Steve Smith has questioned whether England’s fast bowlers are suited to Australia’s seam-friendly Test wickets, acknowledging that “slower guys” have been harder to play across the last few summers.
England has touched down in Australia with what they believe is the fastest attack ever taken on an Ashes tour — Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are both capable of exceeding 150km/h, with the duo acommpanied by Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse. The likes of Ollie Robinson, Matthew Potts and Sam Cook, who typically clock at around 135km/h, have been ignored.
The tourists are expected to unleash Archer and Wood for next week’s Ashes opener at Perth Stadium, one of the bounciest decks in the country, but Australia’s other Test venues have recently suited medium-paced seamers that generate lateral movement such as Scott Boland, Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett, who rarely exceed 140km/h.
“Most of our wickets have branches hanging off them and going all over the place,” Smith joked with reporters at the SCG on Wednesday.
Speaking after the Sheffield Shield clash between New South Wales and Victoria, Smith suggested that England may have backed the “wrong” type of bowlers for the blockbuster series.
During previous Ashes tours of Australia, England has relied on swing maestros such as James Anderson and Chris Woakes, who struggled on the lifeless, batter-friendly decks. However, Smith pointed out that Australia’s green pitches have favoured bowlers over the last few summers, resulting in low-scoring contests and short Test matches.
“It’s different on the wickets now, I think,” Smith said.
“Those sort of nibblers can be quite tricky, so they might have got things the wrong way around, if that makes sense, in terms of the pace, from previous years.
“Obviously, they’ve got those guys at their disposal now. They probably weren’t fit and ready, or old enough, maybe, a few years back.
“It’s going to be different, but we’ve got plenty of players that play fast bowling well, and it’s going to be a good challenge.”
He added: “If you can do both (pace and seam), I guess that’s a good skill. But sometimes the slower guys are almost harder to play on those wickets where you have to make the pace.
“We’ll wait and see, won’t we?”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan echoed those sentiments last month, predicting that captain Ben Stokes, who bowls medium pace, would be a bigger threat in Australian conditions.
“I don’t think it’s all about pace,” Vaughan declared.
“I’d be very, very wary to just think that because we’ve got Jofra, because we’ve got Mark Wood, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson that can bowl with a bit of gas, that’s all you need.
“Scott Boland, he averages 12 because he hits the top of off stump more often than not, and the ball just wobbles around a bit.
“I look and think, ‘Give me a Chris Woakes or a Sam Cook just in case,’ because we might get conditions that are very, very English and top of off will still be the main threat.
“There’s not many quick bowlers that hit the top of off stump. They’re basically there to bowl a bit of pepper and change up the pace of play.
“It’s the one concern I have about the England attack.”
Smith’s comments come after England legend Ian Botham called on the visitors to unleash an all-out pace attack for the first Test in Perth at the expense of strike spinner Shoaib Bashir.
“I think the West Indies did pretty well with four pace bowlers and had six waiting to get in,” Botham said earlier this week.
“I think it’s the right way, you want to be aggressive, you want to come through and players if they’re not playing very well don’t like it in the ribs.
“It will be interesting … I don’t know if they’ll be able to rattle them, a lot of these guys have been around a long time.
“It’s not a case of rattling them, it’s a case of going out and trying to win and that’s what they do.
“They lose a few, they win a few.”
The first Ashes Test between Australia and England gets underway at Perth Stadium on November 21.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not only losing games, they are losing players at a rapid rate as they prepare to host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
The Maple Leafs finished their 5-3 road loss to Boston Bruins on Tuesday without captain Auston Matthews (lower-body injury) and No. 1 goaltender Anthony Stolarz (upper-body).
Matthews left the game in the second period after taking a hit in the back from Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov.
“I think it’s a penalty, personally, but I’m not the referee,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I don’t like the hit. He’s in a vulnerable position.”
Matthews returned a hit on Zadorov before finishing his shift.
No matter who is available, the Maple Leafs appear to have a difficult task against the Kings, who are coming off a 5-1 road win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and have won two in a row, as well as three of their past four.
As for Matthews, he was to be assessed on Wednesday, a day off for the team.
After the game, Berube was uncertain about the severity of the injury.
“I don’t know exactly,” he said. “I can’t give you a timeline or how serious it is right now. I’m not sure when he hurt it to be honest with you.”
Stolarz was replaced by Dennis Hildeby after the first period but Berube did not seem concerned.
“I don’t believe that’s serious,” Berube said. “I think he’ll be fine.”
Goaltender Joseph Woll, who missed the early weeks of the season for a personal issue, is with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and is close to returning to the Maple Leafs.
Toronto already is without top defenseman Chris Tanev and forward Scott Laughton, who both have upper-body injuries.
The Maple Leafs have lost three straight after winning three in a row. They have struggled at times despite playing 12 of their first 16 games at home.
“It’s adversity, for sure,” said forward Max Domi, who had an assist for Toronto in Boston. “Every guy in here is champing at the bit. Everyone wants an opportunity and here’s our opportunity. Everyone’s got to step up. Next-man-up mentality.”
The Kings are playing well on the road, having won the first two matchups of their current six-game trip.
They are 7-1-2 away from home and will be pursuing a fifth consecutive road victory on Thursday.
“It’s weird — like, two years ago, same thing,” said Quinton Byfield, who had a goal and an assist on Tuesday. “We were hot on the road, last year we were hot at home, now we’re hot on the road, I guess, again. I can’t say anything about that, it’s kind of how it goes sometimes, so obviously you want to make it both home and away and get some wins at home, but we’ve got to finish the road trip strong.”
The Kings trailed after the first period at Montreal, then erupted for three goals in a span of 4:05 early in the second.
“We felt pretty good about the period, so to come out one down was disappointing,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “But I thought we did a good job not to overreact and just understand that the way we’re playing, just come out and do it again.”