England v Australia: pace-bowling sensation Pat Cummins can be our wild card, says Shane Watson Broad, sister of Stuart, was at Chelmsford on Tuesday night where Cummins bowled quickly and aggressively against Essex as the tourists crushed county opposition in the same way that Australian sides of the old used to do for fun. Cummins could still be playing for Australia Under-19s but looks physically more developed than most bowlers of his age. That is a product of an intensive period working with Australia's strength and conditioning coaches, a process aimed at preventing injuries such as the stress fracture in his foot which struck him down after his Test debut at the end of last year. Cummins did not take the new ball against Essex, a ploy to perhaps save him from being too expensive in the Powerplay overs, a tactic which may be useful against England's technically correct top three. With a different ball used at each end it means when he does come on to bowl even as first change, the ball is still hard and shiny. "There is no doubt he will be a surprise for the England boys," said Shane Watson, the Australia vice-captain who has a decent vantage point to gauge his pace when he stands at slip. Pat is obviously a very highly skilled young man - we saw that in Chelmsford. The pace and control he bowls with makes him a handful for the English as they have not seen him much. He will definitely be a wild card for us. Australia respect Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott after their Ashes hiding last winter but the absence of Kevin Pietersen has led to a belief their could be a soft underbelly to England's batting line-up. "One of England's strengths over a period of time has been there with their batting is being able to score heavily in the top three so we know if we make early inroads it might expose a part of the team that hasn't been exposed recently," said Watson. Lord's is sold out on Friday for what will be the last high-profile day of cricket at the ground before the MCC hands over the keys to the ground to the London Olympic committee. Locog are due to start stripping the ground of its cricket markings and prepare it for the Olympic archery event at 7am on Monday morning.