Edgbaston is England’s “lucky” ground
Andrew Miller03-Aug-2005
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Amid the bouts of straw-clutching that have gone on since England’s hammering in the first Test at Lord’s, one nugget has consistently cropped up – Edgbaston is England’s “lucky” ground. Their famous win in the opening Test in 1997 remains their only victory in an undecided Ashes campaign since 1986-87, and Nasser Hussain, for one, always revelled in the parochial football-style crowd that supported his sides whenever they played there.But Edgbaston’s lucky status will need to take on a whole new meaning tomorrow, as England attempt to draw level in the series using the same 11 players who were so ruthlessly found out in last week’s first Test. On the bright side, Michael Vaughan’s recovery from a wince-inducing elbow injury means that England’s Ashes campaign has not been derailed in the manner of so many before it – not yet at least – but with the third Test looming large at a spin-friendly Old Trafford, England simply cannot afford to falter for a second match running.Vaughan acknowledged as much on the eve of the game. “We have played well here in the past,” he said, in reference to England’s record of 20 wins out of 40 matches at Edgbaston. “It’s important we put in a good performance here to try to level the series at 1-1 going into Old Trafford.”Had Vaughan been unable to lift his bat this morning, then Paul Collingwood would have remained with the squad to play his third Test in more than four years as an international cricketer. Instead he was sent off to Southend to link up with the Durham squad, as England kept faith with the man who has been making all the headlines this week. It seems that not even a freak tornado – of the type that whipped through South Birmingham last week to transform Edgbaston into a livid green quagmire – would be able to prise Ashley Giles out of England’s XI at present.It is to England’s credit that they refused to panic after their 239-run defeat at Lord’s, but Giles’s retention smacked of an unwillingness to face the facts. Man for man, England’s batting was overwhelmed in the first Test, not so much by the failure of the top order – these things happen against the greatest bowlers in the world – but by the absence of a Plan B in the lower middle-order, where Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles were each batting at least one place too high in the order.As David Houghton memorably stated, by insisting on five bowlers where four should have sufficed, England were indeed playing with 10 men, and had Giles not been conditioned to believe otherwise by a sympathetic dressing-room, he might have accepted this fact without recourse to his newspaper column. Now however, on a pitch that Rouse claims is “about four days behind in preparation”, an old-fashioned, slow, low and seaming Test is in prospect – precisely the sort of mid-May conditions that Australia might have faced had their itinerary been more carefully tailored.”The pitch doesn’t look too bad,” insisted Vaughan. “It’s soft but I don’t think there will be too many gremlins in the wicket. But until a ball has been bowled it’s hard to judge.” Of course, none of that will scare Australia in the slightest. Glenn McGrath is arguably the best English-type seamer in history, while Shane Warne can spin the ball on glass and will retain every nugget of psychological one-up-manship that he gleaned at Lord’s. Brett Lee’s speed through the air will still trouble England even if his lift off the pitch may be negated, while Jason Gillespie’s accuracy may yet be rewarded if he can find a touch of bite off the wicket.
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Vaughan was eager to play down the perceived psychological hold that McGrath seemed to have taken during the first Test. “A few of us looked uncomfortable [against him],” he admitted. “He bowled very well at Lord’s, he’s a world-class performer. But I’ve had a lot of success against him in the past and I’ve played reasonably well against him in a couple of the one-day games. He’s a good bowler but I’m looking forward to facing him again this week.”Australia have resisted the temptation to recall Michael Kasprowicz despite his five wickets against Worcestershire this week, and have declared an unchanged side that was full of timely runs for the top order at New Road. The team is fit, on form and – despite one or two misgivings about Gillespie – firing on all cylinders, and with the memories of Lord’s still fresh in the mind, Australia have every reason to expect their lead to be doubled come Monday evening, at the latest.”All the bowlers were very impressive [against Worcestershire] but Jason with the new ball beat the outside-edge a number of times, bowled his customary lines and lengths that we are all used to seeing him bowl,” Ricky Ponting told AFP before the match. “He got some appreciable movement in the air and off the seam. Kasper did exactly the same, but Jason, being the incumbent and the way he bowled down there, ensured that he was in this second Test.”Having sidestepped one tricky issue, England have another potential change to make to their line-up, given that Chris Tremlett has impressed his captain to such painful effect. There is a case for utilising his height and accuracy and playing him ahead of Matthew Hoggard, but England will surely stick to what they know best. If Giles’s sensitivities are enough to keep his place in the side, then surely the same can be said of the man whose 12 wickets at Johannesburg in January secured England’s last significant series win.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Ian Bell, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Steve Harmison, 10 Matthew Hoggard, 11 Simon Jones.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Simon Katich, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.
