Jake Ball says Shane Bond and Joe Root's Ashes plans are working
"The amount of work [Bond and Root] have put in is really showing out on the field. They have done exceptionally well."
Friday 24 November 2017 12:22, UK
Jake Ball says the bowling plans concocted by Shane Bond and Joe Root paid off as England bagged four wickets on day two of the opening Ashes Test in Brisbane.
Ball scooped his maiden Ashes wicket when he had Australia opener David Warner (26) caught on the pull at midwicket shortly before tea.
The Nottinghamshire seamer says the healthy analysis carried out by bowling consultant Bond and captain Root were key to England reducing Steve Smith's side to 76-4, with Root's early deployment of spinner Moeen Ali accounting for Usman Khawaja (11).
"We see Warner and Smith as the two main Australian players, so for me to get one of the big players out is very satisfying. I think a few of the lads in the team were happy to see the back of him."
"Bondy and Rooty have spent a lot of time looking at stats and where batsmen score their runs in their first few balls and overs," Ball told reporters after Australia closed on 165-4 - a deficit of 137 runs.
"The amount of work those two have put in is really showing out on the field. They have done exceptionally well. We feel like we executed [the plans] almost to perfection.
"We had a meeting the other day with a lot of analysis on each player - it's great for us as bowlers to know where their strong and weak areas are."
Smith (64no) and Shaun Marsh (44no) rebuilt Australia's innings with an unbroken stand of 89 - the captain striking his 22nd Test half-century and fifth against England.
England earlier lost their final six wickets for 56 runs to post a first-innings score of 302 - the tourists collapsing after Dawid Malan (56) was caught off Mitchell Starc.
"It's pretty much in the middle - it can go either way," said Ball on the state of the game. "We feel we are in a decent position.
"If we can get a good night's sleep, come out hard in the morning and nick a couple out, you are into Starc and [Pat] Cummins. The pitch is slow but hard to get in on - one Australia probably aren't used to."
On England's total, Ball added: "You always want a few more runs but with the turn and variable bounce we were quite happy with the score."
