November 20 Wednesday 2002
Confident Aussies take on 'nervous' England in Adelaide tomorrow

ADELAIDE: England will seek to avoid going two-nil behind in the Ashes and to dispel notions of defeatism when they face Australia in the second Test here on Thursday.

Nasser Hussain's team crashed to an embarrassing 384-run defeat in the opening Gabba Test -- and in their capitulation indicated that an inferiority complex still exists against Australia.

Hussain admitted after the Brisbane fiasco, when England were bowled out for 79 in their second innings, that there were "11 very nervous cricketers" going into the opening Test. Their form only underlined that. Mathematically, England could still retrieve the Ashes after seven consecutive series losses if they lose the Adelaide Test with three matches to play.

In reality, it would be all but a lost cause. Team elder Alec Stewart was tagged here as the 'grim keeper' when he said that Steve Waugh's Australians were playing better than during his previous six losing Ashes campaigns.

"The last series (4-1 in 2001) was the most one-sided series I've played in and they seemed to have upped their performances since then," 39-year-old Stewart said this week. But Stewart was only stating the obvious. Australia have won 11 of the last 15 Ashes Tests and England have only triumphed in one of the opening three Tests when a series was alive.

Stewart said he had played in just one "meaningful" Ashes victory - England's nine-wicket victory at Edgbaston in the 1997 series opener. Otherwise, England's wins have come when the Ashes were gone. The pressure on Hussain's men to compete this week is intense with the team ridiculed both here and in the English press.

And things worsened for the tourists late Tuesday when spinner Ashley Giles was ruled out for six weeks with a broken wrist after being struck on the wrist by paceman Steve Harmison while batting in the nets. Giles is expected to be replaced in the bowling attack by Yorkshire spinner Richard Dawson.

Hussain said he got it wrong when he won the toss and sent Australia into bat in Brisbane only for Australia to get away to a 492 first innings and take control. Shane Warne, the legspin antagonist of English batting since his memorable Ashes debut in 1993, says England have to be positive in their current predicament.

"There's no use playing eight or nine batters, they've got to take 20 wickets to win the Test match," the 481-Test wicket-taker said. "I would say the best thing for them to do, with the way the quicks bowled in Brisbane and the few injuries they've got, would be to win the toss, bat and play two spinners ... that would be an aggressive, 
positive move from England."

Kent youngster Robert Key threw his hat into the ring for an Ashes debut with an unbeaten 174 to save England from another dire defeat against Australia A in Hobart last weekend. But whether England's team management are prepared to add Key to the starting eleven at the expense of bowling allrounder Craig White is an intriguing 
selection issue.

The tourists have to find a replacement for sidelined paceman Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard -- who went wicketless for 164 runs in Brisbane -- may be saved given the paucity of bowling talent witnessed against Australia A.

Selectors have the choice of whether to play Steve Harmison or Alex Tudor to share the pace workload. Andy Flintoff looked out of it against Australia A and may need more time to recover from his hernia operation. Australia have no such vexed selection problems with Jason Gillespie given until Tuesday to prove he has overcome a troublesome calf muscle injury.

If Gillespie satisifies selectors that he is ready for the rigours of a five-day Test then it will be down to Andy Bichel and Brett Lee for the third fast bowling slot, with Lee coming into reckoning again with 21 wickets in his two last matches for NSW.

England's attack will have to find a way of removing the prolific-scoring opener Matthew Hayden, who scored 197 and 103 in the Brisbane Test. But England's other obstacle is how they handle Australia's two champion bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Warne. McGrath took eight wickets at the Gabba and has 411 wickets in Tests.

Australia (likely): Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Steve Waugh (captain), Darren Lehmann, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Andy Bichel, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee (12th man). 

England (likely): Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain (captain), John Crawley, Alec Stewart, Craig White or Robert Key, Richard Dawson, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Alex Tudor.