Australia, desperately needing a win to hold on to the Ashes, are considering playing five specialist bowlers in the fifth Test at The Oval, Australian media said yesterday.
Australia have relied heavily on just four bowlers through much of their golden spell over the past decade and so playing an extra bowler would underline their concern after being outshot in three of the last four Tests in the series against England.
Newspapers here believe selectors will choose three pace bowlers and leg-spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, even though MacGill has had limited bowling time on tour.
The last time Australia went into a Test with a five-man bowling attack was during the 2003 tour of the Caribbean when they were confronted by a series of flat, lifeless pitches.
"The deciding factor in its plans will be the fitness of strike bowler Glenn McGrath whose debilitating right elbow injury continues to improve but he has yet to prove he has fully recovered," the Australian's Andrew Ramsay said.
"It is the ongoing doubt over McGrath's availability which has caused the greatest angst for chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns, coach John Buchanan and captain Ricky Ponting in the lead-up to Australia's most important Test in four years," he said.
Ramsay said should McGrath be cleared to play in tomorrow's Test he could lead an attack with pacemen Brett Lee and Shaun Tait as well as the two leg-spinners.
There had been no final decision reached on whether all-rounder Shane Watson will be drafted into the squad, he said.
The Australian said the call of the toss would be important as The Oval pitch traditionally offers early pace and bounce for the seamers and then flattens out into one of England's best batting tracks before taking spin.
The Melbourne Herald Sun said Australian team officials have been in marathon talks over the past two days discussing the option of dropping a batsman, almost certainly Simon Katich, and playing five bowlers.
India vs New Zealand
Mohammad Kaif scored an unbeaten 93 yesterday and India was bowled out for 276 in the final of a triangular one-day series against New Zealand at the Harare Sports Club.
Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag put on 75 for the first wicket until Ganguly fell for 31 to the bowling of seamer Jacob Oram. The scoring slowed after left-arm fingerspinner Daniel Vettori dismissed Sehwag (75) and Rahul Dravid for a second-ball duck. Only Yuvraj Singh with 20 made an impact as Oram finished with four wickets for 58.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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