“We have a really tough decision to make”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Australia head coach Darren Lehmann has admitted that he will face a “massive headache” when selecting the pace attack for the upcoming Ashes series against England.
Australia whitewashed the West Indies 2-0 in their recently concluded Test series, where three of the Baggy Greens’ frontline seamers were in red-hot form.
Josh Hazlewood was named Man of the Series for taking 12 wickets at an incredible average of 8.83, while Mitchell Starc snapped up 10 wickets at an average of 16 and Mitchell Johnson eight wickets at an average of 18.62.
But, with the veteran duo of Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle also vying for a spot in the pace attack, Lehmann admitted that he will have to think long and hard to figure out the best combination.
“Those guys have given us a massive headache – albeit a good one – and we have a really tough decision to make,” Lehmann told the official Cricket Australia website. “Two of those five guys are going to be unbelievably unlucky to miss out, but that’s what happens when you’re playing good cricket. You have to make those hard decisions.”
However, Lehmann will use Australia’s two warm-up matches against Kent and Essex to influence his decision on what he thinks will be the best pace line-up for the first Ashes Test in Cardiff.
“The two tour matches going into leading into the series will play a big part of our thinking,” he said. “We need to see how the bowlers pull up and how they bowl in the different conditions, on different pitches and with the different ball.”
Even though Australia have not won an Ashes series in England since 2001, Lehmann is confident that the drought will end this time around, especially after the Baggy Greens whitewashed their arch-rivals 5-0 in the last Ashes series in 2013-14.
“It’s been two years since our last Ashes tour and there’s a big change in mindset for me personally and the team compared to when were there in 2013,” he said. “The guys are definitely in a better space than they were two years ago. We’re really close as a team and we know what we have to do on and off the ground to achieve our goals.”