Chennai: Former England cricket team coach Duncan Fletcher, who is currently attached with the New Zealand squad as a consultant, has said England has the power and poise to nail Australia three games to nil in the ongoing Ashes series.
In an article for 'The Guardian', Fletcher said that after going up 1-0 at the Adelaide Oval, captain Andrew Strauss needed to keep his team focused enough to continue playing as well as they have done in this series so far.
Lauding England for outplaying Australia from start to finish at Adelaide, Fletcher said the visitors could win at Perth and Sydney and force a draw in Melbourne.
“The only way I can see Australia fighting back in the series is if Ricky Ponting clicks and makes a big contribution as a batsman, simply because he is capable of scoring a lot of runs in a little time. That would leave his team with plenty of overs to try to work through this solid English batting unit,” Fletcher says.
“It is much more likely that England will continue to dominate. At the moment every single player in their top six looks capable of scoring a century,” he adds.
He, however, admits that the absence of an injured Stuart Broad, who has the best economy rate, is a “minor road bump” for England.
“To take 20 wickets in a Test, the bowlers have to hunt as a pack. It is an old cliché, but a true one. Whoever replaces Broad in the third Test must be able to do that same job if they are not going to take wickets,” he says.
“As for Australia, I cannot see how they are going to come back from this defeat. They have picked eight frontline bowlers in their last three Test matches, and only one of those changes has been because of injury,” he concludes.
