Chink in the armour

Botham put fear into Australian hearts at Headingley

Australian broadcaster Tim Lane looks forward to seeing whether England can make the most of Australia's Headingley fear factor.

Headingley was once a place that made Australian cricket teams nervous.

Although Bradman had achieved glorious deeds there and his 1948 team scored one of the game's greatest victories on the ground, for a long time it was a place where the unexpected happened and where, quite frequently, the Aussies came unstuck.

Jim Laker's summer caught hold there in 1956. Fred Trueman took 11 wickets in 1961 and it was over in three days. There was Underwood and Fusarium in 1972 and of course 20 years ago there was Botham's match.

All of which gave special significance to the victory of Allan Border's team in 1989.

If they are ever to reveal a vulnerable chink, this might be the week

Tim Lane

Winning the series opener, at Headingley of all places, was momentous and set a trend for that series.

It was unimaginable, of course, that the trend would be so overwhelming and that England wouldn't have looked like winning the Ashes from that day to this.

So, in this summer of disappointment and discontent, is there any possibility that Nasser Hussain's team could at least start the process of trend reversal at Headingley?

On the raw facts, any answer from an Australian other than a definite "no" would seem patronising.

Steve Waugh hasn't had to think about taking the second new ball in any of England's six innings in the series. Australia haven't had to bat for even half of their second innings in any of the three tests.

Waugh's absence could be telling

They have out-fielded England. Their wicket keeper has had far more impact than his counterpart. Their leadership has been confident and commanding. Vulnerable isn't a word that has needed to be applied to the Australians too often this summer.

And yet, if they are ever to reveal a vulnerable chink, this might be the week.

In losing Steve Waugh, they lose their leader and their most reliable batsman. If, as all and sundry are predicting, the Headingley turf is seaming, they could miss his batting enormously. Remember his double on a treacherous Manchester pitch four years ago?

Then there's the matter of leadership.

For all his exceptional skills and fine qualities, Adam Gilchrist is learning from occasional tilts at the job. He gave an impressively candid assessment of this at Hove last week after a rain-affected three-day game was revived by his third morning declaration.

This was a very different approach from the one he had taken earlier in the tour against Essex when, in opting for batting practice, Gilchrist had killed a game stone dead.

He acknowledged that his approach to that match had left him feeling uneasy - all the more so when Steve Waugh showed such gambler's instincts with his declaration against Hampshire.

The point of all this is that Gilchrist is feeling his way.

Gilchrist is feeling his way

He has captained Australia in only one other Test, in which the West Indies came closest to causing an upset of all last southern summer's five matches.

This will be another testing experience for the acting captain and his team.

On the other hand, being the unit that it is, Australia can be expected to rally to their interim leader.

McGrath and Gillespie are an affirming pair for any skipper to lead on to the ground, while Warne's 395-test wickets speak for themselves. And it seems he is still making the ball talk as well.

The question lingers, though, over the batting.

Openers Slater and Hayden have one series 50 between them, Ponting has made 77 runs in six tests and Katich will be making his debut.

Even with Steve Waugh playing it has often been the seventh Australian batsman who has made the difference. In Waugh's absence, the extra responsibility borne by Gilchrist may be as much about batting as it is about leadership.

Yet, by virtue of their superior bowling, fielding and self-belief, Australia must still be firm favourites.

But this is England's best chance yet to give Australia reason to fear Headingley again.