England prepare Plan B - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

England prepare Plan B

England are set to "go back to the drawing board" in an attempt to halt Australia's impressive response to their Lord's defeat and bowl themselves back into the third npower Ashes Test.

Despite rain restricting play on the opening day at Edgbaston to just 30 overs, England struggled to contain Australia and allowed them to race to 126 for one with makeshift opener Shane Watson - brought in as a replacement for Phillip Hughes - hitting an unbeaten 62.

Graeme Swann, who claimed the only wicket, admitted England will need to review their performance before play resumes later this morning, claiming: "It's just disappointing for us we weren't able to match our performance at Lord's in this first innings."

"At the start of any game, the team that are licking their wounds are going to come out fighting," Swann added.

"You obviously hope they don't, but we expected it from Australia.

"It was probably expected that we wouldn't bounce back quite as strongly as we bowled at Lord's, but we will be looking to emulate our performances in the second innings there."

England particularly struggled to restrict Watson, who hit 10 boundaries in his first Test appearance as an opener, after Hughes was dropped for his failure to cope with a sustained tactic of short-pitched bowling.

"He was obviously under pressure coming in and it's not an easy thing to do opening the batting and I thought he played exceptionally well," conceded Swann.

"We knew a bit less about him because we haven't seen as much. We had some good plans to Hughes that appeared to be working well and coming into this game we were expecting that to continue and probably hoping he would be in there.

"Now they've got a new guy in, we've obviously got to go back to the drawing board but after we've seen him play we've got a much better idea of how he's going to bat and hopefully we can come up with something more useful."

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