Ashes 2021-22: Adelaide pitch curator warns England of a huge mistake as they name 12-man squad for second game

After suffering a disappointing loss in the first Ashes Test, England will move to Adelaide to play the second Test. Before the start of this game, the team management will have to invest a lot of brains to come up with the best playing XI. The team would like to put it down as one of the mistakes from the first Test and work on not repeating the same.

Jack Leach, the only spinner in the team, picked one wicket in the first innings of the first Test and gave away 102 runs in 13 overs. Due to this performance, the team management might drop him and include a fast bowler. However, Adelaide Oval’s pitch curator, Damian Hough, has predicted that the pitch will spin. On asked whether dropping Leach be a bad move, Hough answered, “Yeah, I think so.” He further said, “From our end, we believe that spin at Adelaide needs to play a part.”

The second Test will be a day and night game and played with the pink ball. The Adelaide ground has hosted six of the nine pink ball Tests played by Australia. The pitch curator also said, “We think the process we’re using to produce the best pitch possible we think we’ve got the recipe,” as quoted by Fox Sports.

Historically, the pitch at the Adelaide has provided a lot of support to spinners. Shane Warne has picked 56, the most wickets on this ground. Nathan Lyon is second on this list with 51 wickets to his name. Hough remarked that understanding how the pitch behaves would happen on the first day, but he feels spinners have the upper hand here.

Jhye Richardson will make a comeback in the second Ashes Test

Fast bowler Jhye Richardson will make a comeback to Australia’s Test squad after a gap of almost three years. He will be playing the second Test and will be replacing injured Josh Hazlewood. Richardson last played a Test on 1st February 2019 against Sri Lanka.

He suffered a dislocated shoulder injury during an ODI against Pakistan in the UAE. Due to this, he missed the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2019 Ashes. Richardson made his comeback to red-ball cricket by picking 23 wickets at an average of 13.43 in four Sheffield Shield games. His selection means Michael Neser will have to wait for a little longer to make his debut.