Owais Shah thinks Australia will miss injured duo Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee during the NatWest Series.
'X-factor' absent from tourists' squad, says Middlesex batsman
Owais Shah thinks Australia will miss injured duo Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee during the NatWest Series in England.
Shah, currently out of favour with the England selectors, made 92 for Middlesex against the tourists during Saturday's warm-up fixture.
The Australians chased down a target of 274 for a five-wicket victory at Lord's, mainly thanks to a fifth-wicket stand of 176 between Cameron White (106) and Michael Hussey (72no).
Aside from Doug Bollinger (3-24), the visitors' bowling failed to impress ahead of the first of five matches with England at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday.
"What you get with an Australian attack, they do the basics well," said Shah.
"But one thing I would say is that there wasn't the fire power around, like with Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee last summer when England lost quite heavily to Australia. That could be the difference.
Balance
"They've still got a good, well-balanced attack with a couple of spinners and guys who bowl good slower balls.
"It will be a toughly-fought contest against England but they definitely don't have the 'X-factor' they did when Johnson and Lee were playing.
"I don't think the England team will fear anyone, especially coming off the back of winning the Twenty20 World Cup.
"I know it is a different form of the game but predominately the middle order and top order are more or less the same apart from Strauss coming in.
"But you've got Kieswetter, Morgan, Collingwood and Pietersen who were all in the Caribbean.
"They are on a high. I don't think they will fear the Australian attack. They will play the way they've been playing."
Notch
White, whose innings rescued his side from 64-4, is confident that Australia are coming into form at just the right time.
"I thought we were pretty good, especially early and we improved from the other day," he said.
"Hopefully, we can lift another notch in Southampton.
"I think we are getting almost to the right spot where we need to be at."
