Cricket - Adelaide Pitch offers exciting Ashes Test

The Adelaide Oval pitch is expected to offer Australia and England bowlers plenty to work with when the two sides meet in the second Ashes Test. 

The Adelaide wicket has traditionally been batsman-friendly, with more than 1,000 runs scored on the drop-in wicket during the Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and Western Australia.

However, Adelaide curator, Damian Hough, and his ground staff at the Oval are attempting to give the bowlers something to work with by leaving grass on top of the wicket in the run-up to the match. 

That should result in more bounce for the pace bowlers, particularly at the start of the Test, making the next game in the series even more intriguing. 

"We are planning to have something early. From our end, we are trying to get as much pace and bounce as we can. We will look at leaving a little grass on it just to assist with making it a competitive wicket," revealed Hough.

England’s last visit to Adelaide resulted in a sensational innings-and-71-run victory against the Aussies in 2010, with Kevin Pietersen smashing 227 and Alastair Cook weighing in with 148 as the tourists scored 620-5. 

But after the comprehensive way in which Australia took apart England in the first Test of this Ashes series in Brisbane, there won’t be that many Ashes betting fans expecting a repeat result in Adelaide this time around. 

Despite the defeat at the Gabba in the first Test, England will know that all the negativity that has surrounded them in the days after that loss will be soon forgotten if they can come away from Adelaide with the series levelled at 1-1. 

From there, the tourists would have to be right back up there as favourites in the cricket betting to make it a fourth Ashes series win in succession.

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