Ashes might be almost a year away, but verbal volleys have begun with Australian coach Darren lehmann challenging England to produce the same green, seaming pitches they used to beat India when his team visits the ‘Old Blighty’ next year.
“The wickets were quite sporting over there in the last couple of Test matches. The Oval … I can’t remember that sort of wicket being produced for an Australian Test match in the last 50 or 60 years, so that’s interesting in itself,” lehmann said when asked about the just-concluded Test match between India and England.
“From my point of view, I am looking for those sort of wickets next year,” he was quoted as saying by The Australian.
The Australia coach said he hopes that when the next series begins, Australia’s bowlers will have the same green tops produced that undid India in the five-match series that concluded on Sunday. “Can we get the same next summer pleaseIJ RT @HomeOfCricket: Here it is. The lord’s pitch. What do you thinkIJ #EngvInd,” Cricket Australia had tweeted last month along with a video clip of the pitch of the lord’s Test match between India and England.
During the 2013 Ashes series in England, Australia’s batsmen and bowlers struggled on pitches that were similar to the dustbowls of Asia. English cricket chiefs and curators said new drainage systems had sucked the moisture from the grounds and there was nothing to be done. No amount of watering would fix the problem, they claimed.
It was only a coincidence that the hosts considered spinner Graeme Swann their biggest threat, but no surprise he was the highest wicket-taker (26) in the series.