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England's tactics reaches Aussie dressing room!
Media at the MCG is leaked a sheet of paper which outlines England's bowling tactics for each Australian batsman.
The England cricket team was left facing an embarrassing leak of its tactics on what has been a disastrous Ashes tour so far for the visitors.
Media at the Melbourne Cricket Ground were leaked a sheet of paper which outlined the England team's bowling tactics for each Australian batsman, a local radio reported on Wednesday.
The notes on Australian captain Ricky Ponting stated that he plays the pull shot in the air in front of square leg and he was caught in that area off the bowling of captain Andrew Flintoff for seven on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test here.
The Hayden notes included "dot ball (ego)" - clearly an instruction to frustrate him by cutting back on his scoring shots. Interestingly, the burly opener went out to hit 153.
English team management confirmed the document was genuine, but said it was unclear whether it came from the dressing room or another part of the ground.
Cricket Australia said it was helping the England and Wales Cricket Board with its investigation.
"We don't know at this stage whether the document was taken from the dressing room or from another part of the ground," team spokesman Andrew Walpole said.
It was unclear whether the original document, a photo of it or a photocopy was made public.
Walpole explained that seven copies of the plan were laminated and pinned up in the dressing room before each Test.
CA spokesman Philip Pope confirmed it would help with the investigation.
"We're obviously talking to all stakeholders concerned and we'll provide the ECB with any assistance they wish us to provide," he said.
Symonds' entry featured, in bold type, "bouncer essential" and he received plenty of short-pitched deliveries, but he never took the bait.
In the last few years, several Australian team documents have found their way into the media - leading to speculation that at least some of the leaks were intentional.
