Edgbaston pitch paradise for pacers: Curator by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	RT Ponting
Event:	Australia in British Isles 2009

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DateLine: 28th July 2009

 

Edgbaston curator Steve Rouse said the pitch for the third Ashes Test would be a paradise for the pace bowlers.

 

"With the conditions like this, Nathan Hauritz could be a waste. Australia should play four seamers I would think.

 

You wouldn't see a spinner doing an awful lot of work here unless he was good enough to tie an end down and not get carted for five or six an over.

 

"It doesn't spin much here at all this year. Our spinners are going at 60 or 70 a wicket," Rouse was quoted as saying by the 'Australian'.

 

But Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting has said that he won't be going by Rouse's pitch report after having been misled by a similar report in the 2005 Ashes series.

 

However, Rouse claimed that he is not playing any mind games and said it would still be a major gamble for Ponting to bowl first like he did in 2005.

 

"You have to be a brave person to bowl first, it can always backfire on you can't it?" Rouse said.

 

"The forecast isn't great, we have got showers right the way through the week and for at least the first three days of the Test. With the rain and the bad weather we've had, and we haven't had any warm sunshine.

 

"There is a lot of moisture underneath. It will be a typical old-fashioned English seaming wicket. But good batters can adjust to the conditions and you don't get to play for Australia or England if you can't bat," he added.