mvaughan

There's been plenty of chat in the Media and amongst former Test stars about the conduct of the players during the Third Test. Too much sledging, exuberant celebrations at key moments, bowlers giving dismissed players the send off. It's over the top, it's not in the [b]spirit of cricket[/b], they say. I disagree. This is the Ashes after all, the battle that English and Australian players grow up watching and dream of playing in. There's huge pressure and huge tension out there so it's normal that when a player wins a mini-battle, be it dismissing a key batsman or getting to a century, emotions are displayed. It's how players, for a brief moment, relieve the pressure. As for sledging, this is Test cricket. If you can't take it and let it get to you, you're not cut out to be playing...

[b]England are the value ahead of the Fourth Test at the MCG but the form of Mike Hussey is a concern for would-be backers of the tourists. Either way, a draw is highly unlikely, says Michael Vaughan.[/b] So it's all square again with two to play. The bad news for England fans is that Australia are the ones carrying the momentum, the good news is that this pitch should suit England a lot more than what they were up against at Perth. I haven't actually seen the pitch yet but I'd expect it to have a little bit of grass on it early on and for it to flatten out a bit as the match progresses. It's very unlikely the ball will swing like it did last time or carry through with the same amount of pace and that should mean [b]Mitchell Johnson[/b] shouldn't be able to have the same sort of...

[b]A devastating spell of fast bowling from Mitchell Johnson has left England in deep trouble and another super effort from the left-arm quick would give England no chance. But big totals have been chased at Perth before so England aren't out of it just yet.[/b] Anyone looking at the scores Australia and England mustered in their first innings at Perth could be forgiven for thinking this is a pitch with some serious demons. I'm not sure that's the case though. Australia succumbed to some fine bowling from the likes of Chris Tremlett and James Anderson on a day when England also fielded extremely well, taking almost every catch that was up for grabs. As far as England's first innings went, it was simply the [b]'Mitchell Johnson story'[/b] this afternoon. Having bowled erratically...

Perth has the reputation for being the quickest and bounciest wicket on the planet but I have a feeling we're going to get a pretty good strip for this Third Test. It's all well and good people talking about it having plenty of grass on it right now but the only thing that matters is the state of it on the first morning. These days playing to the strengths of the home side isn't the only consideration the curator has; TV viewing figures and sponsorship deals are a big part of modern day cricket and preparing a pitch that takes the Test match deep into day five is now part of the job spec. So once we've established we're likely to get a good track, who will benefit the most from it? The answer has to be the more settled side, with the most in-form players, whose confidence is higher....

So here we are in Adelaide, venue of one of England's most heart-breaking Ashes defeats of all. Four years ago England appeared to have batted Australia out of the game only for Shane Warne to rip through Andrew Flintoff's line-up and for the home team to chase a challenging total in quickfire time. The fact that it produced a result has to therefore be taken with a pinch of salt; the draw was the most likely outcome for the vast majority of the game and only the genius of Warne and England's brittle batting stopped the stalemate from happening. But Hollywood's sole contribution will be coming from the commentary box this time while England are less prone to collapses these days. It has rained a little over the past few days so if it gets very hot all of a sudden there could be some ...

This is perhaps the most 'English' of the Australian wickets and that could provide Andrew Strauss with a superb chance of going 1-0 up in the Series. This is an important toss to win and the best decision may well be to bowl first. Yes, I know, I know. Nasser's decision in 2002 came back to haunt him but that was eight years ago: conditions are different and the players on both sides have changed. If there's moisture in the pitch the ball will swing and if James Anderson gets first digs he'll be licking his lips at the prospect of bowling at Shane Watson and Simon Katich in his favourite conditions. But the man I really fancy to do the damage is Stuart Broad. He may not swing the ball quite as much as Jimmy but this is a hit-the-deck hard surface and he'll enjoy bowling here. As ...

It may seem like an obvious thing to say but whoever draws first blood in Brisbane is likely to go on and win the Series. And for my money, that could well be England. This is a very settled side which picks itself. They've playing together for a while now so know each other's strengths. The batsmen have spent a lot of time in the middle together whilst the bowlers are used to bowling as a unit, collectively unsettling batsmen. The only player under a bit of pressure is Kevin Pietersen, who has suffered a few injuries and a loss of form over the past few months. But that's nothing one good knock can't fix. You can't say the same about Australia. Right now, I'm not sure anyone knows what their XI will be on Thursday morning, not least because there are injury doubts over Michael Clarke,...