Desperate Aussies face tough task

In the past few weeks, Australia's cricket community - media, past players, fans - has been busy firing barbs at the touring England squad and trying hard to talk up the home side's chances in this summer's Ashes series.

It has all seemed a bit desperate.

England has been painted as obsessively trendy with its lengthy recipe book, its batting solid but uninspiring and its leadership seen as too conservative.

But is this Australian team good enough to exploit those alleged weaknesses?

Michael Clarke is an imaginative tactician but clever tactics need clever players. And will his fragile back hold up?

At least Australia's batting looks more solid than it did in England a few months ago.

Openers Chris Rogers and David Warner have been making runs in four-day matches, as has Steve Smith. But the newcomer to the troubled middle order, George Bailey, has been chosen to make his Test debut in Brisbane on the back of one-day form.

A touch of desperation there, too.

Unless Bailey has hidden genius, he won't be striding out to a greenish Brisbane pitch and taking an over or two to settle in before smashing boundaries, as he does in one-dayers.

He will need a tight defensive game and a sound temperament to keep out quality Test bowlers like Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann.

Even the selectors don't know whether Bailey can be that sort of player.

And there has been plenty of desperation in the hype surrounding Australia's new bowling hope: the recycled and allegedly reformed Mitchell Johnson, the big "if" of Australian cricket.

In the recent series in England, Australia's pace bowlers recovered from a poor start to do pretty well. Ryan Harris is undoubtedly a fine bowler but he rarely plays more than three Tests in a row. Can his body survive five tough Tests this summer?

With a host of injured fast bowlers at various stages of recovery, all eyes have turned to Johnson. But who else was there?

Occasionally, Johnson is a match-winner. Mostly, his bowling is a mess.

In recent one-day matches he has been bowling straight and fast, with late swing. A deadly combination, but can he reproduce that form in the extended tension of five-day Test matches?

That is the big "if" for Australia this summer.

If Johnson can defy his well-established cricketing character and bowl at his best for five matches, Australia could win this series.

Johnson has admitted in the past that he allowed the Barmy Army's barracking to put him off his game and that in general he has struggled for confidence and consistency.

So what does he do in the lead-up to this series? He brags about how he's going to go for the jugular against England's batsmen. Now he has to live up to that prediction.

If Johnson stays true to character and hurls his first ball of the series toward second slip or fine leg, this Australian might just turn off the TV and go for a very long walk.

Mark Ray is a former professional cricketer and China Daily copy editor who can be contacted at markray@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/20/2013 page24)