The Ashes 2013: Five things Australia should do to win the Ashes

Shane Watson has been given the responsibility to open the Australian innings in the Ashes

Australia have started their Ashes tour in a positive manner with a victory over Somerset. New coach Darren Lehmann and skipper Michael Clarke will be satisfied that the batsmen came good and that they did so with the help of the bowlers who set it all up. They will also, however, be aware that a practice match is far from a good yardstick to judge their relatively inexperienced Test side.

They will still enter the Ashes as underdogs, thanks to the pressure of undoing what England did to them on home soil two years ago. It’s a gigantic task but one that we have seen being accomplished; no one had expected England to clinch the 2009 series after being whitewashed in the previous edition. It’s not a matter of doing things right but of doing them well.

Here’s a shot at some of the things that Australia should be doing right to regain a reputation that is in danger of disappearing for a really long time:

1) The combination

An Australian team will always look to win a match, no matter what amount of sacrifices it takes. Although it is a commendable virtue, it has led to some very ordinary showings because their combinations have been in the vicinity of ridiculous.

Of course, the faults in the past usually happened when they were playing in the sub-continent; the inclusion of Cameron White as a mainstream leg spinner in India in 2008 and the dropping of Nathan Lyon halfway into the more recently concluded series are some that will never escape the memory. The inclusion of Andrew McDonald as a frontline batsman against South Africa in 2009 is also an infamous one.

They cannot afford to pull any more blunders in this category. The conditions will cater to their style and shouldn’t allow a combination outside of the regular six batsmen-four bowlers, with Brad Haddin tucked in the middle. The inclusion of James Faulkner, however, suggests they might play him as a bowling all-rounder at some point. They would do well to avoid this against an England attack playing at home.

Another temptation would be to include Ashton Agar in the side because of England’s perceived weakness against left-arm spin. For their own good, and Agar’s, this shouldn’t even be considered as an option.

2) The batting order

Australia’s batting has been the biggest concern in recent times and that is owed largely to their irregular batting order. Darren Lehmann has announced that Shane Watson will open the batting and that is already a step in the right direction. It means that Michael Clarke will not be pushed a spot lower in the order and that David Warner won’t be granted any room to take his place for granted. Usman Khawaja batted at number three in the warm-up game and looks the part; more so than Phil Hughes, at least.

The top order negates the new ball and if Shane Watson is facing it up front with the security of Michael Clarke at number four, things only get easier for the middle order and down.

Philip Hughes would be hoping for his bat to do the talking during the English summer

Phil Hughes made quite the debut series against South Africa in 2009 when he scored two centuries in his second test – and became the youngest player to do so. It has been the only bright phase in his Test career.

His career is in a downward spiral and his credibility as a decent Test batsman has taken a serious beating. His deficiency in classical batting technique was no mystery to the world but he was still persisted with. Unfortunately, it’s a gamble that didn’t quite work the way it did in his debut series. Subsequently, he has been occupying the number three spot with no real success.

He walked in at number five in the practice game, however, and got some runs to his name. If the plan is to keep him in that position, it would only seem logical. But with Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, Chris Rogers and Dave Warner in the back-up list, Hughes shouldn’t be given as long a rope as in the recent past.

4) The bowlers

For the first time in recent years, Australia seem to have found a good mix of pace bowlers. Mithcell Starc and James Pattinson have been, arguably, their best bowlers lately; and that both of them are fit to play together is great news. Peter Siddle looked a little out of sort in the warm up match but his experience is likely to keep him in the team through the length of the series. In the backroom, Ryan Harris, James Faulkner and Jackson Bird - a competitive threesome – would wait to get an opportunity.

The biggest challenge, however, would be to keep Nathan Lyon in the team. Australia’s adventurous ways with team composition has been discussed earlier and nothing would be more dangerous for them than leaving Lyon out, possibly to accommodate a fourth pace bowler to exploit the conditions.

Lyon has been consistent against the best of sides. His growing ease at the international stage has been handy against some of the best players of spin in the world and would be more than handful against England. The bowling attack should be built around him; if three fast bowlers can’t do the job for you in England, the fifth bowler option is all but inevitable.

5) Bring Australia back!

One can’t help but feel that the biggest problem with the Australian team is that they have forgotten what success feels like. When you look down that team sheet, it doesn’t inspire too much confidence. This is the time for them to turn that around and the return of Brad Haddin and the appointment of Darren Lehmann as the head coach brings a fresh injection of players who have been part of absolutely dominant Australian squads in their prime.

Australia has always manufactured aggression; off late though, the aggression has been visible in everything barring their cricket itself – ask Joe Root!

There are some tear-away quicks and young batsmen in this squad and to expect them to dominate this series would be asking too much. What they can do is bring back the aggressive resilience of Australian sides of the past; and if the Ashes isn’t the place to do it, nowhere is.