Hopes happy to be Australia’s ‘Mr Fix It’

Julian Guyer

James Hopes said he was happy to be Australia’s “Mr Fix It” while admitting the 50-over world champions had lessons to learn from England’s Paul Collingwood and the South Africa national side.

Australia, beaten 2-1 in the Ashes Test series, returned to winning ways with a four-run success in the first of seven one-day internationals (ODIs) against England at the Oval on Friday.

Hopes, who has yet to make his Test debut, said victory was an especially important morale-booster for those members of the squad who had been involved throughout the lengthy tour of England.

“It was very important,” Hopes told reporters at Lord’s on Saturday, where the second match of the series takes place on Sunday. “It stops the spiral.

“If we’d started off with a loss it could have been ‘here we go again’. “But we’ve kick-started the one-day series again and now tomorrow (Sunday) becomes very important. It’s a short turnaround between games, the first hour and a half will be very important.”

Hopes added: “We went to Dubai a while ago and we won in trying conditions and the team prides itself on being able to win in tough conditions. The tough part here is that half the team has been here for four months.

“But we are committed to getting over the line in this series and begin full of confidence for South Africa (where the one-day ICC Champions Trophy starts this month).”

The 30-year-old Queensland all-rounder, a medium-pacer and middle-order batsman, has become a mainstay of Australia’s ODI side in recent years.

But, having been initially frustrated at being shunted up and down the order, the 57-times capped Hopes is now adjusting to a ‘floating’ role.

“I’m feeling a bit more comfortable in my role, which is sometimes a bit hard to figure out.

“Sometimes I open, I’ve batted three and I’ve batted as low as nine and I’ve bowled in the first 10 overs or not until the 35th.

“I’m getting more comfortable with that Mr Fix It role we need. If I can keep doing that for another two years, until the 2011 World Cup, I’ll be happy,” Hopes added.

Australia, who have several genuine quicks in their one-day squad, saw England all-rounder Collingwood, a gentle medium-pacer, put a brake on their run-rate at the Oval on Friday.

“The wickets are dry and they grip a bit more,” Hopes explained. “We only have the one specialist spinner in our side (Nathan Hauritz) and England have two (Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid).

“We need myself, Nathan Bracken and even Shane Watson to fill that role of Collingwood. We all have a little more pace than him, but we have to try and do that role because it’s so effective.”

Turning to the team as a whole, Hopes said this year’s 4-1 one-day series defeat by South Africa in Australia and the 3-2 loss in the return campaign had been salutary experiences and that the Proteas would be the team to beat on home soil during the Champions Trophy.

“We saw South Africa as being the benchmark and they did us over pretty good in two series. We were a bit off the pace, then we went to Dubai to play Pakistan and we fought out some really tough wins against a very good team.

“I think that was our turning point and we have carried that on over here.

LONDON, Sunday, AFP