England eager to prove mettle in MCG cauldron

ENGLAND are out to prove their mettle at the MCG, by adapting successfully to whatever conditions meet them there.

Much intrigue surrounds the nature of the drop-in pitch which will be used for the St Stephen’s Day Ashes Test, groundsman Cameron Hodgkins having reportedly abandoned his initial first choice in favour of a grassier and much livelier surface.

The switch, however, pre-dates England’s evident failure to cope with the demands of the pace and bounce of the WACA on their way to landslide,series-levelling defeat in the third Test.

Among those who could not come to terms with the vagaries of Perth was opener Alastair Cook — whose sequence of half-century, unbeaten double-century and then century came to an abrupt halt with scores of 32 and 13.

He is nonetheless looking forward to testing himself again in Melbourne, asEngland seek to reestablish a lead which would mean the Ashes are retained by the end of the year.

Cook would have it no other way either than that the home team are allowed to make the most of their advantage.

“That is the beauty of home conditions, isn’t it?” he asked.

“You can prepare a pitch, you hope, to suit the home side.”

England notably secured the 2009 Ashes on a Brit Oval surface which was controversially untypical of that venue — and Cook clearly appears to have no problem with serving up expedient pitches.

“That is what we try to do in England in certain cases,” he said.

“There is no reason I would expect Australia not to do it.

“If you went to India, and they played three spinners and produced a green seamer, you’d be wondering what’s going on.

“That is what home advantage is, and you’d expect everyone to do it.”

Having chosen to play in England’s tour match against Victoria two weeks ago — when it seemed he might be due a rest after his heroics in this winter’s first two Tests — Cook could make only 37 in two innings, on his previous trip to the MCG.

Those two relative failures came in a dreary draw on a dreadfully slow andunresponsive wicket.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has since claimed English batsmen arevulnerable on quick and bouncy pitches, both before and after his opinion was born out by events at the WACA.

However the St Stephen’s Day drop-in plays, though, Cook is happy to back his and his team’s ability.

“The pitch is out of our control, and that’s the beauty of cricket thatconditions change from week to week,” he said.

“It’s how you adapt to those that determines how successful you are.”

Meanwhile Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland expects Ricky Ponting to play in front of a world-record crowd 91,000 at the MCG.

Ponting fractured a little finger in the emphatic third Test win over England in Perth but, despite the selectors adding Usman Khawaja to the squad as cover, Sutherland remains convinced the Tasmanian will be fit to lead the home side. He said: “You’d need something pretty significant to keep Ricky Ponting out of it.

“He would himself admit he learnt a little bit about himself carrying injuries into the last Test match.”