Australia to conserve pace resources

Concerns about Adelaide Oval's barren drop-in pitch and a short turnaround to the third Test at the WACA ground may lead Australia's selectors to bolster their pace reserves by withdrawing numerous fast bowlers of interest from Sheffield Shield duty.

Nathan Coulter-Nile, Doug Bollinger, Ben Cutting and Chadd Sayers are among those pacers who may find themselves resting up rather than playing for their states in the Shield round due to begin on December 8. One or all may be in line to be called into the Test squad for Perth, depending on how the prime battery of Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson fare in Adelaide, on a pitch that has offered scant assistance to bowlers, lacking bounce and also failing to deteriorate.

While Harris, Siddle and Johnson earned themselves a relatively light workload and an extra day off by rolling England's batsmen in Brisbane, a mere three days separate the Adelaide and Perth matches. Long and repeated spells are expected to be required at the Adelaide Oval, leaving the selectors to ponder how they may best manage the resources at their disposal.

The coach Darren Lehmann has already flagged the possibility of a second spin bowler being added to the squad, and Shane Watson can be expected to bowl more overs in the second Test having delivered only two in the second innings at the Gabba. James Faulkner, the 12th man in Brisbane, may yet be included at the expense of George Bailey in a five-man bowling attack that would broaden the bowling burden.

"We've got the same 12 but we've left the option open if it is going to spin a bit," Lehmann told the Melbourne radio station 3AW. "We've just got to wait and see what we get when we get there. I'm going early to have a bit of a look at the wicket, and the big thing will be how we adapt to the change in conditions. It's not going to fly through like the Gabba. We accept that and know we'll have to change a little bit."

Memories of last year's Adelaide and Perth Tests against South Africa are still painfully clear in the minds of the selectors and also the team performance manager Pat Howard. A side strain to James Pattinson left the hosts a bowler short for most of the Adelaide match, and the extra exertions of Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus led all three pacemen being replaced for the series decider. Johnson, Mitchell Starc and John Hastings were to be flayed around the WACA ground by Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla, leaving plenty of questions about Australia's management of their pace resources.

Coulter-Nile, Bollinger, Sayers and Cutting have all shown promising glimpses of form this summer at various times. Most recently Coulter-Nile bowled Western Australia to an innings victory over Victoria in Perth, while Bollinger has impressed in bursts for New South Wales after undertaking a concerted fitness campaign in the off-season.

Cutting foreshadowed England's struggles against quality fast bowling by delivering a searching spell to the tourists for Australia A in Hobart, while Sayers has made steady progress for South Australia so far on generally unhelpful surfaces after playing for Australia A in the winter, claiming seven wickets for the match in the Redbacks' win over the Warriors in Perth.

The second Test takes place from December 5-9, before the third begins on December 13.