WILL EVANS charges down the wicket with cricket tips as Australia looks to ram home their Ashes advantage over England in the second Test at Adelaide Oval.
Ashes Test Cricket Tips – Australia V England
15:00 (AEDT), Thu 16th Dec @ Adelaide Oval
History: Played 352: Australia 147 V England 110 (95 Draws)
Last meeting: December 7-11, 2021: Australia d England by 9 wickets at The Gabba
Final Thoughts: The 2021-22 Ashes series began in familiar fashion, with England subjected to a 9-wicket thrashing at The Gabba.
England won the toss and elected to bat but were skittled for 147. The under-fire Mitchell Starc removed Rory Burns with the first ball while new Australian captain Pat Cummins (5/38) was the chief destroyer. The hosts piled on 425 in reply, led by Travis Head (152), David Warner (94) and Marnus Labuschagne (94). Mark Wood (3/85) and Ollie Robinson (3/58) bowled well despite in tough circumstances.
The hapless tourists briefly fought back in their second innings as Dawid Malan (82) and Joe Root (89) put on a 162-run stand. But ultimately they could only set a fourth-innings target of 20, with Nathan Lyon nabbing four wickets.
Changes loom for both teams
So where to now for England?
Surprise omissions in Brisbane, veteran seam duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad are fit and available to line up in the second Test in Adelaide. It’s unclear who they would replace, though Robinson looks short of fully fit. Spinner Jack Leach, who was carted for 1/102 in just 13 over at The Gabba, has his head on the block.
Ben Stokes is clearly not 100 percent but England need their marquee all-rounder – even a diluted version – on deck. Openers Haseeb Hameed and especially Burns need to find a way through the early onslaught. If picked again, Ollie Pope needs runs to keep the No.6 role ahead of Jonny Bairstow.
While Australia is in a far better position in virtually every way imaginable, there are a few concerns. Josh Hazlewood is out injured while David Warner (ribs) is racing the clock to be fit. Jhye Richardson is tipped to join the bowling attack, while in-form Usman Khawaja is the obvious option to replace Warner; many would already like to see the veteran come in at the top of the order for Marcus Harris.
Harris (3 and 9*), Smith (12) and Cameron Green (0) – who bowled impressively – will be eager to get amongst the runs after missing out in Brisbane.
Adelaide bogey and day/night-mares for England
The series-opening Ashes result represented England’s 10th loss in their last 11 Tests in Australia. The other was drawn. Their resounding 2010-11 win aside, England has struggled at Adelaide Oval. Australia has won five of the last six Ashes clashes at the venue, including victories by 218 runs in 2013 and 120 runs in 2017.
The latter was the first-ever Ashes day-night Test – and the first of only two England has been involved in (they lost to India by 10 wickets in Ahmedabad earlier this year). Australia have won all eight day-night Tests they’ve played, five of which were at Adelaide Oval.
In 2017, Shaun Marsh’s first-innings 126 not out helped set up the win, while Joe Root’s second-innings 67 was England’s only half-century. Starc and Anderson both took five-fors during the match.
Australia head to Adelaide as $1.53 favourites to take a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series. That looks tremendous value, despite the potential absence of Warner and Hazlewood. England already appear to have surrendered the psychological edge Down Under yet again – it’s hard to see them shoring up their glaring deficiencies on such a short turnaround.
