North ready for Ashes with invaluable insight about England’s bowling

SYDNEY - Refreshed Marcus North, who is ready to play a key role in the Ashes series, has said that his brief glimpse at England’s bowling attack gave him an invaluable insight ahead of the five-Test series.

North faced 73 balls in his first-innings knock of 19 for Western Australia against England last week, but was run-out for just one in his second innings.

“It was nice to bat for a long period of time and bat 70-odd balls,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted North, as saying.

“The second innings was taken away from me, which was a bit of a shame, but it was nice to get exposed to the England side and get an idea of where they’re at and what the bowlers are doing at this stage so there’s no surprises come first Test match,” he said.

“It was good to see (England paceman Steven) Finn, I hadn’t seen him before. In the second innings he used his height and accuracy really well. The first innings he looked a bit underdone but in the second innings he bowled good areas and managed to use his height well. (I’m) really fresh and ready to go,” North said.

“I’m feeling really good about my game, I’m hitting the ball really well and I’ve been happy with the scores I’ve been getting, so I’m looking to continue that on next week against Victoria (in the Shield clash at the MCG),” he added.

North didn’t bowl his part-time off-spinners against England, and laughed off suggestions that he was hiding himself from England to surprise them during the Ashes.

“I don’t think there’s anything to hide with my bowling. I’ve got no doosras or anything, it’s all pretty simple, basic off-spinners and some arm-balls. It was more to give Beery a good crack at it,” North said. (ANI)