Home and Away - the Ashes Tour: Week 4

For those of you who regularly follow Beyond the Cliche (you must be out there somewhere), apologies for delaying this post by a day. The reason being I wanted to have the result of the final warm-up match in the bag before writing this up, mainly so I could focus solely on the Test matches themselves from hereon in. Without further ado, let's see how England are shaping up for Thursday's big kick-off:

England 288-8d (Collingwood 94, Bell 61) and 240-1d (Cook 111*, Strauss 102) drew with South Australia 221 (Swann 4-68) and 48-2. OK, so England weren't able to force a result on this occasion but to be fair, they did have only three days on a flat Adelaide surface and clearly had the better of proceedings. Only Trott and Prior have failed to score a 50 in the top 8 and all of the bowlers are looking in fine form, finding ways to take wickets on very different surfaces to what they have become used to (only Jimmy Anderson, impressive here with 5 wickets in the match has toured Australia before and that was a chastening experience!). The frontline bowlers were then sent off to Brisbane to acclimitise ahead of the 1st Test and the back-ups were given a shot for the final game.

England 523 (Bell 192, Collingwood 89, Cook 60, O'Keefe 4-88) and 11-0 beat Australia A 230 (O'Keefe 66, Smith 59, Tremlett 4-54) and 301 (White 111, Hughes 81, Bresnan 4-86) by 10 wickets. An impressive performance and a good toss to win, as the Hobart track started off green and ended up flattening over the four days. Both Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan showed that they can be capable deputies should injury strike the frontliners. Back-up spinner Monty Panesar also showed how far his game has progressed with an amazing catch to dismiss Ed Cowan on the first day. Bell looked magnificent, although possibly wasted at No. 6 in the order. If Jonathan Trott's poor form continues, he might just be bumped back up to 3, as he was on the last tour, with reasonable if unrecognised success.

So let's now look at the bowling attack:

Stuart Broad (RA fast, LH bat) - the new Flintoff? Maybe if his bowling finds more sustained hostility. Relies on the short ball, which should serve him well in Australian conditions. The hero of the Oval in 2009, has also found some batting form with a wonderful century against Pakistan. Father Chris was man-of-the-series last time England won Down Under in 86-87.

Graeme Swann (RA off-spin, RH bat) - the man with the X Factor. The best England spinner since Derek Underwood has superb character and a great cricketing brain. The big turning off-breaks and subtle arm balls are well disguised and mixed up and he's already found form on this tour. He is also a complete lad. More on that later.

James Anderson (RA fast swing, LH bat) - having been almost ruined four years ago by the Aussies, Jimmy has been on an upward spiral ever since. At his best when there is plenty of lateral movement, which he won't find in Oz, but has at least found ways to keep it tight and pick up wickets in all circumstances.

Steven Finn (RA fast, RH bat) - the young buck of the bowling unit, Finn has had a great start to his Test career and hits the deck hard, so the pitches should suit him. Has the tendency to tire quickly and bowl some average spells but will improve with time. This tour may be a little early for him, but he'll have a great career.

Tim Bresnan (RA fast-medium, RH bat) - the man most likely to step in. Quicker than you'd expect, gets a little bit of movement and can bat effectively at No.8. Fitness may be a concern

Chris Tremlett (RA fast, RH bat) - toured last time in limited overs, played 3 Tests against India and did fine, not considered since. Had a magnificent season at Surrey, where he dispelled rumours that he was a soft touch. Will step up if Finn begins to struggle.

Ajmal Shahzad (RA fast, RH bat) - here more for the experience, but I like the look of this guy. Gets reverse swing in the style of Simon Jones.

Monty Panesar (SLA, LH bat) - criticised for lack of variation, but has won several games for England in the past. A hero of Cardiff last year when he kept North and Hauritz out with Anderson for a draw.

The Aussies have selected their 13-man squad for the First Test, which lines up as follows: Watson, Katich, Ponting, Clarke, North, Hussey, Smith, Haddin, Siddle, Johnson, Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Doherty. Nathan Hauritz may feel aggrieved at being left out instead of debutant Xavier Doherty, but the selectors are clearly trying to exploit Kevin Pietersen's weakness against left-arm spinners. Plus I feel Doherty will get more control over the batsmen, allowing the pacemen to open up. North and Hussey are under pressure to make runs, but Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson didn't do enough in the Australia A match to force their selection.

England's "Top Bloke" of the Week: Graeme Swann. Ian Bell has been the star man with the bat, but Swann has adapted beautifully to conditions to find early success in the tour matches. He has also lifted morale with his ECB-approved tour diary. I actuall brought out The Sprinkler myself in a club the other night. LAD (him, not me!)

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/england/england-in-australia-2010-11/swannys-ashes-video-diary/

I will hopefully bash out a live blog from the first night of the Ashes. Provided I don't get too drunk
RM