With just over a month before the first Ashes test, England's bowling attack have been sent to Brisbane to acclimatise to the humid conditions. It seems however, as if the management are more worried about the form of their bowlers than they are with the form of the top-order batsmen.Alastair Cook's 111-not out against South Australia in last week's warm up game appears to have papered over the cracks in the Essex opener's form. Alarmingly it now seems as if with this single good performance with the bat that many pundits believe Cook is now back to his sparkling best.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell's only concern with this England squad was the form of Cook going into the tour: "It wouldn't surprise me one little bit if Cook fails in the Tests." he said. "He has got a lot of flaws in his technique and they are going to be exacerbated under Australian conditions."
It is hard to look past this assessment of England's opener and it is a surprise that the selectors have not called up a third opener in case Cook does falter with the bat.
It is important to remember that it is a long, arduous tour down under. If Cook can't get to grips with the Kookabura ball on the flat, hard-baked Australian pitches then who could replace him?
The only positives to take from all this? It seems the Aussies don't quite know what they're doing selection-wise either...
(Picture: www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
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