Toss Will Be Vital To Ashes Victory

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30982, 11 February 1966, Page 13

Toss Will Be Vital To Ashes Victory

[From W. J. O’REILLY, N.Z.P.A. special correspondent.] MELBOURNE. Australia and England are so evenly matched for the Ashes-deciding fifth test, starting at Melbourne today, that I feel certain the side which has the luck to win the toss and bat first will win.

The Melbourne pitch will be a good one and it will remain good for more than three of the five days set down for Play.

Tradition holds that Melbourne invariably encourages pace bowling in the preliminary stages of any match. The nature of the pitch and its methods of preparation are supposed to combine to help the fast bowler develop lift, a trick which seems to create more anticipatory trepidation among those trying to forecast the outcome of such an important match as this one, than it does with the batsmen who go to face the job of dealing with it. Produced Great Batsmen This supposed early liveliness, a property which has never played any really significant part in any test that I have played in or witnessed there, has not prevented Victoria from producing Woodful, Ponsford and Lawiy, three of the greatest opening batsmen ever to play for Australia.

To the contrary, I believe that a well grassed, fast pitch favours the accomplished

batsmen more than it does the bowler. With the ball coming straight on to him he finds that it moves off the middle of his bat at such speed that the fieldsmen are doing most of the worrying. In Lawry and Simpson, Australia has two remarkably good openers. Given first use of. this wicket these two are capable of giving Australia another match-winning start. Barber The Problem To counter them, Barber and Boycott are capable of swinging the match England’s way quickly, Barber again being a problem batsman for both sides. Australians know now that he must be dismissed quickly. With sufficient time to develop his full scale of shots he can pulverise his bowling opposition in the first session of play. That is Australia’s worry. England will be concerned about him, too, knowing that his forthright tactics call for more than a fair share of opener’s luck. He has some fairly elastic ideas about how far he can reach out to smack a ball past point. Boycott is in wonderful form. He has developed into an ideal opener on tour. His Yorkshire background will make him a tough proposition for Australia’s attack in this final match. Well-matched Batting

As it is with the openers, the down-the-list batsmen are well matched on either' side. Each team should get a lot of runs, but the one which bats first will have the important

psychological advantage of having its opponent thinking wistfully about the pitch’s staying power. I think England will retain the same bowling line-up it fielded in Adelaide. Of course, Knight will come into the reckoning. His fine second test bowling figures in Melbourne and his manly batting in Sydney on Tuesday are two factors that demand the selectors’ attention. Allen is the‘one who would have to make way for him, but I doubt if England would dare to break his off-spin partnership with Titmus. On a wearing pitch Allen would be much the more valuable. McKenzie and Hawke carry all the responsibility of the Australian attack. Neither Stackpole nor Chappell can be regarded yet as weightcarrying spinners. And Simpson’s four Sydney wickets against the M.C.C. are not likely to prey heavily on England’s peace of mind. Cowdrey’s Fine Form McKenzie bowled beautifully in Adelaide to get his six first innings wickets and Hawke did a similarly important job in the second. They will need to be at top form again for this match, for I have an uneasy feeling that Cowdrey will click in this game. It looks to me that Burge will be omitted from Australia’s 12. Neither his batting nor his fielding has come up to the standard required for this vital match. This promises to be an allin battle with no holds barred. My money goes on the side which wins the toss and bats first.