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Ashes 2009: 20 questions to Ray Illingworth
Chris Waters bowls 20 questions to former Yorkshire and England captain Ray Illingworth ahead of the latest Ashes series that starts in Cardiff on Wednesday.
Chris Waters: First of all, can England win the Ashes?
Ray Illingworth: I think they can, but it's going to be very tight indeed. If someone can perform outstandingly well then England have a chance, but I think it could well be as close as it was in 2005 and something of a lottery in all honesty. I really wouldn't like to call it either way, but I do think the scoreline will be 3-2. There aren't many drawn Tests these days so I would expect to see five results if the weather holds.
Listen to Dickie Bird's Ashes prediction in this week's CricketTalk >>
CW: Who will be England's key performers?
RI: Someone like Andrew Strauss or Kevin Pietersen will have to perform very well if we're going to beat the Aussies. One or two players in that top-order really need to show what they're capable of because it's vital that England get runs on the board. Pietersen is the type of player who will relish the challenge and I would expect the Ashes to bring out the best in him.
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CW: Who will be Australia's key performers?
RI: I think Ricky Ponting could be key for them. It's a bit worrying for England that he's not made big runs for quite a while and he'll be desperate to put right what went wrong in 2005. Although I don't think Ponting is the same player he was, he's had a good rest and he didn't go to the Indian Premier League, which proved that he's got his priorities right. He could well have a major say in the destiny of the Ashes.
CW: Should England pick Adil Rashid?
RI: That's a difficult one. All I would say is that if England aren't going to pick him, then I don't think they should be taking him around with them because he would be far better off getting more games under his belt for Yorkshire. There's a chance he'll play in the Ashes and, if he can drop it anywhere near, he'll be a very big asset indeed. But he's very inexperienced and he'd be coming up against some very talented and aggressive batsmen.
CW: Do you think it's right the first Test is being staged in Cardiff?
RI: I don't really think it matters, although I think the Aussies would probably have preferred the opening game to have been at Lord's. It will certainly be a big occasion and the first time it's gone to Wales, but whether it's a Test match ground I'm not so sure. From what I've seen of the pitches so far they don't really look like Test pitches, so there are positives and negatives in my opinion, but at least the pitch should produce a result.
CW: Should England have chosen Michael Vaughan in their Ashes squad?
RI: No, not really. To be fair to the others, I don't think he'd done enough and to pick him in the squad would have been neither here nor there. Michael only averaged about 19 in first-class cricket this summer and there were still plenty of doubts surrounding his fitness. I agreed with England's decision not to select him.
CW: Are you worried about Andrew Flintoff's fitness?
RI: Most certainly. I know he played okay in the Twenty20 Cup but he was only bowling four-over spells and in Test matches you sometimes have to bowl 15 overs on the trot, which is when you can end up getting injured. Flintoff hasn't got many runs lately but I do think he can come again with the bat. One of the reasons I think so is because Australia don't have a decent spin bowler any more, and one of Flintoff's weaknesses has been starting against spin.
CW: What are England's main strengths and weaknesses?
RI: The overall bowling isn't bad and I've been impressed with the way Stuart Broad has come on.
I'd like to see him making a few more runs but his bowling is getting better all the time. One of England's weaknesses has been their inconsistent batting.
They are prone to having the odd bad game with the bat, just as they did in the West Indies when they were bowled out for 50-odd, and you can't afford to do that against the Aussies.
CW: What are Australia's main strengths and weaknesses?
RI: One of their strengths is that they bat all the way down. You've got Mitchell Johnson coming in at something like No 8, and then Brett Lee at No 9, so it will be hard work for England to bowl them out twice.
The key to all Test cricket is taking 20 wickets and that will be England's biggest challenge. Australia's biggest weakness is the lack of quality in their spin bowling department following the retirements of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill.
CW: Is Brett Lee the same bowler following all his injury problems?
