Cooley calls for variety

Troy Cooley's input was key to England's Ashes glory last year © Getty Images

Former England bowling coach Troy Cooley believes variation will be the central to deciding this year’s Ashes.

Cooley, recently appointed bowling coach for the Australia side after his contract with England expired, urged his new charges to keep England’s batsmen guessing.

“I think reverse swing is just one of the deliveries that fast bowlers should be able to produce in the middle,” Cooley said. “It goes with leg-cutters,
off-cutters - the whole works.

“To become an all-round fast bowler I think you need to have those deliveries, and if the conditions in the game suit, they’ll be able to exploit that variation.”

Cooley began his time in England working at the newly-formed ECB Academy alongside Rodney Marsh, who lured him into the position after they worked together at its Australian counterpart.

The 40-year-old then began working with England’s senior side and was one of those credited with the Ashes success, including their tactic of reverse swing.

Now Cooley has returned to his homeland and said he would draw on all his experience to help his native country win back the prized urn.

“Being able to work within the national team, with England, all that experience is going to add up and hopefully hold me in good stead to pass on that information to the players that I’m going to be working with,” he said.

“I’m hoping that all the experiences I’ve gained working with fast bowlers over the last eight to 10 years are going to help.”

Although England have recently been hampered by injury, Cooley is expecting them to ask Australia plenty of questions when the series begins in November in Brisbane.

“If their pace attack is anywhere near its full fitness, they’ll be formidable, as they showed during the last Ashes series.

“They’ve got some good back-up bowlers that are coming through at the moment.

“It’ll be another epic battle and that’s what people will enjoy watching.”