David Fulton Q&A: Can England get back to winnings ways in third Ashes Test?
England followed up their first Test win at Cardiff with a 405-run humiliation at Lord's. Can they bounce back in ther third Test at Edgbaston? We asked Sky Sports' David Fulton...
Wednesday 29 July 2015 09:19, UK
Will the extra time off before Edgbaston help England?
It will help the bowlers for sure, because they looked down on pace – Mark Wood in particular, who is normally the quickest. It gives them the chance to learn some lessons from Lord’s and an opportunity to regroup.
I remember when England lost the first Test at Lord’s in 2005, they benefited from the week off. Michael Vaughan had them go away, relax, get their minds right, and they went on to win the series. I’m not a big believer in momentum – it’s 1-1 – and we start again at Edgbaston.
Jonny Bairstow comes in for Gary Ballance – is that the right move?
Yes, I think it is. I do feel for Ballance, as he has a very decent record, but he is young enough to come again. Things were working pretty well for him but he has just been found out a bit in the last few Tests. The injection of a new face in Bairstow – who is in the form of his life – is a great move, it just freshens things up.
I saw him hit a hundred at Edgbaston just a couple of weeks ago in quite tough conditions. He looked a class apart. Warwickshire were bowled out for 60-odd, Yorkshire for around 200 and Jonny got 109 of them. So that’s the kind of form he is in – he’s playing a different game to everyone else in county cricket at the moment. It will be a bigger ask against Mitchell Johnson and co for Australia, but he is best placed to score runs, in that kind of form. I expect him to do well.
Who else is under pressure?
If you look at England’s recent history with openers, they don’t have that much patience. So in that sense, Adam Lyth needs runs. But if you’re going to invest in Lyth, you should give him every chance to succeed, rather than just get rid of him after a few Test matches.
I think there is greater pressure on Ian Bell. His recent record is actually worse than Ballance’s – he is on the wrong side of 30 now – and if he doesn’t get any runs on his home turf of Edgbaston, there is a feeling that he might have ran his race. But he is a class act and has got runs at crucial times in Ashes series before, so hopefully he can do it again.
Were England spooked by Johnson at Lord’s?
Anyone will tell you though, when you’re bowling with 560-odd on the scoreboard – like he was at Lord’s – you can keep more catchers in, bowl with hostility and it is a nice position to be in. And not a nice position to be in as a batting side. That amount of runs enables you to boss the game – play it slightly differently, more aggressively.
But take nothing away from Australia, Johnson was excellent. He maybe opened up a few old scars, and our playing of the short ball does worry me a little bit. That extra pace – you don’t see a lot of it in county cricket these days.
Do you see Chris Rogers playing in this Test for Australia?
If they do, it could be a mistake. I’m a huge Rogers fan, I really like the guy. But he’s another one who looks a bit shy against the short ball, and if England get the right sort of pitch, they’ll go at him pretty hard.
He got hit by a short ball in the West Indies and missed a couple of Tests over there, and then was affected by it again at Lord’s, so it will be in the back of his mind. It’s Test cricket and there is no hiding place. Their other options are Shaun Marsh or Shane Watson. Marsh has two hundreds in warm-up games already on the trip, so they might go that way.
Does the Australian captain need some runs?
If everyone else is getting runs, it’s not that crucial. Michael Clarke is a class act. He will come to the party at some stage, he is too good a player not to get a score in this series. He hasn’t been in that bad form and we do tend in the media to talk things up. He could hit a hundred at Edgbaston and that would be that. He’s due.
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What can we expect from Edgbaston?
Hopefully we will get a pitch with a bit more in it. You have grounds you go well at as a team and Edgbaston is one of them for England. They started the 1997 Ashes series well at Edgbaston when Nasser Hussain got a double-hundred. And obviously 2005 was an iconic game.
Also they’ll have fond memories from the one-dayer they played against New Zealand there earlier this year, when they scored 400. As a team you feed off things like that, but then again England won the last two Ashes Tests at Lord’s and that didn’t count for much. There will be a slight feel-good factor, but ultimately it is about how you play.
Does Jos Buttler need to play more positively like he did in that ODI at Edgbaston?
He is a modern-era player, a genius against the white ball, but his four-day figures aren’t that strong. Looking at him in the last few Tests, you can kind of see why. He doesn’t quite know when to attack, when to unleash his natural game, or when to tighten up and absorb pressure.
Against India last year he often came in when the team were in strong positions, and he could just play his shots. I’m hoping England say to him – like they did with Ben Stokes – go out and attack, play your game, put those one-day skills out there and play with freedom.
If he keeps being tentative and getting out he could be under pressure. He isn’t yet but Bairstow coming back in – who is good with the gloves – means Buttler needs to start scoring. I hope England just tell him to go out and play, attack.
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