Ashes: English media unimpressed with Oz bowling prowess

BRISBANE - Victorian Peter Siddle’s heroics on day one of the Ashes series, when he claimed six wickets for 54 runs, hasn’t convinced the English press enough that Australia has an attack to fear this summer.

Though they have agreed with English batsman Ian Bell that the Poms first-innings total of 260 was “below par”, they credited the spectacular collapse to English nerves rather than Australia’s bowling arsenal.

“Australia didn’t bowl like a bunch of world-beaters - they bowled like men uninspired,” The Times wrote.

“They looked like second-raters. England were unable to take advantage of a genuine opportunity because they didn’t believe they were good enough to do so,” it adds.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said: “Australia’s attack looked pretty ordinary most of the time and, in a sense, Siddle has glossed over some of their issues.”

He wrote in The Daily Mail: “For large chunks of the day they looked exactly what they are: the team ranked fifth in the world. And that’s why England will be all the more infuriated to have been bowled out for 260.”

The Guardian also weren’t too impressed by the Australian bowling.

“Taken as a whole, the Australian attack was disappointing,” it said.

“The Australian enforcer Mitchell Johnson bordered on mediocre … short of pace on a slow surface with only tennis-ball bounce.

This is not an attack of which to be frightened,” it said

The Guardian did at least acknowledge Siddle’s heart.

The Independent could at least see the funny side of Siddle crediting former Victorian quick and now English bowling coach David Saker as a mentor.

“The man to blame for England’s collapse? Er, their bowling coach” a headline read.

The English press could agree on one highlight - Bell’s classy knock of 76.

Once dismissed as “The Sherminator” by Shane Warne, named after the nerdy character from the American Pie teen movie, Bell appears to have come of age at the crease.

The Guardian praised his “studied elegance and sound judgment”.

The Daily Telegraph said Bell was “gloriously defiant amidst the carnage”.

Former English opener and now The Daily Telegraph columnist Geoffrey Boycott was more blunt.

“Fortunately for us, Ian Bell has looked a quality batsman, otherwise England would be in a right mess,” he wrote. (ANI)