Andrew Strauss must go on the attack if England are to trouble Aussies

10 April 2012

By resting Paul Collingwood and Stuart Broad from the Test series against Bangladesh, England proved they have made clear plans for the next 12 months of cricket.

Having embraced such long-term thinking, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower would surely be wise to field five front-line bowlers for the Second Test at Old Trafford, which begins in three days time.

The eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh at Lord's was, in the end, straightforward, but it should not be allowed to obscure the difficulties experienced by England's attack in collecting 20 wickets against the weakest Test-playing nation.

With Andrew Flintoff having retired from Tests and Steve Harmison discarded, England must settle on a bowling unit sufficiently potent to dismiss Australia twice.

Would just three quick bowlers, plus the off-spin of Graeme Swann, be capable of achieving this? The signs from Lord's during the last five days suggested they might not.

Yes, there are mitigating circumstances behind England's failure to sparkle with the ball. Broad, now a senior member of the attack, has been left out to work on his strength, while Jimmy Anderson and Tim Bresnan have played little first-class cricket recently.

In fact Bresnan, a key member of the team that won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean last month, has struggled to re-tune to the rhythms of the longest form of the game and was today left out of the squad for the Second Test due to a foot injury.

Notts paceman Ryan Sidebottom replaced Bresnan, which was the only change today to the 12-man squad.

Steven Finn's match figures of nine for 187, in only his Third Test and his first in this country, demonstrated that inroads could be made on a benign Lord's surface and that the 21-year-old will surely be an important component of England's attempt to retain the Ashes. Giving Finn his chance has worked so far, so why not hand Ajmal Shahzad, who was today named in the squad for the Second Test at Old Trafford, his Test debut in Manchester, as part of a five-man attack?

The Yorkshire paceman, who was in the Test squad for the winter tour of Bangladesh but was never chosen, merits the chance to justify that original selection at the beginning of the year.

With a first-class average of 31.09 before the current round of County Championship matches, Shahzad has shown that he can also bat. And while playing Bangladesh can never be compared to facing Australia, his inclusion would surely be beneficial.

First, it would give the 24-year-old a taste of Test cricket, meaning he would have some experience of its demands were he to be called upon in Australia in a little under six months' time.

Second, it would allow Strauss and coach Flower to assess the pros and cons of an extra bowler, a move they have resisted since the Ashes-clinching victory over Australia at The Brit Oval last August. For the moment, however, captain Strauss and Flower appear to favour strongly the idea of six batsmen and four bowlers, with wicketkeeper Matt Prior at seven.

"We've always said that we'll judge whether we need four or five bowlers depending on the conditions we're likely to encounter," said Strauss. "We probably felt there would be more in the Lord's wicket than there was.

"We will keep looking at it on a case-by-case basis. Ajmal Shahzad is in the squad at the moment so he may well have a chance at some stage. If he does, that gives us an opportunity to look at the situation but as much as possible, we need to pick the best team we have available to us. We will have to look at the conditions on any given wicket. If the conditions cry out for a bowler like Ajmal to play, he will get a chance."

While Shahzad fights to convince his captain and coach, Finn must now have his sights on taking the new ball at Old Trafford on Friday. Given the injury to Bresnan, that leaves the way clear for 6ft 7ins Finn, with Strauss also indicating that he expects the bouncy surfaces Down Under to suit his Middlesex team-mate.

"Steve obviously has some great attributes, like his height and clean action and it's fantastic for him to take wickets and show that he belongs at this level so early in his career," added Strauss.

"If you look at the bowlers who generally take wickets in Australia, it's often the tall, hit-the-deck types who tend to do well."

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