Tag AUSinENG2012

Australia have made their way to England for a 5-ODI series which starts tomorrow. Most of the players from both sides have spoken about how they feel about this clash and what their technique and strategy will be. Australia’s opening batsman Shane Watson was one of them.

Watson spoke to a source and said that the team’s preparations for the Ashes next year will start as soon as they come onto the field for the first ODI which is on Friday, the 29th of June. He insisted that even though this is a One-Day series, key players who might have a big role in the Ashes series next year, will get a lot of experience facing England, in England.

Watson has been involved in 2 Ashes series losses to England now and has said that it is a burning desire in him to be part of a successful Ashes series.

“Any time you play against England you want success. It is the ultimate rivalry and the ultimate challenge for an Australian cricketer, to play against England and win. I haven’t been a part of that in Test matches and now is a time to be able to put some things in place so we can have some success when we come back here during the Ashes. We can learn about the cricket we need to play to beat the English over here.

“The England and Australian rivalry is the ultimate and whenever we get the chance to play against England in Test cricket or one-day cricket it is a very exciting prospect for everyone,” he was quoted.

England, who have won a record 6 consecutive series victories at home after their triumph over the West Indies recently, will face their biggest challenge yet as the ICC #1 ranked (ODIs) Australians get ready to put their all in the matches.

Watson also spoke about England’s plans to play 5 specialist bowlers against the Aussies, with Tim Bresnan batting at #7, and said that his team would look to exploit that.

“For England to be able to go in with four frontline quick bowlers is a very good thing for them against our batting line-up – but if we are able to make inroads into their batting early they may be one short,” Watson said.

“We see it is very important for us to have success here is to try and make early inroads. That has been one of England’s strengths over the last period of time, to be able to score heavily.

“We know if we are able to make inroads it may expose a part of the England team that hasn’t been exposed.”

Watson then praised Brett Lee, the veteran Aussie fast bowler who will lead inexperienced bowlers (on English soil) Pat Cummins and James Pattinson.

“Pat Cummins is a very highly skilled young man. No doubt he will be a handful, especially for the English who haven’t seen him much. That will be a nice little wildcard for us.

“Pat and our bowling unit in general are going to have to bowl extremely well. The wickets are probably going to be very flat and the outfields fast so we are going to have to bowl well to get on top of the England batting line-up.

“Brett Lee’s experience and his quality as a bowler are very important. The two others haven’t played in England at all so Brett is going to be a hugely important part of our bowling line-up. “I think he will have a big impact on how our success goes in this series,” he concluded.