England's bowling attack their biggest asset
As England look to seal the Ashes and move on to challenge the top sides in Test cricket, Bob Willis writes in the Independent that their strength in the wicket-taking department is their biggest asset.
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
As England look to seal the Ashes and move on to challenge the top sides in Test cricket, Bob Willis writes in the Independent that their strength in the wicket-taking department is their biggest asset.
Steve Finn, Chris Tremlett and Bresnan have all shone at different times during the first four Tests. And although he had little opportunity to stake a case, Ajmal Shahzad impressed in a couple of warm-up games. On top of those already named, you can add Graham Onions, who played a big part in the 2009 Ashes victory and hopefully will re-emerge as a real force once he has recovered from injury, giving England seven front-line seamers deserving of regular Test cricket.
In the Observer, Kevin Mitchell writes that Australia's on-field woes have coincided with a sharp drop in the fan-following in the country. Usman Khawaja's selection, he notes, is a major landmark considering the time at which it has come.
The timing of Khawaja's selection could not be more poignant. He joins his country's team, so Anglo-white for so long, at a time when cricket is struggling to retain its prominence in a cultural landscape that shifts by the year. Rooted in a colonial past that is foreign to many post-war Australians, cricket desperately wants to embrace those ethnic and religious communities that traditionally have had little or no voice in the game.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo