More bumpers to come as England target 'three No.11s'

The short-ball plan that continued Australia's tail-end batting woes and turned one of their major weapons of bygone Ashes series against them stemmed from England's belief the visitors are fielding "three number 11s".

Among all the unorthodox tactics employed by both teams in a tactically captivating opening Ashes Test, one that was surprisingly effective for England might also have felt the most familiar for the Aussies.

Mitchell Johnson whistling balls past batters' ears it was not, but Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad's short-ball barrage with every fielder stationed in square-on catching positions proved successful as the visitors turned over their final four wickets for only 14 runs on Sunday morning.

Australia's tail, missing its most effective lower-order batter in Mitchell Starc for this match, has been under the pump with the bat recently. Their series in India earlier this year marked their worst Test batting performance from their numbers eight through 11 in two decades.

It's an area England believe is a weak spot for the Australians.

"It's something we've spoken about as a group," paceman Ollie Robinson told reporters with his side 35 runs ahead at stumps on day three.

"We've said once we get past (Pat) Cummins, we feel like they've got three number 11s (in Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland and Josh Hazlewood).

"It's something we can target through the series and try to wrap things up quite quick and give us that momentum throughout the series."

The tourists' fast bowlers hit consistently faster speeds than their counterparts but bowled just eight short balls (per Opta) during England's entire first innings and only three in 52 balls to their numbers nine and 10, Stuart Broad and Robinson.

Alex Carey hinted on Sunday their first-innings aversion to bowling bouncers on a sluggish Edgbaston pitch Broad has described as "soulless" may be reconsidered.

"I'm sure the strategy group will come up with a plan knowing what we know now," said Carey.

"Hopefully spin will play a big role for us tomorrow and I thought 'Gaz' (Lyon) bowled outstandingly well in that first innings and there's probably a little bit more on offer for him now.

"Then it's up to the attack, the leadership group, to come up with a plan to run through their tail hopefully.

"We'll see – the wicket showed a bit tonight and hopefully we can get some early wickets tomorrow … but potentially on a slow wicket it's a good tactic."

England's bumper approach had more than a whiff of the hosts wanting to give Australia a taste of their own medicine a decade on from the moustachioed Johnson's two-month reign of terror during the 2013-14 series Down Under.

Yet despite Robinson's spicy send-off for Usman Khawaja and Broad's pre-series taunting of the Aussies, that pair would not expect to instil the same kind of fear in their opponents' hearts.

The strategy was effective though and further underlined Engalnd's willingness to try the unconventional under captain Ben Stokes.

Despite leaving out speedster Mark Wood, their quickest bowler and best proponent of the bouncer, the hosts set extreme fields and successfully targeted Lyon (caught on the square-leg boundary for 1), Boland (caught parrying to one of two close-in fielders for a duck) and, eventually, Cummins.

Australia's captain wore one on the body from Broad as he dodged and defended the succession of bouncers on his way to 38, his highest Test score in five years.

Although he hooked a Broad bouncer for an enormous six after Australia had fallen to nine wickets down, he succumbed attempting a repeat off Robinson.

England had also tried the tactic extensively against Travis Head. All but four of the 23 balls he faced from the hosts' quicks were bouncers, though he scored freely from them and instead was undone by Moeen Ali's off-spin.

Hazlewood had explained on Friday that his side felt there was not enough pace in the pitch to bowl short.

"Didn't feel like it played a part, it's so slow," said Hazlewood. "It will be interesting to see how it goes over the next few days but just nothing there (to bowl bouncers)."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Friday June 16-Tuesday June 20, Edgbaston

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood