The Hindu : Sport : Mind games take centre-stage

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Mind games take centre-stage

Melbourne: Mind games have taken centre-stage ahead of the much-awaited Ashes series with Australian captain Ricky Ponting and coach John Buchanan engaging in a war of words with England coach Duncan Fletcher.

The Australians said that Fletcher was ``playing games'' ahead of Friday's opening match of the tour.

Ponting questioned Fletcher's intention of giving importance to his team's Champions Trophy victory over the Australians in 2004 while choosing to ignore the current reversal of roles, a report in The Age said here today.

In his Ashes diary, Fletcher was adamant that England's win over Australia in the Champions Trophy semifinals two years ago gave them the belief and a tactical blueprint for the Australians, both of which proved crucial in the team's eventual Ashes victory.

Long way to go

Ponting said that England, on account of Australia's six-wicket victory inside 37 overs at Jaipur, was well behind the Australians. ``I would not have expected (Fletcher) to say anything about that last (Champions Trophy) game before the last Ashes if they had lost,'' he was quoted as saying.

``They said they were gauging themselves against us in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy last time around, and I guess if they are going off that again on that last game they played, they have got a long way to go.''

Buchanan said Fletcher was adopting the kind of psychological tactics for which Clive Woodward, England's World Cup-winning rugby coach, was renowned.

``Right at this stage, I am sure Duncan is playing a lot of little games. I think Duncan might be playing the same games that Clive Woodward did when he was out here with the English rugby team.''

England capable

Australian cricket great Richie Benaud believes that England is capable of overcoming the string of injury problems to defend the Ashes.

Benaud feels that in England's Ashes campaign, the onus will be on the pace bowlers, who have the firepower to rattle the Australians.

"England's pace bowling is the key to the series," he was quoted as saying by The Age.

"I said in 2004 that if England's pace attack bowled well, it could win the Ashes and everyone laughed at me. Look what happened."

The English pace quartet of Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison had Australia on the backfoot in 2005.

Balanced attack

But England has arrived in Australia without Jones and Michael Vaughan, who led the team to the first Ashes victory in almost 20 years.

"They'll miss Jones and Vaughan. Jones will certainly be missed, partly because he was an improving bowler. England is going to miss Michael Vaughan because of his tactical expertise and the fact that he's a good player.

"But there's no reason why England cannot have a balance in their attack this year, even though Jones isn't there, he further said.

They still have Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Flintoff. That's three main-line bowlers with plenty of pace about them, I think if they stay fit and bowl well they are right in there."

Stiff security

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) is adopting a tough approach towards spectators who attend the Ashes series with the intention of spoiling the enjoyment of others.

``We want what fans want,'' CA chief James Sutherland said in a statement on Thursday.

``We want people coming to grounds to be able to enjoy the cricket in comfort, to enjoy the buzz of being a part of a large crowd, to have fun with family and friends and to give vocal support to their team.

``We don't want to be killjoys, we want to make sure everyone who attends matches this summer has a positive and enjoyable experience.'' — Agencies

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