Ponting backs Johnson's WACA record

Australia's fast bowlers have gathered in Perth, uncertain of who will be carrying the drinks when the third Test begins on Thursday. The captain Ricky Ponting has said there will be strong competition between the fast men, with Mitchell Johnson back in the mix after being dropped along with Ben Hilfenhaus for the Adelaide Test.

Mitchell Johnson is back in the mix despite his disappointing efforts at the Gabba © Getty Images

Mitchell Johnson is back in the mix despite his disappointing efforts at the Gabba © Getty Images

Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris have all been named in Australia's 12-man squad, and although there is a chance that all four could play, Ponting always prefers to have a specialist spinner on hand. If that means Michael Beer plays alongside the allrounder Steven Smith, one of the pace bowlers must sit out.

The early indications are that it won't be Johnson, who is viewed as the most dangerous man in the attack, although his recent form has been poor. Johnson has a strong record at the WACA, where he has taken at least five wickets in all three of his Tests, and it was the venue of one of his greatest spells of bowling, when he took 8 for 61 against South Africa in 2008-09.

"He's taken an eight-for here so he has to come back into the reckoning considering it's a game we have to win," Ponting told the Australian. "I've always used him as a strike bowler but unfortunately he wasn't able to deliver in Brisbane. He's had a chance to get away and sort things out and he has worked exceptionally hard in Adelaide. Hopefully we'll see some good stuff from him in Perth this week."

Johnson was working with the bowling coach Troy Cooley in the nets at the Adelaide Oval while his team-mates were on their way to an innings defeat, and Ponting was pleased with his progress. He was also happy with the efforts of Siddle, who took a hat-trick on the opening day of the series but hasn't picked up a wicket since that first innings at the Gabba.

"Sids had none-for in Adelaide but I think he bowled a lot better than that," Ponting said. "I thought he got better as the game went on and never got any results to show for it. I'm very comfortable with the way he's going and I was very impressed with (Ryan) Harris. To come back into the side and bowl that way was really exciting. He's someone who will bowl well at the WACA."

The Australians have already used five different fast men - Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle, Ryan Harris and Doug Bollinger - in the two Tests, and the full-time selector Greg Chappell said there weren't a lot of options around the country. Trent Copeland and Mark Cameron have been impressive in the Sheffield Shield this season, while Peter George is also bowling well, having made his Test debut in India in October, but Chappell believed the proven men were the way to go in a crucial Ashes Test.

"Well, there are not a lot of options," Chappell said in an interview with his brother Ian in Brisbane's Sunday Mail. "Mitch was, up until very recently, our best wicket-taker and the one most likely to win a Test or to help us get 20 wickets. If we can get him bowling well, he's still the most dangerous bowler we have."

The players gathered on Sunday in Perth, where Phillip Hughes and Michael Clarke had arrived early to spend extra time working with the batting coach Justin Langer. The third Test is not expected to be easy for the batsmen, with word from the WACA curator Cameron Sutherland that the game could be over in four days.

"We're going to aim for a fair bit of grass on top this year," Sutherland told Perth's Sunday Times. "Certainly we want a result and we're confident that we'll have a pitch that will produce a result."

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Hughes 'blown away' by Beer shout

Merv Hughes was a selector until two months ago, but even he was caught off guard by Michael Beer's call-up for this week's Perth Test. The inclusion of the left-arm spinner Beer, who played the first of his five first-class games in October, was a major surprise given the delicate state of the series, which England leads 1-0.

"I must admit I was a little bit blown away by it," Hughes told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Having been in the selection system for the last five years you know the process that they watch the games and obviously he's impressed the selectors at the games he's played this year. I actually didn't hear the team. Someone said a left-armer from WA had been picked, I actually thought it might have been Aaron Heal."



Michael Beer wasn't  on the radar of former selector  Merv Hughes © Getty Images

Michael Beer wasn't
 on the radar of
former selector
 Merv Hughes
© Getty Images



The chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said of the decision that having a left-arm orthodox spinner would be a good option for Australia in the future. The first one they tried, Xavier Doherty, was axed after two Tests, and Steve O'Keefe, who played in the Australia A match against England in November was surprisingly overlooked.

