Ashes diary: England warned over Jack Leach decision for Adelaide Test - ‘History says the pitch will spin’

Will Macpherson15 December 2021

Australians take making cricket pitches seriously. That is why they call the people that do it curators – it is an art – not the more common and garden groundsmen we use in England.

Curators are so important that they give interviews before Test matches and Adelaide Oval’s excellent curator Damian Hough has fired a few shots before the series.

As England weigh up whether to play Jack Leach or not, Hough has made his position quite clear.

Asked if it would be a bad move to drop Leach, Hough responded: “Yeah, I think so.”

He added: “History says that the pitch will spin. Nathan’s (Lyon) always played a role out there. From our end, we believe that spin at Adelaide needs to play a part. We feel that it has previously, and it still should.”

Colly’s tour

Paul Collingwood, England’s assistant coach, heads home this weekend along with a couple of other members of the support staff. Collingwood was with England at the T20 World Cup before heading to Australia.

After a few weeks off, he will act as England head coach for the five-match T20 series in the West Indies in January. He will lead an inexperienced coaching staff that includes batting coach Marcus Trescothick.

With nobody involved in the whole Ashes series heading out, it is likely to be an inexperienced England squad that makes the trip as they prepare for the next T20 World Cup in Australia next year. Those events come thick and fast…

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Boatful of Bothas

England had a second Botha in the nets with them today. Ant Botha has been kept on from the Lions tour to be a left-arm wanger imitating Mitchell Starc, and he’s been joined by his namesake Johan, the former South Africa and South Australia spinner. He was a dab hand with the dogstick, too.

No rest for the wicked

We know that James Anderson is a bit of a cricket nuffie. He loves the game, and admitted today that he has watched all eight day-night Tests that have taken place in Australia.

Apart from the one he actually played in, Anderson has watched “in the middle of the night back home” to get a sense of what the ball is doing.

England Nets Session
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Head’s start

Adelaide Oval is Travis Head’s home ground, and he is a bit of a big deal locally – especially after his excellent hundred in Brisbane. A nice scorecard did the rounds today. Aged 16, Head made his first grade debut for Tea Tree Gully in 2010.

He was up against Prospect, and found himself caught by Joe Root off Nathan Lyon’s bowling. Just a few miles down the road, the three are involved in a very different game.

Silver service

Wouldn’t it be nice to be the cricket-mad kids of Chris Silverwood, the England head coach. They have got off school early, and are in Adelaide for the Test. Decked out in team kit, they even got a private tour of the ground as England trained.

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