Australian seamer Mitchell Johnson said earlier this week that England captain Andrew Strauss will be the Australian attack's number one target this winter due to the batsman's apparent inability to deal with the short ball
Australian seamer Mitchell Johnson said earlier this week that England captain Andrew Strauss will be the Australian attack's number one target this winter due to the batsman's apparent inability to deal with the short ball.
Mike Gatting, the former England captain, who was the last English skipper to win an Ashes series in Australia,u00a0 is confident that Strauss will be able to cope with the pressure thrust upon him, though, and has told Johnson he will be wasting his time by peppering the England captain with bouncers. "It's all bravado as far as I'm concerned with Johnson," Gatting said. "There is a bit of a war of words at the moment. Glenn McGrath's not there at the moment and Johnson seems to have taken to roaring from the front in his place. They always have to have a cheerleader and he's probably the most senior player out of that lot so he's taken on the mantle and that's how they work in Australia.
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England and Australia have experienced contrasting form in the run-up to the series, with the tourists excelling in their three warm-up matches while the hosts struggled for form against India and Sri Lanka.
A lack of spinning options has meant Australia skipper Ricky Ponting could turn to the uncapped Xavier Doherty for today's opener in Brisbane. Doherty was chosen ahead of Nathan Hauritz.
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