"Three weeks ago when he wasn't picked for the Australian A team they couldn't have been thinking about him then because they played [Steve] Smith and O'Keefe in that game," Hughes said. "Michael Beer's a huge surprise. I would have thought there would have been a couple of players in front of him, but I haven't seen games this year."

Beer moved to Western Australia from Melbourne during the 2010 off-season and Hughes said during his time as a selector he had not seen him play. However, despite being surprised by the call-up, Hughes said he had no reason to think Beer would not be up to the task if he plays at the WACA.

"Since Adelaide everyone's been crying out for change and when they make a change everyone sits back and asks why," Hughes said. "We can't cry out for change then question why it's been done. Give the kid a chance, I hope he goes really well. I'm surprised but I'm also excited for him."

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Collingwood shines on dreary day

Paul Collingwood enlivened an insufferably dull day of cricket with three wickets in five overs, before Andrew Strauss scalped the first-innings centurion, Michael Hill, for 4 with his rarely seen left-arm chinaman bowling, as England's pace bowlers aborted their attempts to impress the selectors ahead of the Perth Test, and left Monty Panesar and the declaration bowlers to get through their day's work on a dreadfully slow pitch.

By the close, Victoria had reached 2 for 278 in their second innings, a lead of 310 following England's lunchtime declaration on 2 for 184. With Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad and Tim Bresnan thwarted by the conditions, the only wicket to fall in the afternoon session was Aaron Finch, who set Victoria's tempo with 45 from 74 balls, before miscuing a lofted drive at Panesar and holing out to mid-off.

Thereafter, England were held up by a pair of debutants, the 20-year-old Ryan Carters, who made 68, and the 18-year-old Alex Keath, who turned his back on an AFL contract with Gold Coast to concentrate on a career in cricket. He started uncertainly as Bresnan and Shahzad probed his defences with a hint of reverse swing, but grew in confidence as the afternoon wore on and the sting went out of England's efforts.

It was left to Collingwood's offcutters to make England's long-awaited breakthrough, as Carters stepped across his stumps to be bowled behind his legs, and two overs later he added a second courtesy of a smart one-handed catch by Alastair Cook at silly mid-off, as Matthew Wade drove airily back down the ground. Cook had been off the field apparently nursing a sore back, but his mobility seemed not in the slightest bit impaired.

Panesar, who had bowled tidily but without assistance from the pitch, then added a second as John Hastings swung across the line and top-edged a sweep to Collingwood, running round from slip, who then denied Keath a fifty on debut with a slow, ballooning bouncer that was scuffed through to the keeper. The session then degenerated into farce with the introduction of Strauss and Eoin Morgan, who has yet to bat on this tour, but has now bowled three overs for 37.




Ian Bell made another half-century before England's early declaration © Getty Images

Ian Bell made another half-century before England's early declaration © Getty Images

 

The highlight of England's day, however, was Strauss's third first-class victim, as Hill was adjudged lbw, a touch unluckily it appeared, to a back-of-the-hand delivery that appeared to pitch outside the line of leg stump. Either way, he joined elite company, with Kevin Pietersen and Stephen Fleming the only two other batsmen to succumb to his assortment of long-hops. It was left to Jayde Herrick and Clint McKay to climb into the offerings, with Strauss conceding 51 runs in four overs, and McKay posting 58 not out, his highest first-class score.

"We want to make a competitive game tomorrow, so in order for that to happen we had to allow Victoria to get enough runs to make it competitive tomorrow," explained Ian Bell at the close of play. "That was really the idea behind it."

In the morning session, England's batsmen continued where they had left off in the Brisbane and Adelaide Tests, with Strauss making a boundary-laden 66, and Bell unbeaten at lunch on 60, his fifth consecutive fifty-plus score of the tour.

