Michael Clarke’s Australians are looking to an unbeaten 25-year run at the Brisbane ground to give them the momentum to retrieve the Ashes urn and deny England a fourth straight series, something that has not been done since 1890.
England last won at the Gabba in 1986 and a victory first-up at Australia’s Brisbane fortress following their 3-0 series win at home three months ago will undoubtedly be a psychological blow to Australia’s series chances.
‘There’s no reason to feel intimidated. A lot of players in the squad we have this year were here in 2010-11 so we’ve all got experience of winning in Australia and we’re trying to use that to the best of our ability,’ Cook said.
‘We know how important this game was last time for setting up the series. ‘Australia have a very good record in Brisbane, it’s our job to try and change that.’
Cook said his England team had been confronted with challenges in the past and delivered on them. ‘We spoke about something like this at Lord’s in 2009 when we hadn’t beaten Australia for something like 70-odd years... and we made a real conscious effort to change that,’ he said.
Comparisons pointless, Aus is ready: Clarke
BRISBANE: Michael Clarke is giving nothing away on the eve of the Ashes. Not his starting XI, not comparisons between this and the previous series, not praise nor predictions, not even observations on England. ‘We’ve played a lot more cricket now as a group. The five tests in England helped us as a group,’ Clarke told a news conference at the Gabba, less than 24 hours before the five-test series was due to start. ‘It would be silly to compare where we were then compared with where we are now. Different series, different conditions.’ For all the pre-match words he said its all hype.
England last won at the Gabba in 1986 and a victory first-up at Australia’s Brisbane fortress following their 3-0 series win at home three months ago will undoubtedly be a psychological blow to Australia’s series chances.
‘There’s no reason to feel intimidated. A lot of players in the squad we have this year were here in 2010-11 so we’ve all got experience of winning in Australia and we’re trying to use that to the best of our ability,’ Cook said.
‘We know how important this game was last time for setting up the series. ‘Australia have a very good record in Brisbane, it’s our job to try and change that.’
Cook said his England team had been confronted with challenges in the past and delivered on them. ‘We spoke about something like this at Lord’s in 2009 when we hadn’t beaten Australia for something like 70-odd years... and we made a real conscious effort to change that,’ he said.
Comparisons pointless, Aus is ready: Clarke
BRISBANE: Michael Clarke is giving nothing away on the eve of the Ashes. Not his starting XI, not comparisons between this and the previous series, not praise nor predictions, not even observations on England. ‘We’ve played a lot more cricket now as a group. The five tests in England helped us as a group,’ Clarke told a news conference at the Gabba, less than 24 hours before the five-test series was due to start. ‘It would be silly to compare where we were then compared with where we are now. Different series, different conditions.’ For all the pre-match words he said its all hype.