Martyn Moxon: England will be aiming to keep the pressure on Clarke

A LOT is being said about England’s remarkable win-lose, win-lose recent Test record and I don’t really know why that is. It’s been a bit of an odd scenario.
Martyn Moxon on the AshesMartyn Moxon on the Ashes
Martyn Moxon on the Ashes

But they will be really clear in wanting to put in another really good performance at Trent Bridge, that’s for sure. If we do that, then we win the Ashes.

There’s so much at stake and clearly Australia cannot afford to slip up.

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England will certainly be wanting a pitch similar to the one at Edgbaston and will be hoping Mark Wood is fit as, presumably, he will be the one who takes injured James Anderson’s place.

Anderson is certainly a big loss with his skill and experience but Stuart Broad is bowling well and Steven Finn was man-of-the-match in the last Test and Wood has by no means disgraced himself earlier in the series.

England go to Trent Bridge with confidence and if there is sideways movement in the pitch, then it will really test the Australians because they looked really susceptible to it at Edgbaston.

By his own admission, Michael Clarke is out of form. As we all know, if your captain is struggling with his form, it filters into the rest of the team.

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Adam Voges as well, as an experienced player, hasn’t got the volume of runs he’d have wanted. Australia seem to have some players who are going cheaply in their order and that creates pressure.

Clarke is having to dig deep and no-one will need to tell him that he needs some runs both for himself and his team. Hopefully, England will continue to get him early and that will again have the effect of putting other players under pressure.

There’s been a bit of talk about the Trent Bridge pitch from last summer, but I think they had dug up the Test pitch from last year, so I can’t imagine it will be a pitch like the India Test last year for the life of me.

So far, this Ashes series has been fantastic, in terms of entertainment. From a crowd’s point of view, there has been a lot of action. I can’t remember one dull period of play, quite frankly.

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From an entertainment point of view, it’s been great. Although from a purists’ point of view, the batting has left a little bit to be desired, to be honest.

But as a sport, we are an entertainment business and that is what this series certainly has been.