Strauss, who resumed on 17 not out, offered a chance on 40 when he snicked Herrick to Cameron White at first slip, who shelled a regulation catch, but was otherwise watertight as he brought up his fifty from 79 balls with a sweep off the left-arm spinner Jon Holland. It was Holland who ended his stay via a chip to midwicket.

By that stage, however, Bell was fully into his stride, and he posted his fifty with a sweetly timed cover drive off Hastings. Collingwood, whose opportunities on the tour to date have been limited, cracked Holland for a big six into the Members' stand to go to the interval on 29 not out, as England moved to within 32 runs of Victoria's first-innings 2 for 216 before declaring.

Despite the unhelpful nature of the wicket, Bell reckoned that England would be more than content with the work-out that their bowlers had got, especially with the prospect of a livelier surface at the WACA next week.

"It's always nice to get a couple of wickets, but I think it's been a hard wicket for the bowlers," said Bell. "Let's be fair, it's so slow out there, but they've toiled away and it's reverse swung, which is good to see because those sorts of skills which might come in at some point at the WACA.

"They've worked hard, and to be honest with you, it's great going into Perth that all three of them had a good work-out in batting friendly conditions. It's much better that than a green seamer where they've all taken five-for and bowled a couple of good balls but a couple of bad balls as well. They've generally gone at two an over all game and that's exactly what we want going into a Test match."

Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo.

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North dropped, Michael Beer in Test squad

Marcus North, Doug Bollinger and Xavier Doherty have been axed, and Australia's selectors have sprung a major surprise by naming the little-known spinner Michael Beer in their 12-man squad for the Perth Test. Phillip Hughes has been picked to replace the injured Simon Katich, while Steven Smith is a strong chance to play after no other specialist batsman was named to replace North.

Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus are also likely to come back in to the side in what could be a four-man pace attack with Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle, who the selectors considered the best of the bowlers in the Adelaide loss. But it's the inclusion of Beer that will raise eyebrows, especially with Nathan Hauritz fresh from a first-class century and five-wicket haul for New South Wales.

"Michael Beer replaces Xavier Doherty in the squad," Australia's chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said. "Michael is a left-arm orthodox spinner who has been very impressive at domestic level this year. He took wickets against England in the tour match earlier this summer and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground."

But Hilditch's comments seemingly ignore the fact that the WACA has been Beer's home ground for only a few months, after he moved from Victoria during the off-season. He has played only three first-class matches at the ground and in his five first-class appearances, all of which have taken place this summer, he has 16 wickets at 39.93 with a best of 3 for 39.

Beer, 26, is a left-arm orthodox bowler who plied his trade in Melbourne club cricket until the end of last season, when he moved to Western Australia in an attempt to launch his domestic career. Against the touring England side last month he 3 for 108 and 2 for 99, and the chances of him winning a place in the starting XI for the third Test must be slim.

One man who will definitely play at the WACA is Hughes, who is not in his best form but was still considered the most likely replacement for Katich, who will miss the rest of the series with an Achilles tendon injury. The pressure on Hughes will be increased after Australia altered the balance of their squad by leaving out the specialist batsman North.

North has had a disappointing start to the Ashes campaign and the strong batting form of Brad Haddin makes it likely that the wicketkeeper will move up to No. 6 with Smith at No. 7. Smith has played two Tests, against Pakistan in England in July, when he was chosen as a legspinner in the absence of the injured Hauritz, and if Beer doesn't play he will be the lead slow bowler in Perth.

"Steve Smith replaces Marcus North in the 12-man squad," Hilditch said. "This is obviously disappointing for Marcus who has played some outstanding Test innings for Australia but it was felt to be the right time to bring the exciting prospect Steve Smith into the Test team. Steve has already had success at international level and will also add to the bowling depth with his leg-spin bowling and dynamic fielding.

"Doug Bollinger has been omitted from the squad. Both Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus did not play in Adelaide but will be strongly considered for selection in the Perth Test match where conditions will suit them. Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle were the pick of our quicks at Adelaide Oval and these four make up the pace attack for the Perth Test match.

Squad Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at Cricinfo

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