Nielsen says experience of Oz veterans from last Ashes provides edge over England

BRISBANE - Australia’s coach Tim Nielsen is confident that his team can leave the 2009 Ashes series debacle behind to claim the little urn during the 2010-11 series, which starts on Thursday at the Gabba in Brisbane.

Nielsen said that the Australian team holds an edge, as the team will have 10 of the 11 players who lost the 2009 series 2-1.

“The real difference is going to be a little bit of experience for our guys. You talk about the driving forces for me - 2009 there was quite a portion of this group that was involved in a very hard struggle where we thought we had as much of the series as England did,” the Age quoted Nielsen, as saying.

“Maybe one or two little moments ended up costing us the Ashes. That’s motivation for quite a few guys. It’s always motivating playing at your own grounds in front of your own fans.”

“This week is as big as it gets, this is our AFL grand final, the lead-up, the media, the talk, everything is about the Ashes and it’s just brilliant to be a part of. There’s two or three things that I think will really help us and it’s something I’m not sure England will be ready for. They need to be really aware of that,” he added.

Nielsen further insists that captain Ricky Ponting has worked on his pull shot, which has troubled him in recent times and is being seen as his Achilles’ heel.

“He’s played the short ball from the time he was five and he will keep playing the way he feels is the right way to play. He’ll be aggressive and he will attack, there is always a risk involved with that as we know, but as a No. 3 batsman what he does when he plays well and plays with that aggression it really does set up our team to score big runs and score them quickly, and give us the best chance to win Test matches,” Nielsen said.

“That’s what we’re about this series, we want to play positive cricket, we want to make sure we give ourselves the best chance of winning every Test match,” he added. (ANI)