Michaels On The Money / Michael Vaughan / 01 December 2010 /

Michael Vaughan discusses the different mindsets of the two skippers ahead of the Second Test and tells us why the brilliance of James Anderson currently gives England the edge.

England have got off to a good start. Two centurions, a double-centurion and a five-fer for young Steve Finn are all huge positives ahead of the second Test. And there was further encouragement from the bowling ranks where James Anderson was arguably the most promising of all, despite not getting his reward with the wickets his bowling deserved.

Better still, this column is in form. We had Ian Bell to top score in the first innings at [7.0] and Andrew Strauss to score a second innings 50 at [2.5]; only England let us down by not winning the Test after we tipped them up at the end of day two.

Strauss had a terrific game. Cricket pundits were divided at the time as to whether batting first was the right choice, but in hindsight there were good reasons to have done either. He got off to the worst possible start with a first innings duck but the way he came back in the second innings was exemplary, your real captain's knock: aggressive and purposeful yet controlled. It was those early runs scored at a good rate that put Australia under pressure and set the foundation for Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott to fill their boots. In the field he led the team well, rotated his bowlers sensibly and set decent fields.

Ricky Ponting found things a lot tougher. Aside from Peter Siddle's heroics on day one, his bowlers simply didn't perform for him and without the raw materials, a captain is helpless. All the talk over here is of changes to the bowling line-up and I can't say I disagree with that. Mitchell Johnson was disappointing in all three disciplines - batting and fielding but most importantly bowling - and could easily lose his place to Doug Bollinger whilst Ryan Harris may also get the nod. They're not going to drop Siddle, so it may be Ben Hilfenhaus who misses out. It wasn't just that the two players at risk of losing their places were ineffective; they also had to bowl plenty of overs in the searing heat so the resulting fatigue may be a consideration as well, even at this early stage in the Series.

On the plus side for Australia, Ponting batted beautifully in the second innings so it may be that his big contribution to Australia's cause comes in the form of runs rather than inspirational leadership.

No such problems for England. No-one's place is under pressure at the moment because no-one had a bad game. Ok, Graeme Swann didn't bowl nearly as well as we know he can and England will need him to start finding some form if they're going to take 20 Aussie wickets in a match. But it's early days yet and it's sometimes the spinners rather than the 'quicks' who take a little longer to adapt to the pitches. Anderson has certainly read the conditions superbly and bowled a couple of magic spells. If he gets a little more luck over the next few weeks he could end up being the star bowler of the Series on either side.

Swann and Finn are shorter than him in the betting for England Series top wicket-taker honours so my advice would be to back Anderson at [5.1] now - I doubt that price will still be on offer after the second Test gets under way.

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