Spin tipped to win under the Adelaide Oval lights

Day-night Tests down under are billed as a boon for swing and seam bowlers but two of the men who know the Adelaide Oval pitch better than anyone believe spin will play a major role in the coming days.

Curator Damien Hough pulled no punches in suggesting England ought to pick a spinner for the second Vodafone Ashes Test, while South Australia captain Travis Head tipped Nathan Lyon to once again be a handful.

Undefeated from eight pink-ball Tests including five in Adelaide, Australia’s success under lights has been due in no small part to Lyon (a former member of the groundstaff at the Oval) who has taken 29 wickets at 27.41 in those eight day-night matches.

"The thatchiness of grass playing here day in day out, whenever we play Nathan here for NSW (in Sheffield Shield matches) he’s near impossible to hit, with how consistent he is and the bounce and turn he can get from this wicket," said Head.

"I know he’s going to love coming here – we’ve already spoken about the thatchiness of the grass and how it can grip."

But England, whose left-arm tweaker Jack Leach went at nearly eight runs an over at the Gabba, could be put off by how poorly touring spinners have fared with the pink ball in Australia.

Collectively they have managed just 18 wickets at 72.83.

If England want to fit both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad into their side, it would appear likely that Leach would have to make way unless they made the bold move of resting either Ollie Robinson or Mark Wood, who were their best two bowlers in Brisbane.

Asked if England would be making a mistake if they went with an all-pace attack, Hough said: “I think so. History says the pitch will spin.

"Nathan’s always played a role out there. From our end we believe spin in Adelaide needs to play a part, we feel that it has previously and it still should."

A further factor for England is the fitness of Ben Stokes, who has hampered by a knee injury in Brisbane and could not bowl at full pace for much of Australia’s first innings.

The allrounder’s skills with the bat means he is picked in England’s XI regardless of whether he is fit to bowl, but his capability to send down overs could have an impact on whether the visitors pick Leach after his Gabba nightmare.

Stokes trained strongly on Tuesday, bowling for more than an hour and struck Root a blow to the helmet in the nets.

England captain Joe Root has taken the blame for Leach conceding 102 from his 13 overs in the Ashes opener, saying his fields were too aggressive and tipping him to be a wicket-taking threat if Australia attempt to hit him out of the attack again.

"He bowled at best time to face spin on that wicket (in Brisbane) with not a lot of runs to play with, and Australia had already said they were going to come out and attack him,” said Root.

"And I set quite an aggressive field for him to start the series which probably put him under a bit of pressure and made it quite difficult for him to get into the Test match and into the series.

"It was a bit of a risk but at the same time it could have created a couple of chances and made a dent in their innings.

"I'm sure he'll want to respond, to get back into the series and have an impact.

"Some of the grounds we’ll be going to from this point onwards should offer a lot more to bring spin into it.

"I don’t think it’s as straightforward as looking at it as a concern.

"They took an opportunity, they played it pretty well and most importantly if they try to do that again on a wicket that's a bit more responsive, then it brings him into the game even more."

Head agreed that conditions are not likely to be as pace friendly as the Gabba for the rest of the series, and acknowledged Australia’s brazen tactics against Leach might not work as well in Adelaide.

"Gabba on day two we know is probably not the greatest surface for spin, so (we got) ourselves an opportunity to put him under pressure in tough conditions,” said Head.

"I wouldn’t say we were trying to take (Leach) down – there’s definitely going to be times in this series where it’s going to be very difficult.

"This wicket is going to be one – it’s going to be thatchy and probably spin. We (then) go to Sydney and Melbourne (where it will be similar)."

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: December 16-20, Adelaide Oval

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena