Ashes series set to hit fever pitch

The extent to which Chris Rogers has found his feet after his recent dizzy spell at Lord’s was not the only item of intrigue as around half of Australia’s Ashes squad made an impromptu visit to Edgbaston’s indoor training facility in rain-soaked Birmingham yesterday.

As Rogers, the four players who were granted flexi-time during the recent three-day tour match in Derby and spinner Nathan Lyon (12th man against Derbyshire) were winding up their hour-long hit-out, England allrounder Moeen Ali arrived somewhat bemused at the indoor nets.

Moeen, who was born in Birmingham but now plays for neighbouring county Worcestershire, did not speak or interact with Steve Smith who was in the adjacent net handling a couple of young net bowlers with the effortless ease expected of the world’s top-ranked Test batsman.

Nor was there chit-chat between England’s spin bowling allrounder and the Australia pace trio of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood who were blowing out some cobwebs after six days away from cricket in the wake of their team’s emphatic Lord’s triumph.

But the Australians were aware of Moeen’s presence in company with England’s batting coach Mark Ramprakash, just as they had been made aware of hiscomments reported earlier in the week when he appeared at a charity event in Birmingham.

Which some of the less august UK newspapers trumpeted under a headline of ‘Johnson doesn’t scare me’, although it was not precisely what Moeen had claimed when quizzed about the vicious throat ball that Johnson employed to fire him out on England’s calamitous final day at Lord’s.

"I don’t mind facing him," was Moeen’s slightly less incendiary response to that question.

"I know he bowled very well in one innings out of four (in the Test series to date), but in Cardiff we took it to him. He went for a lot of runs and didn’t take many wickets."

But the distinction between the words uttered and the interpretation gleaned meant little when the sentiments were on-passed to Starc in the Australia team hotel in Birmingham, where the full squad has now reconvened for the Test that starts at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

The suggestion that Moeen and England’s other batsmen weren’t feeling uncomfortable against Johnson’s pace and hostility at Lord’s was at odds with how Starc viewed it from his position on the field, and as a fellow lower-order batter called upon to combat intimidatory bowling.

"Moeen can keep watching the replay of the ball he got in the second innings (at Lord’s from Johnson, in video below) if he likes," he said.

"I don't want to face that stuff."

Johnson's thunderbolts are back

Nor, as it turned out yesterday, did Rogers who completed his first net session after he was forced to retire hurt during the Lord’s Test due to dizziness that was later diagnosed as a vestibular (inner ear) problem triggered by a blow behind the left ear that he received while batting earlier in the match.

The 37-year-old, who compiled a Test-best score of 173 at Lord’s, remains in doubt for the Edgbaston game given he faced only throwdowns from coach Darren Lehmann and the off-spin of Nathan Lyon – as well as hitting tennis balls – in his first session back.

While Lehmann tested out the opener with the occasional short ball, the most relevant examination for Rogers will come later today (Monday) when the Australians conduct their main pre-Test training session at Edgbaston, provided the Midlands’ summer rain finally abates.

If he is to prove beyond doubt that he has recovered sufficiently to face the new ball against England’s James Anderson and Stuart Broad – who will undoubtedly go after him with short-pitched deliveries – then he will need to face a workout against his own pacemen.

And as Starc confirmed today, they are not about to go easy on a teammate notwithstanding if he is the oldest (as Rogers is) or indicated he’s playing his final Test series (as Rogers has).

"We always go full tilt in the nets, regardless of who is batting," Starc said today. "As far as I know, 'Bucky' (Rogers) is feeling good … from all reports he's going well.

"So it's good news for us and I'm sure he will be keen to get going."

Even if Rogers proves he is 100 per cent ready to resume come Wednesday, the openers who are given first use of an Edgbaston pitch that remains unseen due to the rain that fell unrelenting on Birmingham last Friday and again yesterday will need to be at the top of their game.

It was initially felt the pitch, given some of the turning tracks that have been produced for Warwickshire matches in the UK county championship this summer, might so favour spin that uncapped leg-spinner Adil Rashid would come into England’s selection calculations.

But the recent rain coupled with the forecast of showers and heavy cloud for the days up to and including the scheduled start of the Test on Wednesday means it is more likely to offer help to the seamers, something that England captain Alastair Cook publicly requested after the Lord’s match.

Cook's post-Lord's press conference

It was a plaintive appeal that was happily endorsed by the Australia quicks even though they had performed such an emphatic demolition job on England’s batting on a flat, slow pitch in London barely a week ago.

"We'll be licking our lips, don’t worry," Starc said when asked if he believed England was looking to change the pre-order of pitches that appeared to have been lodged by the home team prior to the series beginning in Cardiff.

"They (England) are not really sure what they want to do now.

"Some of their team want batting-friendly wickets and that hasn't helped them at Lord's.

"They want to get their bowlers back in the game, but we've got the pace as well.

"So I think as Michael (Clarke, Australia captain) said last week, it doesn't matter what they dish up.

"We've got all bases covered, we've just got to adjust to the conditions the quickest."

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