to stop that. They're going to have different plans, different actions,” McDonald said of Smith and Labouchan this week.
“They have seen what England is going to do and how they are going to attack them.These are probably the two best solutions we've had in a while so you can expect them to go back to the drawing board.”
Concerns about Labuschagne are sharper because Smith scored an incredible 100 in the Oval World Testing Championship final this month. Former coach Justin Langer describes the pair as “master and student” and agrees with McDonald's that they are brilliant problem solvers, treating the game like a “math equation”.
Smith and Labouchan return to the place of the outstanding moment in their careers. In Lord four years ago, it took a thunderbolt from Jophra Archer to stop Smith as he approached his third century in three opportunities. Smith was hit in the neck and although he passed the initial concussion test and returned to the crease (he was fired by Chris Wookes for 92 points), he was subsequently dropped from that test and from what followed at Headingley.< /p >
It looks like Australia will also be more likely to bring Mitchell Stark into their XI instead of Josh Hazlewood or, more likely, Scott Boland, who took two wickets at Edgbaston but cost more than five. runs across.
England players have spent a couple of days at home but will join in London on Sunday. They will be contemplating the right attack for the surface, with Mark Wood able to come in while Rehan Ahmed joined the squad as cover for Moen Ali.
Recent Comments