Wednesday 27 August 2014

Harmison must ignite the attack

Steve Harmison
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I hope England and Australia will give us another cracking series when play starts in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Most of all, I hope it is another triumph for Andrew Flintoff, and that when he leaves Australia next year, he takes the Ashes with him. But I have to say, I fear the worst for our boys.

The fundamental problem I foresee is that dead period in each innings when the new ball has used up all its shine and hardness and has become just a rough scrap of leather. Last year, England had three seamers who could all attack with the old ball because they were making it reverse-swing. But there is no way they will get the Kookaburra ball to perform the same tricks.

Australia have one big advantage in this area. His name is Shane Warne. When the ball is old and the sun is beating down, he can keep attacking from one end, even if the seamers aren't doing much from the other. And once he gets one wicket, he will bring in three close fielders and crowd the new batsmen. It's all very well playing the leg-spinner when you've had a sighter, but new batsmen can so easily be exposed.

Warne has a great record in Brisbane; if he was to choose one ground to bowl on in Australia he would pick this one. Over five Tests last summer he took 40 wickets and that ain't going to change overnight. Whether England go in with Monty Panesar or Ashley Giles, I can't see either of them matching up to Warne. In fact, I can't think of any modern finger spinner who has come to Australia and taken buckets of wickets.

The only way England are going to make an impact is if Flintoff and Steve Harmison bowl their socks off. Harmison is the only bowler I have ever known who has had so much faith invested in him yet has bowled so few overs. I have said a number of times in this column that he has all the attributes and the ammunition, but by God if England are going to do anything in this Ashes series he has to stand up to be counted.

Flintoff's bowling is going to be equally crucial. Everybody is pleased that he has bowled in all three matches so far, but the truth is that he has been bowling within himself, and that's not really going to hurt Australia. Deep down he will know that he has to be fully fit, bowling flat out, being fast, aggressive and nasty. Can he get to that level in time to make an impact on the series? He's got seven weeks of cricket, but he really needs to do it now, in these back-to-back Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide. My biggest fear is that he can't.

England also need Freddie to bat well. That is quite possible. He is not like me, in that I needed lots of practice in the nets. He is a different kind of player, accustomed to the constant travelling that goes with the modern game, and he will definitely be up for the challenge.

The lower-middle order of Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen is a huge factor for England. Both are dynamic players who can take the game away from Australia. But I worry that if they become happy hookers they are in danger of holing out. I would never tell anybody who likes hooking to stop playing the shot. But I would tell them that in Australia, you should proceed with caution.

As for the bowling unit, their challenge is to deal with the big Australian trio of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting. In England last year all three were kept under control. The only time Ponting succeeded was during his brilliant hundred at Manchester, which saved a Test that England would otherwise have won convincingly.

Hayden and Gilchrist will butcher the bowling if they are given half a chance. They take the game away from you very quickly. The Australian batting is strong – in fact it's stronger now that Shane Watson is out and Michael Clarke is in. But it doesn't matter how good the batting looks on paper, it comes down to how many runs they make.

England did so well against Hayden last summer that he nearly lost his place in the last Test at the Oval. And then he went and made a very good, uncharacteristic, steady hundred. He was under pressure all through the series. Gilchrist, who is feared by everybody in the world, had such a sorry time working out how to play reverse-swing from around the wicket that he was unrecognisable as the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman there has ever been.

Ponting was in the form of his life in 2005; in fact, he was so dominant in both one-day and Test cricket that he has just been named the ICC player of the year. At the moment, though, his confidence is a little bit wobbly after a few low scores. Psychologically it would be a huge plus for England to get the opposition captain down.

Flintoff must help out here by setting innovative fields of the kind that Michael Vaughan used in England. It will be difficult: he has no Simon Jones to turn to, and he has no track record as a tactician, so we just don't know if he has it in him or not. So much hangs on the big fella tonight.

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