Lehmann: Adelaide pitch the ‘fastest in Australia’

Darren Lehmann

Australia coach Darren Lehmann is looking forward to the second Ashes Test in Adelaide, starting on Saturday, saying the hosts will continue to employ the short ball tactic.

Before the series the Aussies never hid their intent to attack England with short-pitched bowling and the tactic worked in Brisbane as the home side ran out victors by ten wickets.

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With the second game being a day/night affair there is a general consensus that the pink ball coupled with conditions will help England’s seamers, who are slower than the hosts in terms of pace.

Lehmann though says that his team, having already played two day/night Tests, will also benefit and described the surface at the Adelaide Oval as the fastest wicket in the country.

The Australian coach said: “It’s a fascinating Test match, there’s a lot of talk about it’ll seam and it’ll swing.

“The ball stays pretty good, but you can make runs if you play well as per normal. And it does quicken up at night – probably the fastest wicket around Australia at night, so that’s going to be interesting, how it plays.

“[Bowling short] certainly hasn’t changed from four years ago. It’s a bit different in Australia than England where grounds are smaller and you can’t really get away with it, on bigger grounds you can. So that’s one for us that we see as an advantage.

“They did it quite a lot to us as well, it’s a ploy a lot of people do now. At the back end when the wicket quickened up and we could go after them a bit harder was helpful.

“That’s the blueprint, it’s no secret we’re going to attack their middle and lower order like that.

Lehmann also noted that his side will know how to prepare for the day/night Test with the tourists never having played one before.

England did have a pink ball day/night warm-up match earlier on tour as their only preparation ahead of the Test.

Lehmann continued: “You’re more comfortable in your preparation [having played day-night Tests before], you know what you have to do to get ready. So the lead-in is a lot more normal for us than other teams having done it twice.

“This is the third time so we’re pretty comfortable where it sits. In terms of preparation and all that we’ll be fine, it’s just which team adapts the best I suppose.”

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