Get ready for more toil

As the second Ashes Test approaches most of the talk centres around the two bowling attacks and how they will get 20 wickets on what is likely to be a batting paradise at Adelaide. Both sides managed just 11 wickets at the Gabba, but the feeling was that Australia were the team with more concerns and they've already dropped Mitchell Johnson. In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain says the hosts need to be ready for more toil and they key will be finding some reverse swing.

You need a certain type of seamer who reverse-swings it with a low arm and bowls stump to stump. Matthew Hoggard, for instance, got seven wickets here four years ago. You can get uneven bounce towards the end of the match but generally the ball just sits up and asks to be hit here if the taller bowlers bang it in short, something Stuart Broad and Steven Finn must be aware of. They need to kiss the pitch instead, keeping it low and moving it in to the batsmen

However, the fitness of England's shouldn't be a concern despite the workload of back-to-back because of the work of the back-room staff which includes fitness coach Huw Bevan. Steve James looks at his vital role in the Daily Telegraph.

Some might think that, such are the demands of back-to-back Tests (there are just three days rest between the Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide), it might be best that the players did nothing. “Yes, these back-to-back Tests are very difficult,” says Bevan, “but often if you do nothing you feel worse than if you do some work. We were just blowing some cobwebs away.”

Meanwhile, Graeme Swann has made his latest video diary and it's another must-see. Especially when James Anderson makes a cameo appearance. Check out the ECB website.