Strauss tips England’s young stars to shine
The departure of Marcus Trescothick with a recurrence of his stress-related illness over a week ago ensured England would start the series in Brisbane without a single batsman ever having played a Test in Australia.
That inexperienced line-up could be further disrupted if Ian Bell fails to recover from a bruised left wrist sustained when he was hit in the nets by James Anderson.
Bell will have a fitness test during today’s practice at the Gabba but Middlesex’s former Irish international batsman Ed Joyce, who only flew into Australia a week ago as a replacement for Trescothick, has been put on stand-by for a dramatic Ashes debut.
Whatever the make-up of England’s batting line-up, Strauss believes they have enough talent and confidence to shine in one of the most eagerly awaited series in recent cricket history.
“I’ve always said that it’s better to have no memories about a ground than bad memories, so from that point of view everyone is going there with a blank canvas,” explained Strauss.
“We’ve played abroad before in places like South Africa, which I don’t think is hugely different to Australian conditions, and I don’t think it’s going to be a massive factor.
“Clearly it would have been nice to have scored hundreds at all these grounds before, but hopefully that will happen next time we tour here.”
For all the talk of England’s inexperience, however, Strauss believes the success of the new-look side over the last year or so will be crucial when the series begins on Thursday morning.
The form of Bell, Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood — who have all become established in the side since the Ashes triumph — has given England great self-confidence despite the strength of the opposition.
“Before the last series we thought we had something to prove and I don’t think we feel that now,” said Strauss.
“We go in there with our heads held high and know if we play the sort of cricket we can play, we can cause Australia problems.
“That’s a fantastic level of confidence to have going into the series but we also know that they’re a very good side and we’re going to have to play at our best to beat them.”
Assuming Bell is passed fit, England’s only other dilemma is which of their two left-arm spinners should complete their starting XI — should the experience of Ashley Giles get the nod ahead of the great promise offered by Monty Panesar?
Strauss, as one of the senior players within the squad, will have been consulted by coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Andrew Flintoff, but ultimately the final decision will rest with them.
“It’s always been a tough call,” said Strauss. “Ashley has been out for along period and he’s been a very strong performer for the side over a long period of time, but Monty has come in and taken his chance.
“It’s going to be a very tough call for the captain and the coach to make.
“From our point of view, we view it as an embarrassment of riches — they are two very good players and both of them are equally capable of contributing to this England side.”
Whether Bell recovers or not, Cook is poised to return to the opening role alongside Strauss and is likely to have his temperament tested to the limit.
Cook responded superbly in a similar situation to Joyce earlier this year when he was called onto the tour of India, scoring 60 and a second innings century after being asked to open for the opening Test in Nagpur.
Strauss expects Cook’s ice-cool temperament to prosper again in the red-hot intensity of an Ashes Test and insists he will not become fazed by the challenge ahead of him.
“He was in a similar situation to Ed, in that he was thrown in at the last moment and showed his temperament there,” said Strauss.
“I think we all know what a cool, calm customer he is and this is just taking it up another level.
“An Ashes series is slightly different but he has a lot of confidence. He’s averaging over 50 in Test cricket and that’s not a bad position to be in going into the first match of the series.”
ADAM GILCHRIST is confident Australia are better equipped for the this Ashes series than in 2005 despite being forced to change their plans for the opening Test.
Australia’s decade of dominance has been built around a solid formula of six specialist batsman followed by wicketkeeper Gilchrist and Shane Warne supplementing a three-strong seam attack led by Glenn McGrath.
Their 2005 Ashes series defeat, their first since 1986-7, forced a change in that thinking and the emergence of all-rounder Shane Watson enabled Australia to consider dropping one of the middle-order batsmen.
But despite Watson being forced to withdraw from the squad for the Gabba after failing to recover from a right hamstring strain sustained last week, Gilchrist remains confident.
“We’re still ranked number one and we took some good lessons from the defeat in England,” said Gilchrist.
“We sharpened up in various areas and we feel we’ve improved since 2005.”
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