The Ashes 2015 between England and Australia is squared at the moment, with each side winning one match each.
The two equally-poised teams will face-off in the third Test of the series at Birmingham starting from Wednesday. But even before the start of the match, the war of words has started, with Australian speedster Mitchell Starc taunting the England side on Monday.
England lost the second Test match at the Lord's by a huge margin of over 400 runs. England head coach Trevor Bayliss and skipper Alastiar Cook have now demanded lively wickets for the remaining three games. The Cardiff pitch had a grass topping which was cut, and Birmingham is expected to have a similar wicket.
"We'll be licking our lips. Don't worry. They're not really sure what they want to do now. Some of their team want batting-friendly wickets and that hasn't helped them at Lord's. They want to get their bowlers back in the game, but we've got the pace as well. So I think as Michael said, maybe last week, it doesn't matter what they dish up. We've got all bases covered, we've just got to adjust to the conditions the quickest," Starc said in an interview to Espn Cricinfo on Monday.
England have made changes in the playing XI for the third match. They have left out Gary Ballance because of his poor run of form with the bat and brought in Jonny Bairstow, who apparently is in the form of his life. To this, Starc taunted that this shows that the Aussies are right on top in this series and have compelled England to make changes to their squad.
"They're searching for some form after Lord's and have made a change with Gary Ballance out. They've brought in Jonny, who has scored a lot of runs in county cricket this year so far. Whenever you make the opposition make changes, it shows you're on top. It's about staying there and really pushing that home this week," said Starc.
