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# The Ashes 2010: Two venues that will decide the series
## Steve James looks ahead to the Melbourne and Sydney Tests and considers
what the key factors will be in deciding the outcome of the Ashes
![The Ashes 2010: Two venues that will decide the series][1]
Grand stage: the Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the cathedrals of world
sport and will be full when the fourth Ashes Test starts on Boxing Day Photo:
GETTY IMAGES
7:00AM GMT 20 Dec 2010
[Comments][2]
**Melbourne**
**What can we expect?**
Drop-in pitches are used at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and the word is that
the designated surface will be much greener than originally intended.
But it will not be as quick as the Waca, of that we can be certain. But nor
will be it as slow as the pitch used recently when England played Victoria in
a three-day match between the second and third Tests.
A slow bounce like that of a tennis ball is its usual characteristic, but
bowlers of all types have prospered here. Mitchell Johnson's match-winning
spell in Perth was achieved through devilish late swing; the ball hardly swung
during that state match.
**Who might prosper?**
Interestingly, the in-form Johnson has already enjoyed a good game here this
season, scoring 121 not out and taking 5 for 35 when Western Australia beat
Victoria by 241 runs. In the same match Mike Hussey saved his Test place with
118 after recording a first-innings duck.
## Related Articles
* [Strauss needs to smarten up to win Ashes][3]
20 Dec 2010
* [Batting collapse in Perth worryingly familiar][4]
19 Dec 2010
* [Vaughan: England were a bit cocky][5]
19 Dec 2010
* [Report: England thrashed in Perth][6]
19 Dec 2010
* [Three questions both teams need to answer][7]
19 Dec 2010
* [Analyst at the Ashes][8]
19 Dec 2010
But spinners can also thrive as discarded left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty
proved by taking 5 for 83 when Tasmania won here earlier in the season. Of
course, it was here in 1994 that Shane Warne took his famous Ashes hat-trick
of Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm.
The ball can also reverse swing, as it did in England's state match, which
might bring Ajmal Shahzad into England's thinking.
Batsmen can also make big scores. Michael Vaughan made a magisterial 145 when
England followed on in 2002. In the same match Justin Langer made 250 and
Matthew Hayden 102.
**What is England's record there like?**
They have won 19 of their 53 Tests here, last winning in 1998 when Alec
Stewart made a century and Dean Headley took a career-best 6 for 60, as
Australia failed by 12 runs to chase 175 to win. They also won in 1986, 1982
and 1975. In 1982 there was a dramatic finale -- the closest Ashes finish on
Australian soil - when now-national selector Geoff Miller took a rebounded
catch from Chris Tavare at slip to dismiss last man Jeff Thomson for England
to win by three runs.
In 2006, after hailstorms had curtailed the Boxing Day's play, England were
thumped by an innings and 99 runs. They were dismissed for just 159 in their
first innings with Warne taking 5 for 39, including his 700th Test wicket,
that of Andrew Strauss in the first innings. Only Strauss of the current side
found any sort of form, making 50 and 31.
In 1999 Gough took his rousing Ashes hat-trick of Ian Healy, Stuart MacGill
and Colin Miller, but England still lost. In 1995, 1991 and 1988 there were
draws.
**And Australia's?**
They have won 10 of their last 11 Tests against all countries here, only
slipping up against South Africa in 2009 when they were trounced by nine
wickets, with fast bowler Dale Steyn taking 10 wickets in the match.
**Sydney**
**What can we expect?**
Traditionally spin. This is a pitch on which Allan Border's lesser-spotted,
darted left-arm spinners once took 11 wickets in a match, after all. It used
to be Australia's 'Bunsen Burner', but that is not necessarily the case any
longer. When Australia somehow scraped past Pakistan here by 36 runs last
year, they were bowled out for 127 on the first day by the seam and swing of
Mohammad Asif. Nathan Hauritz did take five second-innings wickets, but the
ball did not spin that much.
In a recent state match in which Ricky Ponting appeared for Tasmania, there
were some glaringly low scores caused by seamers, with the home side New South
Wales dismissed for 97 and then Tasmania responding with just 125.
In another Sheffield Shield match, there was spin, though, with current Test
player Steve Smith taking eight wickets in the match with his leg-spin, and
Hauritz chipping in with a second-innings 3 for 62 (having made 146 as a
nightwatchman). Australia consider Hauritz too expensive, however, and rather
flaky of character, reckoning he was reluctant to play in the deciding Oval
Test of 2009 on a spinning pitch.
**Who might prosper?**
Graeme Swann will clearly play his part, although, even if the pitch looks
like spinning, England might be reluctant to play a second spinner in Monty
Panesar. They feel it imbalances their side overmuch.
Ponting has scored more runs than anyone at the Sydney Cricket Ground; 1346 at
an average of 64, with five centuries. Unsurprisingly Warne is the leading
wicket-taker, with 64 at 28.
**What is England's record there like?**
England have won 21 of their 53 Tests here, most recently in 2003 when Andrew
Caddick (in his last Test as it rather cruelly happened) produced figures of 7
for 94 on a crumbling pitch to secure victory by 225 runs. The Test, though,
is probably better recalled for the theatre of Steve Waugh's century, made
from the very last ball of the second day, as he hit Richard Dawson for four
to relieve mounting pressure over the future of his Test place. Poor old
Vaughan too. He made a stunning 183, and Mark Butcher also hit a century.
In 2007 England were hammered by 10 wickets to complete a horrid 5-0
whitewash, as three Australian legends, Warne, Glenn McGrath and Langer, all
retired. Langer was there at the end when the 46 runs were made for victory,
but, almost overcome by emotion, did not hit the winnings runs. His partner
Hayden did instead, smashing Sajid Mahmood for six to level the scores and
then carving a single through the covers.
**And Australia's?**
Australia have won eight of their last nine Tests here, with a high-scoring
draw against India in 2004.
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