5 slick Aussie pacemen coming to Ashes 2009 in England

[acker]

Brett Lee
Mitchell Johnson
Shaun Tait
Stuart Clark
Ben Hilfenhaus

A pretty destructive force

I would be surprised if anyone crack's into that line up.

Spinners spots....still up for grabs...Cam White still definitely in the mix.

Batting spots unlikely to change much..Jaques, Hayden, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke and Symonds

Keeping spot might be the interesting one. Ronchi is putting a lot of heat on Gilly (who is responding like a true champion)

[Speedboy Salesman]

White? Meh.

Haven't heard/seen much of Hilfenhaus, can anybody fill me in with some details?

[acker]

Yeah the spinners spot is the only weak link currently.

Hilfenhaus will be a dead set certainty, likely at the expense of Clark.

Johnson after a lot of perseverance, finally looks like he has arrived for the long haul.
(Jeff Thomson discovered him, Dennis Lillee confused him, Jeff Thomson unscrambled his brain again. Type of thing......according to Thommo)

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Speedboy Salesman

Haven't heard/seen much of Hilfenhaus, can anybody fill me in with some details?

Johnson aside, he seems to be the most promising bowler of the next generation: the talk I've heard suggests a bowler with an ability to hit the seam, good mastery of swing and the potential to completely eclipse the likes of Lee (whose place he should already have taken) and Tait (who should surely never trouble international scorers ever again).

Whether Hilfenhaus will also eclipse Johnson is going to be an interesting one... but if Clark carries on for 3-4 mor years as well... Australia should certainly be asking a lot of questions in the next Ashes series!

[pie_chucker]

I do like the look of Hilfenhaus. Johnson could be decent too but I doubt the English top order will be losing any sleep over Lee and Tait.

Infact Englands bowling looks at least as strong for '09.

Harmsion, Hoggard, Sidebottom, Flintoff, Broad, Tremlett, Panesar...

And by then Anderson should have improved and may may have Jones fit .

There is still potential in the likes of Onions, Plunkett and a few other.

[greg]

Well Brett Lee has a dreadful record in England so he is nothing to fear and Johnson and Hilfenhaus will be unknown quantities in this country so could be dangerous.The main threat will be Clark but 2 years is a long time away and the Aussie side may well evolve more and players like Hayden,Gilchrist and Symonds might not be around by then.

As for England we have our own young gun in Broad coming through but who knows if he will be up to it.Time will tell i suppose.

[acker]

Originally Posted by pie_chucker

I do like the look of Hilfenhaus. Johnson could be decent too but I doubt the English top order will be losing any sleep over Lee and Tait.

Tait will hit 160 kph plus on that tour

They will lose sleep and will be scared.

With Johnson around 150 kph they wont find much respite at the other end either.

Talk it down, dumb it down...unconvince yourself.

Do or say what you like......it will happen.

[Seamer]

You might get away with a four-pronged pace attack in Australia, West Indies and South Africa, but i don't reckon it would work in England.

You need a well balanced attack over there, as Australia (hopefully) learned after the debacle in 2005. The best attack should contain one fast man (Tait and Lee should never play in the same test, no matter where it is IMO), a steady-eddie type bowler in the Clark/McGrath vein, and a couple of bowlers who can utilize swing and seam (Bracken/Johnson/Hilfenhaus)

In particular, Australia must send a man in the mold of T.Alderman/D.Flemming, and Bracken would do that job perfectly. In fact, for that tour i think Bracken is a must.

As for spin, we will have to see. Maybe McGill might be lobbing them down by them, but don't dismiss M.Clarke as an option. Clarke is a very under-rated offie IMO

[engssmoothcriminal]

Originally Posted by acker

Tait will hit 160 kph plus on that tour

They will lose sleep and will be scared.

With Johnson around 150 kph they wont find much respite at the other end either.

Talk it down, dumb it down...unconvince yourself.

Do or say what you like......it will happen.

Well I suspect they will prefer this "terrifying pace" to 50 overs a day of absolutely nothing to hit from Clark and McGrath that strangled the life out of them last winter. If Australia want to come over here in a couple of years time sacrifice control in a bid to play macho cricket and looking to bomb the English batsmen great though I suspect Ponting has a bit more sense than that. With Old Trafford off the Ashes schedule (discuss ) odds are the pitches will have nothing in them by way of pace and bounce and it could be a straight fight between the spinners as to who is the match winner. And for the first time in 20 years that is an area where England will have the edge.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by engssmoothcriminal

And for the first time in 20 years that is an area where England will have the edge.

That could be true, but depends on whether McGill is still playing and how well he is playing. From memory he has not played in an Ashes match over there being a spectator to Warne, so i suspect that the Ashes 2009 is one of his long term goals.

McGill vs English batsman/Panasar vs Australian batsmen? I think the two will cancel each other out if that is how it turns out.