England will have to make some tough decisions on the make-up of their bowling attack for the second Ashes Test at Lord's after Australia pulled off a tense two-wicket win in the series opener in Birmingham.
Captain Pat Cummins delivered with ball and bat to pull off one of the greatest wins in Ashes history. In the second innings, Cummins held fort until the end, scoring an unbeaten 44 to help chase down 281. He finished the game with 82 runs and four wickets.
As good as Cummins, and Usman Khawaja (141 and 65 in the match), were for the Aussies, Ben Stokes and England will be wondering how the match got away from them.
The hosts made a bold declaration on the opening day on 393-8 and even earned a first innings lead. In the final innings, they had Australia at 227-8 and all recognised batsmen dismissed.
The lack of serious firepower in their attack, on a relatively flat surface, came back to haunt them as Cummins and tail-ender Nathan Lyon saw the Aussies over the finish line.
At Edgbaston, veteran seamer James Anderson could only manage one wicket the entire match. Stuart Broad posed problems throughout the game, but he did not receive the kind of pressure required from the other end.
Returning off-spinner Moeen Ali damaged the skin on his bowling finger, hampering his effectiveness in the second innings, while Stokes kept running in on sheer willpower while managing his dodgy knee.
In case England persist with relatively flat wickets for the Ashes, they will need some more teeth in their bowling attack.
Fast bowler Mark Wood looks almost certain to play the second game, as he is the only one in the squad who can bowl at 150 kph. However, who does he come in for will be the million dollar question.
Former England batsman and batting coach Mark Ramprakash believes the home team need Wood in their attack.
“By and large, England will be happy they played the brand of cricket they wanted to,” Ramprakash told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“The only thing is, they have asked for quite flat wickets which are batter-friendly which can, to a degree, negate England's greatest bowler in Jimmy Anderson, who only took one wicket in the game.
“His form will perhaps be a bit of a concern going forward to Lord's and they will have to make a call on selection.
“It was a big thing for Moeen Ali to come back in but, with the amount of overs he bowled, he ripped the skin off his spinning finger and that impaired his performance in the second innings and that is something they will have to look at very closely.
“I expect Mark Wood to be seriously considered because England need some pace in their line-up.
“It is just injecting a bit of life. If Moeen is struggling, what variety do England have in their attack if the wicket is flat? I do expect Wood to come back in.”
The second Test begins next Wednesday.
