LONDON, July 31: Steve Waugh has told England’s opening batsmen they must find a more effective way of combating leg-spinner Shane Warne if the team are to have a chance of winning the second Ashes Test at Edgbaston starting on Thursday.

England, who have lost the last eight Ashes series, went down to a 239-run first Test defeat at Lord’s, a match where Warne struck four times in the second innings to extend his world record of Test wickets to 589.

It was also a game where Warne’s fellow 35-year-old Glenn McGrath, Australia’s spearhead, joined him as one of only four bowlers to have taken 500 Test wickets.

Former Australia captain Waugh, writing in Britain’s Sunday Times broadsheet, said he was “shocked to see the complete lack of a game plan from both Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, who couldn’t detect Shane’s variations and in the process of looking dumbfounded sent a wave of danger signals to their team-mates watching on the balcony.”

He added: “They need to get the video tapes out and conjure up a plan that at least throws some pressure back on Warne or else they are as good as cooked for the remaining Tests.

“The Great One doesn’t allow batsmen a reprieve if they are apprehensive. The same can also be said of McGrath, who was outstanding. Like the great West Indian quick bowlers of the 1980s, once he gains the upper hand he’ll strive to drive home the advantage next time around.”

Waugh, who played 168 Tests and captain in 57 including the last two Ashes series where Australia twice enjoyed 4-1 wins, said he’d been disappointed by the manner of England’s performance at Lord’s after the hosts entered the match with high hopes having risen to second in the world Test rankings.

“It was a bit like discovering Santa Claus wasn’t real. A little piece of me felt cheated because I’d put him on a pedestal only to be shocked by the smoke and mirrors of it all.”

However, Waugh, who scored 10,927 Test runs at 51.06 with 32 hundreds, advised England not to panic.

Writing before the England selectors named an unchanged squad on Sunday, he said: “I only have to look back to my own career where I took 42 innings to make a century and 13 Tests to taste a victory to realise that success is a direct consequence of patience and faith.

“If England truly believe these guys have the temperament and technique to make it, then they must be prepared to take the good with the bad.

“The case of (left-arm spinner) Ashley Giles is one that is certain to attract comment as there is an argument for including an extra batsman, such as Robert Key or Paul Collingwood, at his expense and relying on the four quicks with (Michael) Vaughan’s part-time off-spin as the back up.”—AFP