News

McGrath targets Vaughan and Strauss

Glenn McGrath has named Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss as the two batsmen he plans to target during the Ashes

Cricinfo staff
15-May-2005


Glenn McGrath: 'No Australian ever wants to see England get on top' © Getty Images
Glenn McGrath, the Australian strike bowler, has named Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss as the two batsmen he plans to target during the Ashes. McGrath, currently with 499 Test wickets, has made a habit of targeting opposition batsmen in the past and has walked the talk on most occasions.
"I've always liked to target either the captain or the best batsman, whichever one that has happened to be," McGrath told the Sun-Herald newspaper. "A lot of times the best batsman is the captain, so that's been easy enough. To me, this time, it's Vaughan and Strauss. I haven't decided on one. I'm targeting two."
McGrath's hit-list includes illustrious names such as Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, but the batsman who bore the brunt of his metronomic accuracy was Michael Atherton, the former England captain, who he nailed 19 times in Tests and reduced almost to a novice in many an Ashes battle. The forthcoming tussle, though, promises to be closely contested with Vaughan having a fantastic record against Australia - he creamed three magnificent centuries in the 2002-03 series - and Strauss piling on five centuries and four fifties in his first 12 Tests.
McGrath began his preparations for the series after a six-week break, and had his first bowl at the SCG on Saturday. "I've had a really good break since the New Zealand tour," he said. "I spent time with the family and went away with them, so it's all been good. Everything's great. My body feels terrific and it shouldn't take too long to get back into the swing of things again."
He underlined the importance of the Ashes by saying that this may be the last tour to England for many of the Australian players, and he was excited about the prospect of playing in such a hyped series. "No Australian ever wants to see England get on top," he said. "The players in our side are older than those in most teams going around, so you'd have to think that for a few of the guys, it'll be their last tour of England. I think the Tests over there have already sold out, and they could have sold out three or four times each, so we'll be getting capacity crowds. It's going to be big."
McGrath also acknowledged that Shane Warne would play a significant role in pegging the English batsmen back. "With Shane's stats against England and the way he's performed against them in the past, sometimes he doesn't even have to bowl at his peak to take wickets," McGrath said. "That's what happens when there's an aura about a bowler like Shane. Curtly Ambrose and the Windies bowlers of the late 1980s had it, as did Dennis Lillee - they all had that aura and now Shane definitely has it."
He added that Warne's dismissal of Strauss, in a county game last week, with a ball that turned sharply, could make a psychological difference. "Knocking Strauss over - it was good for Shane to get it into Strauss's mind that he knows how to get him."