Monty in pole as Flower hints at changing bowlers
With England completely outplayed in Perth, one might have felt that it was a one off but England coach, Andy Flower, feels a change of attack in bowling could steer England clear and resurrect their chances of bringing the Ashes home with them.
Although many will have seen the batting as the major problem in the Third test, Flower insists that the workload on the current set of bowlers is heavy, particularly with two massive tests yet to play.
“A five-Test series is hard on everyone, both physically and emotionally. For the fast bowlers even more so, I would say, We’ve got a few days now to reassess prior to Melbourne and the bottom line is we’ll pick the XI that we think will have the best chance of winning in Melbourne.”
The England cricket coach continued.
“The workload on our bowlers is heavy. In the absence of a quality all-rounder we’re sticking with our four-bowler attack and we’ve shown over the last 18 months that it’s served us well.”
There remains three possible bowlers that England may select ahead of the Fourth test in Melbourne, with Panesar, Tim Bresnan and Shahzad all staking claims although it has been whispered that Panesar’s experience could push him into the First XI.
But who to leave out? Who requires a break? That is one question only Flower and the players themselves can answer, Anderson could well do with a break but we should not be replacing pace with spin, so would the England cricket set up be prepared to lose Swann for the fourth test, or simply keep Swanny and do a straight swap of Anderson for Bresnan?
The issue on paper looks simple but England cricket coach will know that making the wrong decision at this time could leave England in cricketing turmoil.
