Bowlers win matches — Gillespie’s guide to key Ashes battle

M 10 W 19 Ave 38.42

BEN STOKES

Age: 31 Caps: 91 Ashes record in England:

AT the back end of his career, Ian Botham was a bit of a liquorice allsorts bowler, trying stuff while giving the main quicks a bit of a breather. I view Stokes in that role now. Someone who will look to create, whether it’s coming in around the wicket with some short stuff to a specific field, hanging it out wide of off-stump, or coming in and trying a couple of bouncers, yorkers, changes of pace. He will be best utilised in short bursts given the recent injury problems.

JACK LEACH

Age: 31 Caps: 34 Ashes record in England: M 4 W 12 Ave 25.83

THIS is where the game of cat and mouse will come in, because I think the Aussies will look to dominate the left-arm spinner and this could be an interesting battle throughout the series.

Being able to score quickly and heavily off him will influence how England use their other bowlers. Australia will want to force Stokes to take him off and bring back one of the quicks or bowl himself.

In 2005, Ashley Giles took only 10 wickets at 57 but he gave the seam bowlers a breather, picked up key wickets and didn’t get blown away from a runs per over point of view, regularly bowling over the wicket to really good fields and going at around threes. I’m not saying Leach should bowl like Giles but he’s got to find a way to have an impact in whatever role that he’s entrusted with.

PAT CUMMINS

Age: 30 Caps: 49

Ashes record in England: Matches 5 Wkts 29 Ave 19.62

HE leads from the front and it’s going to be interesting to see how often he bowls because history has shown that fast-bowling captains under-bowl themselves at times. He’s added skills to his repertoire: he can bowl genuinely fast, swings it in, swing it out, and can do that donkey work, hitting the back of a length, which means as well as being captain, he is leader of the attack. All this makes him one of the finest fast bowlers to wear the Baggy Green.

MITCHELL STARC Age: 33 Caps: 77 Ashes record in England: M 9 W 33 Ave 31.27

THE idea of Starc bowling first change has been floated by former Australia left-armer Brendon Julian and the reasoning is that during that first six to 10 overs, the lacquer is still on the ball and it swings more after this period.

Although I see some merit in that, I’d still want him to take the first over, bowl fast and create a little bit of indecision. England are going to play pretty aggressively and Australia should therefore unleash the beast that is Starc, their most aggressive bowler, as early as possible.

The left-arm angle is something different and I am not sure there have been many bowlers in the history of Test cricket who have consistently bowled fuller. Starc attacks the stumps and front pad with the new ball and that has been very successful. Don’t look at the runs per over, look at the wickets column. He’s up to 306 now.

JOSH HAZLEWOOD Age: 31 Caps: 59

Ashes record in England:

M 8 W 36 Ave 23.58

ONE of my favourite bowlers to watch but he’s been dogged by injuries.

He’s played only four of Australia’s most recent 19 Tests, is out of the World Test Championship final against India and it’s a race against time for Edgbaston. Fingers crossed, he’ll be fit and firing because he has so many great attributes: tall, with a great motor, good pace and an ability to hit the same spot on the pitch over and over, just doing enough with the ball to create doubt in batsmen’s minds.

SCOTT BOLAND Age: 34 Caps: 7

I’VE heard the him described as underrated but he’s certainly not under-rated in Australia and his 28 Test wickets have cost 13.42 runs apiece. He’s never bowled in a firstclass match here but in traditional English conditions he could be a proper handful, just nibbling the ball around at a brisk pace of around 84 miles per hour. Relentless with his line and length. Expect him to play, if Hazlewood doesn’t make it.

CAMERON GREEN Age: 23 Caps: 20

CONSISTENTLY hits the high 80s in mph and at 6ft 6ins, when on song he can create a lot of problems with extra bounce. You have a bigger margin for error when you slightly miss your length when you are that tall.

Too full and batters don’t feel as confident driving and too short, the same goes for cross-batted shots. In Australia, the pitches carry more and you can bowl in the channel as it can invite nicks behind. Offer width in England though and the ball just sits up, batters can get to the top of the bounce and launch it through the off-side. So Australia’s all-rounder will need to bowl a bit straighter.

MICHAEL NESER Age 33: Caps: 2

HE has had a wonderful season so far with Glamorgan. Bustles in, hits a good spot on the wicket and challenges the top of off-stump regularly. He is a gun fielder and genuine all rounder, with three first-class hundreds. So he could force his way in, despite not being named in the original squad. The Australian selectors will be glad they have an in-form bowler waiting in the wings.

NATHAN LYON Age: 35 Caps: 119 Ashes record in England: M 13 W 45 Ave 31.62

KNOWN as the Goat. Adaptability is his massive strength. England will look to have a crack at him but I reckon he has the experience to be able to combat any aggressive batting. I haven’t seen too many teams go hard at him in trying to put him off his game and succeed. It’s going to be a great battle. With all respect to Leach, Lyon is a far superior spinner and will handle the counter-attacking of opponents better.

England might get him away now and again, but he always has the last laugh.