da realbet： BIRMINGHAM, England – The haunting memory of Australia’s opening morningof the Edgbaston Test four years ago will tempt Steve Waugh to unleashhis pacemen on a makeshift England team when the 61st Ashes seriesbegins tomorrow
Will Swanton04-Jul-2001BIRMINGHAM, England – The haunting memory of Australia’s opening morningof the Edgbaston Test four years ago will tempt Steve Waugh to unleashhis pacemen on a makeshift England team when the 61st Ashes seriesbegins tomorrow.England is in disarray heading into the first Test, with key playersGraham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan and Ashley Giles ruled out by injury andThorpe’s understudy, Mark Ramprakash, also unavailable because of apulled hamstring.Their replacements – former reject Mark Butcher, carrying anunthreatening Test average of 25.06, pedestrian offspinner Robert Croftand unheralded batsman Usman Afzaal – do not concern the Australians inthe slightest.Nothing in cricket is certain, though, and four years ago, after MarkTaylor won the toss and batted, pre-match favourite Australia wasreeling at 8-54 at lunch before making a paltry 118 and losing by ninewickets.Waugh has that in mind as he ponders the option of launching a witheringfirst morning strike through Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and JasonGillespie that could shatter England’s fragile confidence, if he winsthe toss against Nasser Hussain who’s lost 11 of his last 12 tosses.”We lost the Test in that first session,” said Waugh.”The wicket looks pretty dry, but with the three quicks there’sdefinitely a temptation to bowl first.”As always, the first session of the first Test is really important andcan set up the whole series … the results of this Test will have agreat bearing on the rest of summer.”Common practice is to bat first, avoiding the perils of a last inningsrun chase, which few sides enjoy or succeed at, but Waugh has anuncommonly dangerous trio at his disposal.The Australian skipper was wary of expecting too much from McGrath, Leeand Gillespie but the temptation to bowl first is great.”The danger is to think the fast bowlers are going to blast everyoneaway,” said Waugh.”But we’ve still got to put it in the right spots.”They could easily have a bad day, so we can’t be over-confident aboutit, but if the three of them get it right, they’re going to be a realhandful.”Waugh was yet to decide whether Lee, who usually opens the bowling buthas not played a Test since January because of an elbow injury, orin-form Gillespie will share the new ball with the world’s No.1 bowler,McGrath.”It’s a difficult decision,” said Waugh.”At this stage I’d slightly angle towards Dizzy [Gillespie] because he’sbowling so well and hitting the seam and I think he’s almost at his peakright now.”The great thing is we can swap them around if there’s a bit of breeze,give Binger [Lee] a burst down breeze pretty soon after the new ball.”It could end up being Dizzy and Binger taking the new ball and Pidge[McGrath] bowling first change sometimes.”Waugh believes his side, high on confidence after winning the tri-seriesand having so many good players in such good form, is in better shapethan the team Taylor led in to battle four years ago.”We were pretty rushed in 1997, but this time the one-day players havebeen here for a while, we’ve had quite a bit of cricket, we’re prettyrelaxed and we played such good cricket in the one-dayers that ourconfidence is up.”England’s late changes, especially the loss of Thorpe, do not hurt,although Waugh said he would rather be playing against a full-strengthEngland team.The first Test in 1997 was a disaster but the last ball of Australia’slast match at Edgbaston – a heart-stopping victory over South Africa atthe World Cup – provides a better memory.