Flintoff set for huge Ashes climax

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: August 20, 2009

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London: Andrew Flintoff is all set for one last huge effort in test cricket but England may need more than a one man show if they want to regain the Ashes from Australia in the grand finale of the much talked about series.

Both teams go into the fifth and final test at the Oval having won one game apiece.

But unlike four years ago when England arrived at Oval 2-1 up needing just a draw to win the series, this time it’s Australia who needs a draw to retain the Ashes and England has to win the decider to reclaim it.

England’s biggest worry is its top order batting. Only skipper Andrew Strauss has been able to make a century in the first four tests as compared to seven individual hundreds for Australia.

Gritty performances from the lower order has helped England make comebacks in the games so far but their batting fallibility was exposed in Headingley in the fourth test when they were dismissed cheaply in both the innings. Australia won by an innings and 80 runs to level the series, a win that bolstered Ricky Ponting’s chances of avoiding becoming the first Australia captain in over a century to lose two Ashes series in England.

Flintoff, who missed the fourth test after fears that the all-rounder’s knee would not last the game, is set to comeback for the final test. Also South African born Jonathan Trott is in line for a test debut in place of Ravi Bopara who was dropped after the fourth test for the continued batting failures in the series.

But the onus will most certainly be on England’s underperforming top and middle order batsmen such as Cook, Bell and Collingwood.

Another important consideration for England is how to pick up the 20 wickets in the game. The Oval pitches has always had the reputation of providing good bounce and carry to the fast bowlers early on in the match while offering some turn later on.

Strauss hasn’t ruled out the possibility of playing two spinners in the game. “It’s definitely an option,” he said of Panesar teaming up with Swann. “It’s a pretty dry wicket. At the moment it looks like a belter, it looks like a great wicket to bat on, but there’s always a chance that it’s going to deteriorate in the back-end of the game.”

Whatever changes England make, Strauss will be satisfied if they are planned, unlike the frenetic start to the Headingley Test when Matt Prior, the wicketkeeper, hurt his back in the warm-up. That injury delayed the toss, Strauss was out quickly and England fell for 102 on the way to an innings-and-80-run loss.

“I just don’t want a wicketkeeper falling over five minutes before the toss,” he said, hoping for a more sombre lead-up,” he said.

By contrast Australia, for all the talk of giving Brett Lee his first Test of a tour where he has been ruled out so far with a side injury or recalling off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, seem set to go in with the same team that won inside three days at Headingley.

Although they will want to win, they know they do not have to force the pace at a ground where seven of the last 10 Tests have ended in a positive result.

Four years ago, when England needed ‘just’ a draw, they only got the result they wanted thanks to Pietersen’s 158 during which he was dropped by Shane Warne.

It was often said when Australia were the outstanding side in Test cricket at the start of this decade that the best way to beat them was for an opposition player to have the game of his life.

Australia greats Glenn McGrath, Warne and Adam Gilchrist may have retired but England fans, contemplating the task facing their side, would be forgiven for thinking little has changed.

Tagged with: Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, Ashes, Australia, England, Glenn McGrath, Graeme Swann, London, Monty Panesar, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne

Flintoff set for huge Ashes climax

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