How can Australia regain the Ashes from England? Part 1

How to overcome their Batsmen

The Urn

As the commencement of the biggest cricket rivalry begins tomorrow, Sports Analytics provides insight into just how can Australia regain the Ashes from the arch-rival and Nemesis England.

Many cricketing experts across the globe believe England is primed to win the series and retain the Ashes on Australian soil for the first time since 1986-87. Whilst the team at Sports Analytics INC thinks many of these experts are correct and England has never been better placed to beat Australia on their home turf, we have tried to breakdown just how Australia can regain the Ashes.

Sports Analytics INC has reviewed the form of the crucial English cricketers, both batsmen and bowlers and the captaincy of Andrew Strauss over the past 2 years and against Australia to identify deficiencies and areas of weakness that the Australian team can target.

Let’s look at the English batsmen first to identify how Australia can break these down

Andrew Strauss: Let’s start at the top and look at the skipper’s performance over the past 2 years:

Year	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
2009	14	24	2	4	4	169	1172	53.3	9	0
2010	8	14	1	3	0	83	410	31.5	11	0
Versus	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
Australia	15	29	0	4	3	161	1114	38.4	13	0

Strauss has been struggling from an averages perspective this year despite the England team winning and doing well. Strauss’s batting is built around playing square of the wicket therefore falling into the trap of pitching it up might backfire. Also angling the ball into him allows him to flick it square off his pads or on the off-side.

The Australian bowlers will need pitch it straight and pitch it up trying to get it to swing moderately away from his body. If Australia fall into the trap of playing mind games and try and knock his head off, he might play himself into form and have a big innings or two.

Kevin Pietersen: The biggest danger for Australia and a pure match winner is he. Pietersen by his own admission has been in a form slump for almost 18 months.

Year	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
2009	11	17	1	5	1	102	760	47.5	2	0
2010	10	17	2	4	0	99	507	33.8	7	0
Versus	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
Australia	12	24	2	7	2	158	1116	50.7	4	0

Pietersen needs to be attacked by spin bowling away from the wicket and also ensure the quicks pitch it up with late movement. Left arm spinner Xavier Doherty should be used against Pietersen and Doug Bollinger should be used at the other end to tie him and interchanged with strong disciplined line and length bowling. Bowling a bad ball and being punished relieves pressure on a man that can build confidence quickly and be broken down.

Alistair Cook: Cook has a dismal record against Australia and when he is playing himself in, he has a tendency to be all upper-body and not move his feet. The one danger for Australia is once he is in; he goes on usually to make a big score. Pitching it up with movement on morning sessions when the ball might swing late is the best bet. Siddle and Hilfenhaus are likely the best men to get Cook out through lack of footwork. This has been evidenced with Cook caught behind 6 times off fast men.

Year	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
2009	14	24	3	4	3	160	960	45.7	13	0
2010	10	18	1	2	3	173	710	41.8	5	0
Versus	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
Australia	10	19	0	1	1	116	498	26.2	9	0

 Peter Siddle on Day 1 at the Gabba bowling to Alistair Cook

Jonathan Trott: Trott burst on the scene against Australian when Australia lost the Ashes last year. He has had a strong start to his cricket career however has never been truly tested on hard wickets.

Year	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
2009	3	5	0	1	1	119	275	55	1	0
2010	10	18	2	3	2	226	880	55	7	0
Versus	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
Australia	1	2	0	0	1	119	160	80	1	0

It is well known that Trott has come into test cricket average 55 in the past 2 years, and he has made a living on the short-ball and damaging bowling teams through mid-wicket. However one man’s strength can be his weakness and it’s critical to note that the straight ball again will be crucial here. Mitchell Johnson will need to tighten up his angle, Bollinger, Siddle and Hilfenhaus will no doubt trouble him if they bowl McGrath like with line and length.

Ian Bell: Bell is no doubt the best performed English batsmen of the past 12 months and has come of age big time. He has developed a knack of scoring runs early in his innings which alleviates pressure. Once in, he has a tendency to bat for a long time as evidenced by his average of 71.5 in the past 12 months. In years gone by, Mitchell Johnson has had his number getting his wicket four time in the last series, however with Johnson’s decline in consistency and ability to maintain accuracy at the best of times at the moment, the Australian team should be hearing alarm bells. The one thing Australia can take grace from is he only averages 25 against the Aussies, however he has hit form. Bell lost his wicket yesterday trying to put the foot on the accelerator whilst batting with the tail and he will no doubt have a strong series. The key to getting Bell is to get into his head, play games with his partnering batsmen and try to break down his psyche. This could mean Bollinger is the man in the series to break Ian Bell down.

Year	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
2009	6	10	0	2	1	141	320	32	3	0
2010	6	9	1	2	2	138	572	71.5	3	0
Versus	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
Australia	13	25	0	8	0	87	642	25.7	14	0

Matt Prior: England have used Prior as a batsmen first, wicketkeeper second. This has not had disastrous results with Prior keeping to Swan on turning wickets to date. This has enabled another specialist batsmen to play deep down the order. Prior’s strengths are square of the wicket and he loves to drive. But is renowned for not playing himself in and giving his wicket away cheaply. Once in however he is a hard batsman to knock over. Pitching the ball up and angling into him to cramp his room is going to be required all summer.

Year	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
2009	13	20	3	6	1	*131	740	43.5	25	2
2010	11	16	3	4	1	*102	506	38.9	38	2
Versus	M	Inns	NO	50s	100s	HS	Runs	Avg	Ca	St
Australia	6	10	1	2	0	61	261	29	11	1

Stay tuned for how Australian batsmen need to attack next week post the first Ashes test and how they should play the English bowlers.