Australia might named an
unchanged XI for the 2nd Test
Australia's captain Michael Clarke
believes the pitch for the second Test in
Hyderabad will offer more for his fast
bowlers than the surface in Chennai,
which could lead to Australia naming an
unchanged side. The selectors won't
finalise their line-up until having seen the
pitch again during Australia's training
session on Friday, leaving room for the
slim possibility of including a second
spinner, after India's slow bowlers took 20
wickets in the first Test.
But Australia are believed to be leaning
towards an unchanged line-up, trusting
that the XI from Chennai - including eight
men who were playing Test cricket in
India for the first time - have learnt from
the experience. That would mean leaving
left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty on the
sidelines once again, and giving Mitchell
Starc a second chance after he struggled
to have any impact on the unhelpful
surface in the first Test.
"I'm hoping there will be a bit more pace
in this wicket because it's a bit harder
surface," Clarke said in Hyderabad on
Friday. "I don't think this wicket will be
any tougher than Chennai. That was a
really tough wicket, so I think we have
seen the toughest of conditions.
"The wicket will certainly deteriorate as
the Test goes on, so it's a positive for our
fast bowlers that it will be a little bit up
and down. But spin from day one will play
a huge part in this Test. I'd be very
surprised if India played any less spin, put
it that way. Looking at it yesterday, it
looked like a day three or day four pitch."
Two days out from the match, there were
already a few cracks developing but the
surface did not have the clay-like
appearance of the Chennai pitch. The
harder surface should give a little more
encouragement to Starc, Peter Siddle and
James Pattinson, although Clarke said
Starc and Siddle would still need to learn
from the way that Pattinson used speed
through the air as his major weapon
rather than relying on assistance from the
pitch.
"You have to hit the wicket really hard
here," Clarke said. "If you just put the
ball there you get nothing out of the
conditions, even if the ball is reverse
swinging. In Chennai it was really hard to
be caught behind the wicket once the ball
was 10-15 overs old, so we needed to use
our speed through the air. I think Patto
did that really well - he ran in hard, hit
the wicket really hard and he got more
out of the pitch, and more out of the ball
than Sidds and Starcy. We've certainly
spoken about that."
Siddle and Starc are not the only
members of the attack who will need to
rethink their strategy after struggling in
Chennai. Nathan Lyon leaked far too
many runs in the first Test and will need
to find a way to keep things tighter in
Hyderabad, regardless of whether he is
the sole spinner or one of a two-man spin
unit alongside Xavier Doherty. Clarke said
Lyon had shown some encouraging signs
towards the end of the Chennai Test.
"On grounds in India it's very easy to go
for a lot more runs because they're
smaller and have fast outfields," Clarke
said. "I thought Lyno showed his
character in the second innings. I wish we
had 150-200 runs on the board because
then he would have had the opportunity
to bowl in inconsistent spin, pace and
bounce on a day-five wicket that I know
he would have loved. He's been fine
[since the Test]. He's working hard every
day to try and get better.
"I think it's important for all of us as a
team to stay positive and confident. We
saw what happened with England over
here. For a lot of the guys, it was their
first Test match in India and those
conditions are as tough as they are going
to be for a fast-bowling unit and the
batsmen. I think there are a lot of
positives we've got to take out of the
game, we've looked at areas we need to
improve and a lot of that is about
patience with both bat and ball."
Although the likelihood is that Lyon will
again be the only spinner chosen, Clarke
said he was confident that Doherty would
offer plenty to the team if he was added
to the XI. Doherty's first-class figures of
122 wickets at 44.56 do not make for
encouraging reading, nor does the fact
that he has managed only two wickets at
80 this Sheffield Shield season. But Clarke
said it was unfair to extrapolate how
Doherty might fare in India from how he
bowls at home.
"He's bowling at Bellerive (Bellerive Oval,
Hobart)," Clarke said. "I think that's a
little bit different to Chennai or
Chandigarh. I think if you have a look at
fast bowling in Australia compared to spin
bowling, because of our conditons in
first-class cricket, fast bowling will always
outweigh spin bowling. I'm surprised a
spinner gets a b
the game is nearly over in two-and-a-half
days. I don't think it would be fair on any
of our spinners to compare their statistics
in Australia to how important their impact
could be in the sub-continent."
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/content/story/623023.html
out
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