RI: I think he's gone a little bit in all honesty. I don't care what people say – even before his injury problems he was struggling a bit, although this will be his last Ashes tour and he's going to be up for it. So I don't think he's the bowler he was, but I still think he's good enough to cause England some problems.
CW: Is Andrew Strauss the right man to be captaining England?
RI: Yes, I think he is. I would have gone for him as captain ahead of Kevin Pietersen and I think he's done a pretty good job so far. He's got a wise head on his shoulders and I don't think he'll make any silly mistakes. In my opinion Strauss is the sort of relaxed character you need and a pretty tough cookie below the surface.
CW: How do you rate the captain/coach partnership of Strauss and Andy Flower?
RI: I think they get on well together and they see the game in the same light, which is important. I think they've been good for the team as a whole because it doesn't take a genius to work out that everything was not exactly hunky-dory in the garden beforehand. I think Flower has always been a level-headed sort of a bloke and he has the potential to do very well in the role.
CW: Who might emerge as the stars of the series?
RI: I think Mitchell Johnson has a good chance of doing that for Australia and I think Stuart Broad has a good chance of doing that for England. Both have the ability to play a major role and are very fine up-and-coming cricketers. Both have the ability to take wickets and contribute a few runs. This series could well be the making of them both.
CW: Can you see an Ashes place for Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan?
RI: No, not really – unless there's a lot of injuries. I've been impressed with the way Tim has developed but, without being hard on the lad, I'm not 100 per cent sure that he's a Test match bowler or a Test match batter. I'm not sure that he's quite good enough in either department but he's done extremely well for Yorkshire and he has the ability to come on further.
CW: Is Australia's grip on the world crown slipping?
RI: Only time will tell, but the field is certainly a lot more wide open these days.
Australia have lost a number of major players, one or two players are starting to get older and Shane Warne has left a massive hole in their side. Whatever the pitches were like, Warne would always get you wickets and you can't really replace a player of that quality.
CW: Should James Foster have been the Ashes wicketkeeper following his impressive displays in the World Twenty20?
RI: It's difficult to say. People raved about him in the Twenty20 but I thought he was a little bit untidy, to be honest. Yes, he had two good stumpings, but who's to say that Matt Prior wouldn't have pulled off the same stumpings if he'd played?
Personally, I think Prior has done enough to get into the team for his batting alone and he would definitely be my Ashes wicketkeeper.
CW: Can you see a way back into the England team for Ian Bell and Owais Shah?
RI: Not for Shah, no. I think he's too tense for a Test match player and the Australians would be quick to seize on that sort of thing. As for Bell, I think he's as good technically as anyone in the England side and he has gone away and got plenty of runs in the county game. He could quite easily force his way back into the Test side because it only takes one person to go down injured and your chance can come along.
CW: How good a player is Ravi Bopara?
RI: Very good. He's come on leaps and bounds and had that little bit of luck that you need to get along. He was dropped a few times when he got those three successive Test hundreds but those innings have given him a great deal of confidence.
I think his technique is pretty good but he plays and misses a bit outside off-stump and, if he does get a couple of nicks, then things could all change for him. But he's pretty much done everything that could have been asked of him so far and there's no reason why he can't go from strength to strength this summer.
CW: How do England counter the threat of Phil Hughes?
RI: I haven't seen a great deal of him in fairness, but he certainly seems to be something of a free spirit. If he gets in he'll be exciting to watch, but the England bowlers will always feel they've got a chance against him if he tries to go after them.
People criticised Middlesex's decision to sign him but I thought it was swings and roundabouts.
Yes, it gave him some experience of English conditions but, at the same time, it gave us the chance to have a bit of a look at him, so it worked both ways.
CW: Do you agree with Shane Warne's view that Monty Panesar has failed to develop as an international bowler?
RI: Yes, I do. His record in county cricket is appalling this year.
His wickets have cost him around 90 apiece and even if you're playing on good pitches you'd expect a spin bowler to be doing better than that. Rashid has possibly leapfrogged him now and Panesar needs to work hard on his game if he's going to improve.
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