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Survival of the quickest Australia will blast England apart, says Waugh
Updated: Wednesday July 04, 2001 10:57 AM
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Australia was officially crowned test cricket's first world champion at Edgbaston on Wednesday and captain Steve Waugh used the occasion to begin Ashes hostilities by claiming his star-studded pace attack will shatter England's fragile batting during the five-test series which starts here Thursday. Fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee will form the most menacing Ashes pace attack since the days of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Len Pascoe, and even a battled-scarred Waugh has already begun to feel for Nasser Hussain's side. The trio, who will play in a test together only for the second time, have already shown their dominance over the England batsman with swift demolitions during the Tri-Nations one-day series. In the past England had been gripped with the Shane Warne fear factor, but with the legspinner being far from his peak, the home side is bracing itself against a new threat. During the recent tied test series with Pakistan, England's batsmen showed their weakness against an aging pace attack of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. But with McGrath, Lee and Gillespie at their peak, the injury-plagued batting line up could be facing a 5-0 hammering. "The danger is that we might blast everyone away," Waugh said. "The temptation is to think they'll go out there and blast the opposition out. "We can't be over confident about it. But at the same time, if all three of them get it right, they'll be a real handful." Waugh, 35, said he was toying with the temptation of holding McGrath back and throwing the new ball to Lee and Gillespie to bowl England out Thursday morning and set up the series in favor of his side. "The temptation is to let Brett rip,' Waugh said. "Dizzy (Gillespie) is bowling really well and has been hitting the seam really well. "Jason is bowling as quick as any one and has got the rhythm. He's like a well oiled machine in the nets right now," Waugh said. One-day World Cup champion Australia was Wednesday crowned official test champions when Waugh took custody of the ICC Test championship trophy, trophy valued at 30,000 pounds (US$45,000), from ICC's chief executive David Richards. Australia topped the 10-nation championship with an average 1.62 points from 13 completed series followed by South Africa (1.47 from 15) and England (1.14 from 14). "It is great to be recognized for what we've achieved over the last two years," Waugh said. "It's a huge honor for Australia. It's great to see the traditional form of the game getting its due reward and I hope the championship will help ensure test cricket retains its status as the purest form of the game." Waugh, who has led Australia to a record 16 test wins in a row, believed England would be tough and stronger with the likes of rookie batsman Uzman Afzaal breathing freshness to a batting line up missing Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan and Thorpe's replacement, Mark Ramprakash. "I love playing them at full strength," Waugh said looking forward to a close Ashes tussle. Australia has comfortably won the last six Ashes series while England is yet to win one since winning under Mike Gatting in Australia in the 1986/87 series. Australia plays its cricket with its trademark ruthlessness, sledging and a battle hardened professionalism. But its over-exuberance in India had cost another series win. "We probably kept being over aggressive," Waugh said, looking back at the 2-1 series defeat that ended Australia's rampant run of test wins. "Some time we've got to learn to be defensive and patient to get the result. It goes against our nature somehow and probably find it a little bit harder some times. So we've got to learn from that." Australia will go into a test for the first under Waugh's captaincy with a new-look batting lineup with Ricky Ponting moving to the pivotal No.3 spot and Damien Martyn getting a test recall on merit. The changes have come at the expense of left-hander Justin Langer, who had finally paid the price for a form slump that had haunted him in the past 12 months. "I think Marto (Martyn) is at the peak of his career," Waugh said justifying the selection. "Marto is playing that well he had to play." Former England skipper Michael Atherton said his team was preparing to test it's form against the best after remaining unbeaten in five test series over the past 14 months. Like Waugh an Ashes veteran and preparing for his seventh series, the opener was looking forward to the challenge he faces against the likes of McGrath. McGrath, had nominated Atherton as the batsman he will target during Australia's bid to win a seventh straight Ashes cricket series. "Clearly it is a high quality attack," Atherton said. "If you don't look forward to it as a batsman, I think you're going in with a wrong frame of mind. "Because test cricket is tough cricket and it is all about playing against the best bowlers and taking that challenge on."
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