Champion fast bowler Glenn McGrath faces a fitness battle as Australia begin their preparations for next month’s must-win fifth Ashes Test at the Oval.
McGrath missed the fourth match of the series, which England won in dramatic fashion by three wickets at Trent Bridge here on Sunday, with an elbow injury and the loss of his accurate seam bowling was a major blow to Australia, who are now 2-1 down in the series.
The 35-year-old McGrath also missed England’s two-run second Test win at Edgbaston with an ankle injury sustained when treading on a cricket ball during the warm-up, having taking nine for 82 in the tourists’ 239 run series-opening victory at Lord’s.
Despite his absences McGrath, one of only four bowlers to have taken 500 Test wickets, has claimed 14 victims in two matches at an average of just over 20 runs apiece.
But after England won with more than a day to spare at Trent Bridge, Australia captain Ricky Ponting said there was doubt over McGrath’s fitness for The Oval finale.
”We’ve got to look at how Glenns going to come up. I am not really sure how he is right now or if he’s going to be fit,” Ponting said.
However, Ponting vowed Australia would be ready for the series climax, starting September 8 and claimed the crunch situation would lift some of the pressure off the world’s number one ranked Test side who must win in London to retain the Ashes that have been theirs since 1989.
”We’ve probably never been in this situation before, where we’re going into the last match of a series having to win to draw the series. I can’t remember that in a long time,” Ponting said.
”But that might not be a bad thing for us right now, to tell the truth, just to go out there and play instinctively and play the brand of cricket we’ve played for a long time.
”It’s almost like a little bit of the pressure is off. We can just go out there and play and if all the individuals just lift a little bit and play the way I know that they can, then I am sure and I know the result will be different.”
England, chasing a mere 129 for victory, after making Australia follow-on for the first time in 17 years, almost failed to get home with leg-spinner Shane Warne taking four for 31.
”As I have seen over the last two days of this game, a lot of that fight is there but just not for long enough. If we want to win Test matches, it has to be over the four days, we have to be at our best for four days,” Ponting added.
He also indicated Australia were reluctant to make any changes to their batting line-up, despite opener Matthew Hayden’s streak of 29 innings without passing 70.
”I can’t see that happening, to be honest,” said the skipper who felt the pressure at Trent Bridge where he was fined 75% of his match fee after reacting angrily to his second innings dismissal.
Meanwhile, England captain Michael Vaughan said while his team were on the brink of ”something special”, their focus would be on remaining controlled.
”We’ve just got to be exactly as we have been for the last four weeks,” he said.
”We went 1-0 down and we didnt change, it went to 1-1 and we didn’t change, we should have won at Old Trafford [where Australia hung on by a wicket for a draw in the third Test] and it didn’t change.
”We realise we’re on the brink of something special but we have to stay very controlled and work on our games. There’s areas we need to work on in the next week or so, there’s a lot of hard work to go.” – Sapa-AFP