da supremo： England need to avoid any sense of “doom and gloom” after their ten-wicket defeat in Brisbane and focus on trying to level the series in Adelaide
da bet7： ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-20170:46
Swann: England batsmen need to learn from Smith
England need to avoid any sense of “doom and gloom” after their ten-wicket defeat in Brisbane and focus on trying to level the series in Adelaide, according to former spinner Graeme Swann, who also dismissed the idea that any of the top order have a problem playing the short ball.Having got themselves into a strong first-innings position, at 246 for 4 on the second morning, England suffered the first of two lower-order collapses. A slide of 6 for 56 was sparked by Dawid Malan hooking a bouncer to deep square leg, while England’s second innings began with Alastair Cook being caught at fine leg taking on a Josh Hazlewood bouncer. Australia’s quicks then finished off the tail again by claiming the last four wickets for 10 runs.However, Swann said he didn’t believe this was a major issue for England to try and rectify before the day-night Test at Adelaide, starting on Saturday. Having had first-hand experience of trying to combat a fired-up Mitchell Johnson in 2013-14, Swann also suggested England should have little to fear about facing Australia’s “overhyped” attack this time around.”I don’t think it’s a problem for the whole England team – of course numbers nine, ten and eleven struggle against it [the short ball],” Swann told ESPNcricinfo. “I don’t think you’re going to do anything that’s going to change that in a week. I think England should bowl short at the Australian tail, because they’re no better at it.”I know that Alastair Cook was surprised by a very good Josh Hazlewood bouncer in the second innings, caught on the boundary, but I don’t think the top order have got that many problems. The one guy I thought would have an issue was Moeen Ali, coming into this series, but I think he played it with aplomb yesterday, so I’m not overly fussed.”Despite only managing to post 302, England had sight of a first-innings lead when reducing Australia to 209 for 7, only for Steven Smith’s masterful 141 not out to shift the momentum. England then stuttered to 195 second time around, before Australia’s openers knocked off their target, but Swann felt there were positives to draw on.Dawid Malan turns his head away from a short delivery•Getty Images
“I know a lot of people are bleating and blaring – especially the English, we like to moan about everything, we like to think it’s all doom and gloom. It’s not all doom and gloom. We got ourselves into positions in this game where we could have easily won the Test match. It all fell away quite drastically halfway through day four and Australia were able to canter home in the end. For long periods of the first innings, especially, the Australians didn’t have a clue what to do with the ball, so there are plenty of positives to draw on.”I think it’s a different proposition to four years ago with Mitchell Johnson, who was genuinely quick – three or four yards quicker than anyone on show here. It’s quite funny actually, the way Australia have overhyped this pace attack. Before the first Test, there was a picture of the three of them [Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins] in the newspaper saying, ‘Our most feared attack ever’, and then had pictures of other Australian pace attacks, one of which involved Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath – I can tell you what, Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath were a lot more fearsome than these three.”Aside from the controversy around Jonny Bairstow’s conduct earlier in the tour, England’s problems have been compounded by a finger injury suffered by Moeen. Swann said a cut finger was “not the end of the world” for a spinner but Moeen had to come up with a way of coping by the time the second Test begins.”They need more from Moeen Ali with the ball – with the bat he was brilliant in this match. I think that split on his finger, because he’s not a natural bowler, he hasn’t bowled a lot of overs in the past, he’s not used to it, he hasn’t got a mechanism to deal with that. Guys who just bowl spin and bat down the order, they know how to deal with it. It’s probably the first time in his career he’s come across that, so he’ll need to sort something out quickly.”
