VIDEO: Home advantage offers Gillespie hope that Australia can hit back

TIMES have changed since the good old days when journalists would ring up Glenn McGrath before an Ashes series and say: “G’day, Glenn, what do you think the score is going to be?”

The great Australia fast bowler would reply along the lines of “5-0 to us, mate,” before proceeding to back up words with actions.

Jason Gillespie, one of McGrath’s partners in crime during the Australian glory years of the Nineties and Noughties, is not about to take a leaf out of his old colleague’s book by venturing a similar prediction ahead of the series that starts in Brisbane on Thursday.

But the Yorkshire first team coach is cut from a similarly positive cloth and feels the Australian class of 2013-14 have the ability to upset the form book and get the better of an old enemy he acknowledges start as favourites.

“I think Australia can potentially win; there’s no doubt about that,” said Gillespie. “Do I actually think it’s going to happen? It’s certainly possible, although I think that England would fancy their chances.

“But, in my view, it’s definitely going to be a lot closer than people think.

“England again probably deservedly start as favourites, but you never know.”

Gillespie’s optimism is based on the fact Australia have home advantage and that a developing team will have learned much from their 3-0 defeat in England this year.

WATCH Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie talk about the forthcoming Ashes series Down Under by clicking the PLAY button at the top of this page.

Australia should have a more settled batting line-up this time, although their bowling department has been hit by injuries to the likes of former Yorkshire star Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.

England will have to play well indeed to effect a similarly emphatic scoreline and their own preparations have been hit by injuries to Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook and Matt Prior.

In addition, Australia coach Darren Lehmann – appointed just days before the start of the last Ashes series – will have gained considerable experience and know better how to tackle the quickfire re-match.

“I think last summer’s Ashes series was almost a bit of a fact-finding mission for Darren,” said Gillespie. “He will have gained so much from that and how best to take the team forward, and the conditions will suit Australia better this time.

“Home advantage does play a part, although you can’t put a number on it. I just think Australia need to be nice and positive with their cricket, which I’m sure they will be with Darren in charge.”

Gillespie admitted Australia were well-beaten in England, despite the tourists having enjoyed promising positions at various stages. They came within a whisker of winning the first Test at Trent Bridge, which, had they done so, could have seen the rubber take a vastly different course.

England won by 14 runs in Nottingham to knock the wind out of a side riding high on the back of Lehmann’s appointment. And Gillespie believes 3-0 was a fair reflection of the balance of power.

“I don’t think Australia were unlucky to lose 3-0 last time,” he admitted. “I think the bottom line is that England dominated the big moments over here.

“The margin of defeat at Trent Bridge, for example, was masked by a 10th-wicket stand between Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar. If that stand hadn’t occurred, it would have been a very different result and England would have won that game comfortably.”

Despite Australia’s shortcomings last summer, Gillespie detected a noticeable improvement in their overall mood.

There were not too many happy faces around the camp towards the end of the reign of previous coach Mickey Arthur, but Lehmann has had a positive effect.

“One thing I did say when Darren was appointed was that all the negative chat around the team would stop – and it has,” said Gillespie. “It’s all been positive, and when Australia came to Headingley for the one-dayer last summer, the players were all bubbling and bouncing around and everyone had a smile on their face – including the support staff.

“I also think there’s been a bit of method to Darren’s madness as well in terms of some of his comments in the press.

“He came out a couple of times last summer and said a few things, and I think that was his way of deflecting some of the heat off his players and on to himself.”

Among Lehmann’s more outspoken pronouncements was his criticism of England’s Stuart Broad for failing to walk during the Trent Bridge Test. Broad edged a ball to slip but stood his ground when the umpire inexplicably failed to notice the edge. Broad’s tactics were criticised by some, but condoned by others.

Gillespie falls into the latter category.

“I think you stand there and wait for the umpire’s decision,” he said. “It says in the Spirit of Cricket that you have to abide by the umpire’s decision, so it’s actually in the Spirit of Cricket.

“If you get lucky, all well and good; if you cop a bad one, then equally don’t complain about it – you can’t have it both ways.”

Hopefully, controversy will take a back seat in the upcoming series, which is a more intriguing prospect than the last one.

There will also be significant local interest with the inclusion in the England squad of Yorkshire’s Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance, while Tim Bresnan is hopeful of playing a part as he battles back from injury.

“I’m Australian through and through and I love the Baggy Green, but I’m torn in some ways because I’m excited for our lads and want them to do well,” said Gillespie. “Team selections in general are going to be interesting, and I personally would have taken Graham Onions on tour.

“He’s incredibly unlucky not to be there – he pitches the ball up and makes batsmen play – and although England think the wickets are going to be fast and bouncy, I think Onions would have been a pretty good option.

“But, once again, it’s all about opinions, and I just hope we get a cracking series.”

Vaughan can’t hold back tide as Aussies soar

IT was the dazzling pinnacle of Australian dominance.

Despite the best efforts of Michael Vaughan, who enjoyed one of the best Test series by an England batsman Down Under, Australia won the 2002-03 Ashes in the space of 11 days.

Small wonder that Jason Gillespie picks out that series as his favourite memory of Ashes cricket back home.

Gillespie, who was his country’s leading wicket-taker in the rubber with 20 at 24.60, was part of a team that not so much beat England as battered them into submission.

Australia won the first Test in Brisbane by 384 runs, the second in Adelaide by an innings and 51 (despite Vaughan’s first innings 177) and the third in Perth by an innings and 48 runs to settle the destiny of the urn.

Vaughan scored 145 in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne and 183 in the last Test at Sydney, where England perhaps took advantage of dead-rubber syndrome to win by 225 runs.

Looking back on the series, Gillespie said: “To win in 11 days was pretty special, and we had a three-day Test and two four-day Tests.

“It was a wonderful series for Michael Vaughan, and when you have a guy in the opposition who is blowing you away and yet you still manage to play really good cricket and get on top, it makes it more satisfying.”

Gillespie constantly chipped in with two-fers and three-fers during that series, with a best return of 4-25 in the Boxing Day Test. The Yorkshire first team coach believes he enjoyed his best years as a player around that period at the beginning of the millennium.

“I think I was at my peak between 01 and 04,” he reflected. “In that 02-03 series, I managed to pick up twos and threes along the way. We were playing some great cricket as a team at that time and it was nice to contribute.

“It was a wonderful era for Australian cricket.”