da bet nacional： Darren Gough believes England can use the forthcoming ICC WorldTwenty20 to build vital momentum ahead of Australia’s arrival laterthis summer
da cassino online： Andrew Miller22-May-2009Darren Gough believes England can use the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20 to build vital momentum ahead of Australia’s arrival later this summer, and that they will go into the Ashes as favourites afterthe team gelled impressively during the recent Test series victoryover West Indies.Tests and Twenty20s may be chalk and cheese but Gough knows frompersonal experience just how significant a factor momentum can be,after his starring role in England’s crushing 100-run victory in thefirst Twenty20 between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl in 2005.After posting a competitive total of 179, England’s bowlers rippedinto Australia, capturing seven wickets for eight runs in 20deliveries. Gough himself finished with 3 for 16 from three overs and,in one of the contest’s defining moments, sacrificed the chance to gofor a hat-trick when he instead decided to bounce the incoming AndrewSymonds.”I think the image we were trying to set to Australia was that we wereready for a fight,” Gough told Cricinfo. “They tended to be slowstarters, so we went out there pretty pumped, and I was as pumped asanyone. We hit them hard, and it set the tone for the rest of thesummer. It was a good year for England, and for English cricket.””I was thinking about bowling another yorker for the hat-trick, butVaughany [Michael Vaughan] came over to me and said, no, remember thetone we’re trying to set, bowl it short. I said, ‘Don’t worry, that’swhat’s happening’. The passion was running through my veins and thatwas that. I was pumped up and it was a sight that got people rightbehind England.”Four years on, and Gough believes a similar scenario could pan out inthe coming weeks, even though the personnel involved in the Twenty20campaign will be significantly different from the Test side, not leastwith a different captain in Paul Collingwood, who has stepped in inplace of Andrew Strauss.”England have realised you have to pick the best team for the format,then take the captain from those players,” said Gough, who played nopart in the Ashes four years ago, having retired from Test cricket in2003, while his fellow seamer at the Rose Bowl, Jon Lewis, played hisone and only Test the following summer. “It’s about momentum,” headded. “If you can start with a win, things tend to go your way, andEngland have Holland (The Netherlands) in their first game, so they should winconvincingly.”As for any concerns that the country had its priorities skewed, infocussing on the Ashes in July even though a global tournament istaking place in England next week, Gough was unequivocal. “The focusis spot on. We’ve got a big tournament coming up but the Ashes iswhat everyone wants to see, every cricket fan is interested, and thatshows that Test cricket is massively alive. The Twenty20s will beexciting but it’s a short game and you can’t pick a winner. In theAshes, the best team usually wins, and for that reason it’s going tobe a great series.”Since retirement, Gough has his fingers in all sorts of pies,including – no doubt to the amusement of Rod Marsh – Pork Farms, “theofficial snack partner of the 2009 Ashes”. But he doesn’t seeEngland’s attack serving up too many of those in the coming weeks,having been very impressed with the development of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the recent Tests against West Indies.”Anderson is a top bowler, he’s turning into a very very good bowler,”Gough said. “Broady, meanwhile, is maturing all the time, last yeardidn’t get his dues, but he’s one of the best in the side now anddeserves his starting berth in the Ashes. With [Andrew] Flintoff to come backas well, and good back-up in the likes of [Graham] Onions, [Sajid] Mahmood and[Liam] Plunkett, England have got the men to win the Ashes.”I thought they did well against West Iindies, who were a poor outfitand their body language was terrible, but you still have to beat themand England put in a great performance. I’d have liked to have seenthe batters have more than two knocks each but, as they say, you canonly beat what’s in front of you, and England did that.”As for the Australians, Gough expected them to arrive full of theirusual confidence but suspected an innate weakness might be there tobe exploited. “They’ll come over here with their usual banter andthey’ll believe they can win, but their batting doesn’t have muchdepth, and they don’t have the spinners to worry England.”They’ve picked a side to win in English conditions, and with McDonaldin for Symonds, they’ve gone for a seam-dominated attack. But if theylook around, they’ll admit to themselves that Matthew Hayden, AdamGilchrist and Shane Warne could still walk into that team. Three40-year-olds could still be in their starting line-up, and that’s areal worry for them. It’s also why I think England will win.”
