Ashes:Australia's worries

After both the teams were very defensive at the Gabba in Brisbane, everyone wanted the Adelaide test to be better. With a cracking flat track, most thought winning the toss could be crucial.As it turns out, it wasn't. Ricky Ponting won the toss and the batsmen didn't deliver much to the disappointment of aussie supporters like myself.

They got off to the worst start in 60 years when they lost their first three wickets at the score of just 2 runs. The saviour of sorts was Micheal Hussey yet again, who notched up a fine 93 without much support apart from Haddin who scored a fifty. A total of just 245 on the flattest track in Australia is never going to be enough. Ideally, 350-400 is a must on this pitch and if you have the bowling worries that Australia have currently,you would be hoping to score at least 450. James Anderson(4-51) and ace spinner Graeme Swann(2-70) were right on the money and delivered to put England on the back foot. England had to bat out just one over before the day ended, which they did without any damage.

On day 2, captain Strauss was picked up early by the hard working Doug Bollinger. The good start surely would have given them hope to fight back. However, the same pair of Jonathan Trott and Alastair Cook got together and frustrated the home team. To be fair, they only have themselves to blame as they missed a run-out chance and a couple of catches. Trott was finally dismissed at 78, while Cook went onto to score another ton. Some of you might remember, Cook was dropped in 1st innings of the 1st test by Doherty when he was around 25. He went onto score 67 in that innings and hasn't been dismissed since. If that catch was taken,could have been a totally different story. But, Cricket isn't a game of ifs and buts. Kevin Pietersen has been positive and good throughout his stay at the crease and looks set for another Ashes hundred.

The Aussie batting is at its worst.The three batsmen who I considered were most important have not done their job when it mattered.Micheal Clarke is the biggest problem right now.His average in the last 12 matches since he is batting at number 4 is just 18.To add to this bad form,his back isn't supporting him.If he doesn't come up with a good innings in the second innings,he has to be dropped in the third test.(His last 5 innings have been 14,3,14,3,9). Marcus North is the other big debatable batsman in the line-up. North has an average of 8.29 when called upon to bat before Australia have notched up less than 150. Clearly,shows that he isn't performer under pressure. Ashes is surely a pressure series, so I don't expect him to do well(also considering he isn't due a century, since he scored one in India recently) and feel he too should be dropped.

The bowling attacks' ineffectiveness is giving Ponting more headaches. Having said that, he surely isn't at his best at captain. Xavier Doherty has been very ordinary conceding runs at almost 5 runs an over. The more I watch him bowl, I get more convinced that he isn't meant for the longer format of the game. I felt someone in the Australian camp would go to him and ask him to bowl slower through the air and try to deceive the batsman after the Brisbane test. But,that doesn't seem to have happen and he has continued to bowl close to 90kmph without troubling the batsman much. Marcus North gives the ball air and sometimes dips it, to occasionally beat the bat making him far more effective than Doherty. What surprises me the most is that Katich hasn't been tried at all. Simon Katich is surely a useful partnership breaker and must be given a go with Clarke having a dodgy back.

With the new ball just 3 overs old, Australia must strike and strike regularly to make sure the English don't take a big lead. If that doesn't happen, there are only two ways they could save the test match. First way is rain interrupting the test and allowing a draw. While the second option is to bat out of the skin like England did in the second innings of the Brisbane test, but that seems unlikely.