'England should be targeting Gilchrist': Woolmer

Adam Gilchrist: most destructive batsman in the world © Getty Images

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has asked England to target Adam Gilchrist and prevent him from taking the game away with his aggressive batting in the upcoming Ashes series. "Someone must bowl as if Gilchrist is their bunny," Woolmer told The Herald Sun. "England should be targeting Gilchrist. He scores quickly and almost inevitably turns the game around."

Woolmer, who was the coach when Pakistan toured Australia early his year, saw his team thrashed 3-0 largely due to the efforts of Gilchrist, who averaged 76.66 and rescued his team on several occasions.

"They are so dangerous because they have a top seven who are all capable of taking the game away from you, but Gilchrist is the most destructive batsman in the world and will be the key," Woolmer insisted. "We had Australia in trouble a few times when he came in and changed the game. My feeling is there are two ways to trouble him: take the pace off the ball and try and swing it and make him come at you, maybe through Mathew Hoggard. The other way is with genuine pace.

"Tell Steve Harmison to bounce him early and get stuck into him and try to rush him in his strokes. I don't think teams bowl enough short stuff at him and it's something England should be looking to do. They have to find a way of unsettling him. Harmison's pace and bounce could make it more difficult for him to hook and pull. And once you can knock him over, you can get through the tail."

Woolmer, who represented England in Ashes series back in the 1970s, also offered some advice to Michael Vaughan. "Australia are like the West Indies of the Eighties: they try to bully you and you have to stand up to it. Teams become overawed by them. Michael Vaughan's team have to make them feel unwelcome in England instead of being all pally, pally," he continued. "The captains who have succeeded over the years have usually been aggressive: Jardine, Illingworth, Gatting, they were all hard men."

Woolmer also noticed that Shane Warne wasn't quite the same dominating force he was once. "I say this in all humility, but I don't think he's the bowler he used to be," Woolmer said. "He's still a very fine bowler, but he bowls you more bad balls than he has in the past. Watching him against us, he didn't seem to have that fizz. Our blokes played him pretty well."

Pointing out certain weaknesses in Australia's batting, Woolmer said, "There are ways to trouble them if the bowlers have the skill to put the ball in the right areas: Ricky Ponting can be vulnerable to the ball coming back into him; Damien Martyn plays away from his body early on; Matthew Hayden goes for his shots a lot early and gives you a chance.

"Justin Langer is a stickler who will play on the bowlers' patience and, while Michael Clarke is one of the most exciting cricketers the world has seen for some time, I'm not sure he enjoys genuine pace and bounce. Flintoff hits the deck hard and could give him problems as well as Harmison."