3rd Ashes Test Match Preview

Thursday sees the start of the 3rd Ashes test match at Old Trafford in Manchester. With Australia already 2-0 down in the series, they need to bounce back in this match - especially with the bat. Meanwhile England look fairly good, although they could do with Alastair Cook and Jonathon Trott making some runs, and questions over Kevin Pietersen's fitness being answered sooner rather than later. If Pietersen is fit he too could do with a big score. Meanwhile if he is ruled out - James Taylor would like to make an impression, after his 121* in his guest appearance for Sussex against Australia last week.

As for the bowling, Australia have big questions to answer there as well, after James Pattinson went home having suffering a stress fracture of the back. The replacement will be either Mitchell Starc or Jackson Bird after their performances in Australia's 3 day game at Hove. On the spinners front, Australia also have questions to answer, after some average bowling from Ashton Agar has seen him take only 2 wickets in 2 tests, and Nathan Lyon is certainly thrown his hat in the ring for a recall on what should be another dry pitch, where spin will play a big part later in the match.

So it's time to look at the 2 sides chances and their selection issues ahead of the 3rd Ashes Test:

England

The hosts look in a very strong position with a 2-0 lead in the series with just 3 to play, meaning anything other than defeat will see England retain the Urn and a victory ensuring England win the series. As I mentioned earlier Captain Cook could do with a big score after not showing his best form so far, and Jonathon Trott is in the same boat with 2 ducks in 4 innings. Issues of Pietersen's fitness should be resolved and he is expected to play, however he has made only 85 runs in 4 innings so far - with a top score of 64 amongst those. So he could really do with a good match as well. If James Taylor continues to make runs in County Cricket he will soon be pushing for a recall, as i'm less than impressed with Jonny Bairstow. There's no doubting that the Yorkshire lad has talent, but he has a major technical issue - which is that he is continually being dismissed bowled, playing across the line. It will be interesting to see if he still suffers from this issue in the rest of the series.

On the bowing front, both James Anderson and Graeme Swann have performed very well in the series. They have both taken 13 wickets, Anderson taking 10 at Trent Bridge and Swann 9 at Lord's. Bresnan took 4 in his only test at Lord's and Broad has only taken 4 across both matches, although this could be more of a pitch for him. With a dry pitch expected once again at Old Trafford, it should offer pace and bounce to start with, while spin should take centre stage later in the match. Therefore the squad changes from England, to bring in Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar for Graham Onions and Steven Finn, have created 3 possible scenarios for the spot of the 4th bowler in this match. Tim Bresnan is the most likely to play, having put in a good performance at Lord's. Chris Tremlett could play if the coach Andy Flower feels that he could offer some pace and bounce and put the Australian batsmen in trouble that way. The most unlikely of these options is to play the second spinner Monty Panesar, as this upset the balance of the side and would only work if England played 5 bowlers, which would then weaken the batting side of things. 

England's Key Player: Graeme Swann - Spin has historically played a massive part at Old Trafford, with Panesar playing well in previous years, Jim Laker taking 19 wickets there all those years ago and Swann himself took a 5 wicket haul in the last Old Trafford test against Bangladesh in June 2010. He's the joint leading wicket taker with 13 wickets, and has had some fun against a weak Australian batting line-up filled with plenty of Left-handers. I predict that he will have plenty more fun here again, especially in Australia's 2nd Innings once the pitch has worn.

Australia

Australia need to fight back hard, after a terrible showing in the 2nd Test match in particular. The batsmen are the main cause for concern, with none of the top order yet making a big contribution. Shane Watson is a fantastic batsman, but needs to sort out his issues around the front pad. The main issue being that he is constantly getting out LBW to balls coming back into his pads from England's pace bowlers. The issue has been an issue for so long that he has been out LBW a higher percentage of times than any other batsman in Test history. Chris Rodgers has also failed to impress and could well make way for David Warner, who made a big century for Australia A in South Africa last week. Usman Khawaja is likely to continue at No.3 after making a good 50 at Lord's and another in the 3 day game against Sussex. Steven Smith probably saved his place with a century against Sussex after some poor scores in the first 2 matches. I also expect Phil Hughes to keep his spot in the side despite 3 low scores since 81* in the 1st innings at Nottingham.

As for the tourist's bowlers, issues have arisen there as well. James Pattinson has had to go home with a serious back injury, which should mean a recall for Mitchell Starc who took 5 wickets in the 1st Test before being replaced by Ryan Harris. Jackson Bird is also in the frame after taking 2 wickets in the practice match at Hove last week. In the spin department I expect to see Nathan Lyon replace Ashton Agar, after Agar has had a poor showing in the series so far, whilst also carrying an injury. Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris have been impressive thus far, with 11 wickets for Siddle in the series and 7 wickets in the 1 test that Harris has played. They will be the key men if Australia are to take 20 wickets.

Australia's Key Player: Michael Clarke the skipper and one of the best player's of spin, will need to lead by example and show the rest of Australia's top order how to play Swann. Some big runs, and inspired captaincy would certainly answer his critics back home. I think that he will play at big innings at some point to give him more confidence when in the field.


Finally, the weather forecast looks poor for Day's 3 and 5 at the moment so, both sides will want to build a big 1st innings lead, just as England did at Lord's. I expect the seamer's to play the big part in the 1st innings, while the 2nd innings will see the spinners bowl plenty of overs and probably take plenty of wickets as the pitch wears.

I hope you've enjoyed having a read of my thoughts ahead of this key match in the series and what should be an intriguing match. I'll be back tomorrow for a round-up of the first day's play.