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Captain Andrew Flintoff is expecting England to bounce back in Friday’s second Test here in response to their 277-run hiding by Australia in the opening Ashes match.

Flintoff said his players have worked with Test match intensity in the nets this week to prepare themselves for a much-improved performance after they were outplayed for large tracts of the Gabba Test. “We have to perform better and the way we have practised this week has been fantastic,” Flintoff told reporters on Thursday. “I think everyone realizes we are better than what we did last week and the nets (practice) have been unbelievably competitive.

“Kevin Pietersen came out of a net yesterday and said it was like batting in a Test match, the bowlers were keen to prove they are better than what they have shown and they made it hard for the batsmen in the nets.”

Flintoff would not go as far as to say the Adelaide Test was ‘win or bust’, but said his team expected to get something out of the game. “Our heads were never going to go down, we’ve got four Test matches to go,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s win or bust here, we obviously have three after this but we want to get something out of this game.”

England look likely to play two spinners after coach Duncan Fletcher said he wanted to use Monty Panesar alongside Ashley Giles on the spin-friendly Adelaide Oval, with James Anderson set to drop out.

Misfiring pace man Steve Harmison has been working in the nets to recapture the bowling rhythm which deserted him so spectacularly in Brisbane. But he is expected to keep his place. “Harmy has worked unbelievably hard this week, he wants to show he is better than what he was last week,” Flintoff said. “He has been coming to the nets early and on his own working with (bowling coach) Kevin Shine to get back to what we know he can do and there’s been a massive improvement in his bowling this week.

“He’s desperate to give something to the side and he’s quite open about that. You know what you’re getting from Harmy, he’s tries every time, it might not happen for him but I’m sure a good performance from him is just around the corner.”

Australia, keen to preserve a balanced team, have shied away from bringing in Stuart MacGill in a tandem leg-spin attack with Shane Warne following the continuing unavailability of injured all-rounder Shane Watson. Warne generally does well in Adelaide, his third most productive ground with 51 wickets in 12 Tests at a 29.20 average.

The Adelaide Oval is a high-scoring ground with the Australians amassing 500-plus in three of their last four Tests here with four batsmen scoring double-centuries — West Indies’ Brian Lara (226) last year, Justin Langer (215) against New Zealand in 2004 and Ricky Ponting (242) and Indian Rahul Dravid (233) in the 2003 Test loss to India.

England have won eight of 28 Tests in Adelaide with five drawn, and the toss will be important here with first use of the pitch expected to offer the most runs. Curator Les Burdett said the Adelaide pitch offers batsmen a chance to play their shots but it will crack through the game.

Teams:

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Justin Langer, Brett Lee, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Tait, Shane Warne.

England (from): Andrew Flintoff (captain), Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Monty Panesar. Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) Rudi Koertzen (RSA); Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ).
Source:The News

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