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Ashes series: Daunting task ahead of England

By Ted Corbett

BRISBANE Nov. 6. By the time England finished its final practice at the baking hot 'Gabba on Wednesday, on the eve of the first Test against Australia, it knew it was not only the second best team but also had less chance of success than a clothes horse has of winning the next Derby!

Cruel and patriotic local journalists had told the team every day since they flew here three weeks ago — "if it rains a lot the series might finish 3-0 Australia'' said one and now the bookmakers, trying to drum up trade from the Barmy Army, made them 11-1 outsiders.

Welcome to Test cricket in the land of the world champions and remember it will get tougher. If it was looking for an optimistic line, England might have thought that the Aussies, never a modest race, were on the verge of arrogance but it was a long shot.

True, they declined to call in a replacement for their wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist when he went into hospital for intensive treatment to a sore elbow but today Gilchrist, perhaps the world's most destructive batsman, was practising again, apparently unconcerned whenever he rolled on that elbow.

Jason Gillespie, who had looked timid the previous day, was bowling at high speed again; and Brett Lee, among the fastest bowlers in the world had been sent back to New South Wales to learn his trade more thoroughly.

Australia was clearly still at its formidable best. The decision to drop Mark Waugh, leading to his announcement that he had retired from international cricket, also came from an overdose of self-belief.

The selectors thought that bringing in Darren Lehmann for Waugh would not cut back the strength of their batting and, without Darren Gough for whom time is surely running out, England has an attack so weak that, according to those same writers, Bangladesh might be insulted by a comparison.

Gough cannot play on this series now. He has had no first class cricket for 15 months, he has been packed off to the Academy at Adelaide in a last desperate attempt to repair his slow-healing knee and there is just one match left, at Hobart immediately after this Test, as a build-up to an Ashes comeback.

In his place England has only the inconsistent Andrew Caddick, the up-and-coming Matthew Hoggard, 24-year-old Steve Harmison who has shin splints and the unschooled Simon Jones, 23.

We will hear more of Jones. He is the son of Jeff Jones, a left arm Test quick of the 1960s; but his day is Thursday and even an England side, which needs a miracle to avoid a whitewash, will not expect it to come from this young man.

The next time he comes to Australia he may be a fearful handful but is it too soon to thrust the full burden of England success on his shoulders now.

England spent most of Wednesday wondering if it dare risk Andrew Flintoff, its Goliath of an all-rounder, who is still not 100 per cent after a double hernia operation.

The coach Duncan Fletcher has great faith in Flintoff, in the way that Australia persisted with Steve Waugh for three years until he unleashed the full might of his square cut against England in 1989.

Fletcher consulted Flintoff, then Nigel Stockill the fitness coach and finally refused to replace Flintoff with Craig White, another of his favourites, until a meeting with Nasser Hussain, the captain and David Graveney, chairman of selectors. After more than nine hours of discussion Flintoff was allowed another two weeks to recover.

It is a more sensible decision than the one to include him in the Leeds Test last July when he made a pair and took just one wicket for 68 instead of having his operation. That foolishness has rebounded on England and, just as it cost them the third Test against India it may also cost it the Test beginning on Thursday.

The Aussies are a formidable side and for all the whistling in the dark by England this week it is difficult to find a pointer to success. On the 70th anniversary of the Bodyline series we thought there might be an omen from Jardine's Lookout in the Melbourne Cup but the horse finished seventh. It could be a forecast of England's world ranking at the end of this series.

The teams:

Australia: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Steve Waugh (captain), Darren Lehmann, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath.

England: Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Nasser Hussain (captain), Mark Butcher, John Crawley, Alec Stewart, Craig White, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Andrew Caddick and Matthew Hoggard.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa). TV umpire: Simon Taufel (Australia).

Match referee: Wasim Raja (Pakistan).

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