{"id":261516,"date":"2025-11-14T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261516\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:45:11","slug":"how-england-can-bowl-their-way-to-ashes-glory-the-secret-weapon-in-their-camp-down-under-why-aussie-pitches-are-unrecognisable-and-steven-finns-verdict-on-ben-stokes-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261516\/","title":{"rendered":"How England can bowl their way to Ashes glory, the secret weapon in their camp Down Under, why Aussie pitches are unrecognisable and Steven Finn’s verdict on Ben Stokes’ attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent quip by Joe Root<\/a> contained more truth than his smile suggested. Asked about Australian pitches, he replied: \u2018It looks like they\u2019re slightly more bowler-friendly since Pat\u2019s been captain.\u2019<\/p>\n

And while Pat Cummins<\/a> will miss next week\u2019s first Test at Perth<\/a> because of a back niggle, the groundsman at the Optus Stadium has already confirmed his plans to produce a surface similar to the one where 17 wickets fell on the opening day against India<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Australia<\/a> has traditionally been regarded as the most batsman-friendly country in the world, but times have changed \u2013 and England will have to adapt if they are to win their first Test there for 15 years, never mind their first series.<\/p>\n

Some truisms remain intact. To thrive as a fast bowler Down Under, you must be physically robust, mentally resilient and ready for the flak, from the local batsmen, the media and the spectators.<\/p>\n

During England\u2019s successful 2010-11 tour, coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss spared their fast bowlers unnecessary ear-ache by posting No3 batsman Jonathan Trott on the boundary at fine leg or third man. The abuse he copped is unpublishable, but England believed it was a price worth paying: if one of their quicks had just bowled a poor over, they did not want him returning to the fence to hear exactly how rubbish he was.<\/p>\n

This winter, their fast bowlers may find life a touch easier. Not only have Australian pitches livened up, but the Kookaburra ball \u2013 long regarded with dread by English seamers because of its small seam and refusal to move laterally after a dozen overs \u2013 has more lacquer than before, encouraging more swing.<\/p>\n

\"Ben <\/p>\n

Ben Stokes (right) and Jofra Archer will have to adapt to a new Kookaburra ball and a different style of pitch in Australia this winter\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Archer, <\/p>\n

Archer, seen here in England’s warm-up match with the Lions on Thursday, is the jewel of an England attack blessed with pace<\/p>\n

\"Fellow <\/p>\n

Fellow quick Brydon Carse (pictured) has an admirer in former England man Steven Finn. ‘He has skill as well as attitude,’ says Finn<\/p>\n

The stats tell the story. Between the previous two Ashes series in Australia, in 2017-18 and 2021-22, top-seven batsmen there averaged 38, with 34 hundreds in 20 Tests. In the 20 Tests since, the average has dropped to 30, and the hundred count to 24.<\/p>\n

English conditions have gone the other way. Since the advent of Bazball in 2022, the average is nearly 39. In the three years before, it was less than 31. Suddenly, it\u2019s England\u2019s batsmen, not Australia\u2019s, who need to get used to the movement \u2013 and if their recent 3\u20130 ODI defeat on spicy pitches in New Zealand is anything to go by, there is work to do.<\/p>\n

What of England\u2019s strategy of packing their attack with out-and-out pace? \u2018It\u2019s an interesting one, isn\u2019t it?\u2019 says Steven Finn, who was England\u2019s leading wicket-taker after the first three Tests of the 2010-11 Ashes, only to be dropped because of his economy-rate.<\/p>\n

\u2018From Ashes tours I experienced, yes, you have to have pace and bounce to trouble their players. But looking at how wickets have behaved there over the last couple of years, and how little effect their spinner Nathan Lyon has had, I\u2019d be wary of thinking that pace alone is going to be the answer.\u00a0There needs to be skill too, which clearly these bowlers have. But it\u2019s a shift in mindset.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise England have gone back to an old friend in David Saker, the 59-year-old Australian fast-bowling coach who regards batsmen with genuine contempt, and was popular with the likes of Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson when he began working with Flower\u2019s team in 2010.<\/p>\n

Saker, who took 247 first-class wickets for Victoria and Tasmania, once explained his \u2018basic philosophy\u2019 like this: \u2018To instil the idea that the bowlers are in a battle with the batsman, whether in the nets or out in the middle. The rest is details.\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps for that reason, Finn describes Saker in his new book as an \u2018artist\u2019. He tells\u00a0Daily Mail Sport: \u2018Sakes is very much an end-result bowling coach, so he will always be thinking at the batter\u2019s end of the pitch.\u00a0How can we get someone out? How can we bowl on a particular wicket?\u00a0He wasn\u2019t so much a mechanic who looks at the bowling action, which makes him a good fit for this team, because they try to take the pressure away from inside your own head and focus on the battle you\u2019re in.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet for all the talk of helpful pitches and hand-to-hand combat, some aspects of bowling fast in Australia will never change.\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s very physical, with the heat and the hard grounds,\u2019 says Finn. \u2018And the drop-in pitches mean you\u2019re running up on football, not cricket, outfields, so you have to be in top condition.<\/p>\n

\"Ben <\/p>\n

Ben Stokes and England’s Australian bowling guru David Saker will be formulating an Ashes battle plan\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Finn, <\/p>\n

Finn, England\u2019s leading wicket-taker after three Tests of the 2010-11 Ashes, celebrates dismissing Mike Hussey in Brisbane. But he says wickets are different now to back in his day<\/p>\n

\"He <\/p>\n

He is now a respected pundit and will be working on TNT Sports’ coverage of this winter’s series Down Under<\/p>\n

\u2018You\u2019re trying to bowl full enough with intent, to find that length where you can hit the splice but still have some bite and zip, because if you live between the hip bone and the shoulder, they love playing balls of that length. And when you bowl a bouncer, it has to be a proper bouncer, to ruffle feathers.<\/p>\n

\u2018But attitude and mindset are also a very big thing. You have to be willing to go back to the well, because there will be long, hot days. Steve Smith will get in at some stage. You need the heart to keep coming back.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I look at the people England have picked, I see a lot of characters who won\u2019t disappear during a day, whose pace won\u2019t drop. Brydon Carse is one I\u2019m looking forward to watching \u2013 and he has skill as well as attitude. His angle is in towards the right-handers, and then he can leave them, a bit like Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. Off a good length, he hits the outside edge and it carries to slip.\u2019<\/p>\n

Above all, Finn believes, you need to formulate a plan, and stick to it. \u2018You can\u2019t be half-arsed,\u2019 he says. \u2018In Australia, as a seamer, you have to do everything with intent. If you don\u2019t, you get found out. Commit as much as you can.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Ashes Files: My Pride and Pain in Cricket\u2019s Most Intense Series by Steven Finn is out now in hardback, eBook and audiobook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent quip by Joe Root contained more truth than his smile suggested. Asked about Australian pitches, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[22816,10548,1723,1721,97,1722,15458,8106,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-261516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-ashes","9":"tag-australia-cricket","10":"tag-ben-stokes","11":"tag-cricket","12":"tag-dailymail","13":"tag-england-cricket","14":"tag-joe-root","15":"tag-pat-cummins","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}