Adelaide pitch will not concern England’s batsmen in second Ashes Test, says Mark Butcher

Mark Butcher believes there is little in the Adelaide pitch to concern England’s batsmen as they attempt to build a big total and bring the tourists back into the second Ashes Test…

England bowled all right in the early part of the day but they didn’t have a great deal of luck. They have a couple of decisions correctly overturned on review and they certainly improved on yesterday.

But then again, with Moeen Ali neither able to hold an end or look like taking a wicket, and the quicks all being similar in pace and the way they look to take their wickets, once Shaun Marsh decided he wasn’t going to give his wicket away, it was difficult to remove them.

If it hadn’t been a day-night game, I’m not sure if Steve Smith would have declared. He probably declared because he thought it would be a great time to bowl but, as it was, it rained and they came off early. But otherwise, they could still be batting and have made 500.

That’s the worry, when batsmen are putting their mind to it on these Aussie decks, England are struggling to get wickets.

They picked up a couple with short balls but the thing is that England don’t have a bowler in the side who would naturally run up and do that as his normal way of getting people out, in that regard nothing has changed from the first Test match.

One positive was Craig Overton, who looked very handy as a fourth seamer. He’s tall and he can hold a decent line and length, that’s why he’s been successful on some flat pitches at Taunton.

Whether or not he gets into England’s best three quick bowlers and gets into the side when Ben Stokes is back is probably doubtful but he didn’t look overawed by the situation and performed well. Obviously, getting Steve Smith as your first Test wicket is brilliant, fantastic for him.

Another bowling option England would love to have is Mark Wood, who has been included for the two-day tour match next weekend but I think it’s very, very unlikely that he will play in Perth.

He’s only just started back bowling again, he can’t be that close to being match fit. Obviously, it would be great if he could and, if he’d been fit, he’d have been on the tour in the first place.

It’s encouraging that he is on the comeback trail. However, if England end up losing this Test in Adelaide then it may well be too late anyway.

Shaun Marsh’s hundred was clearly crucial. If you look at Australia’s card there are a lot of guys who made starts but if just one guy goes on and makes a hundred and you can build a good first innings total around that. That is exactly the way to go.

He wasn’t fluent and hitting the ball to all parts, he dug in and played an old-fashioned Test match innings and if Australia go on and win the match, that will be the reason why. It was superb, especially given the pressure that he’s been under.

A lot of people didn’t expect Marsh to play in this series and along with Tim Paine and Cameron Bancroft – the three of them were seen as the weak links for Australia but now all of them have made decent contributions.

The great thing about the rain is that England get to start in daylight tomorrow. The whole reason behind Smith’s declaration was to bowl under the lights but they’ve not had a chance to do that beyond the 10th over.

England will start off in what will hopefully be good batting conditions. The pitch is slow, it’s pretty low so there shouldn’t be too many demons in it and hopefully Alastair Cook can dig himself in and score a big one.

Of course, he is very important but so is the whole batting line-up. They shouldn’t be – and I’m sure they’re not – overly concerned about going out and being able to put a really good total on the board on this pitch.

(c) Sky News 2017: Adelaide pitch will not concern England’s batsmen in second Ashes Test, says Mark Butcher