What's the point?

Ashes 2013

 

What’s the point?

 

July 2^nd

 

 

Many fans are up in arms about the current match against Essex: Even the normally sensible George Dobell is talking about England being outplayed over the two days. One suggestion is that if England had declared overnight on the first day then Graeme Swann would not have been injured. Another is that the match has already turned into a farce, with England relying on tail-enders to score runs and an occasional spinner to take wickets, so it is useless as preparation.

Although the rather casual way that England’s top seven all threw away starts was disappointing, the big partnership between Bresnan and Swann was most certainly not time wasted. Ashley Giles was vilified for many thing when playing, but one of his greatest contributions was the way that he regularly made 30, 40, 50 runs at #8. This has a huge value to a side. Often he would turn a mediocre 320-7 into a healthy 400-8, frustrating the bowlers. There is nothing worse when you are in the field than working your way through the opposition batting, only to see the #8 or #9 make a fifty and undo all the hard work of the bowlers. If one of the top order is still in, the #8 can help him to build up the total, closing up the other end; if it is the tail, a 50 helps lead the resistance. Swann and Bresnan have not had a long innings for some time, although both are not-inconsiderable batsmen with four First Class centuries each: having both batting with some confidence sends a warning that England will bat deep.

Similarly, although the injury to Graeme Swann was alarming, it seems that the damage is not serious and Swann was able to bowl and take the final wicket – Tymal Mills looks like one to watch, although his England U19 and First Class returns have been modest – it has been invaluable in one sense. England have had to bowl one short on a decent surface for batting and dig deep. Steve Finn and Tim Bresnan have needed a long bowl to get rhythm and one hopes that they will have another, preferably today, to get overs into their legs and into a frame of mind where they winkle out wickets patiently in unfavourable conditions. It has also provided a major opportunity. In recent years England have lacked a realistic fifth bowler, one who could fulfil the role of Graham Gooch in the past of bowling 10-15 overs in an innings, taking the occasional wicket, spelling the front-line bowlers when things were not going well and acting as a partnership-breaker. In recent times Trott, Bell and KP have been used in this role, but are not really good enough to act is a fifth bowler in Tests, rarely threatening to take wickets, or even hold up an end for long. If Joe Root can show that he is capable of acting in a support role reliably, it adds additional options. Michael Clarke has shown, at least until his back gave out so badly, just how valuable it can be to have a front-line batsman who can be a wicket-taking option when necessary.

All around the pace is picking up. Australia are in action today in their final Ashes warm-up against Worcestershire who, in the time-honoured tradition of such things, have picked a rookie new ball attack with 15 and 4 First Class matches respectively, as if the idea were to bat Australia into form and confidence ahead of the Tests. Similarly, the batting features a few unfamiliar faces, Nick Compton apart, and may just have the Australian bowlers circling like sharks around a juicy steak. What the Australians make of this practice of fielding weakened sides against them I do not know. It seems to be a regular practice in all countries now, but as much as deny tourists proper practice, it can only increase their confidence to have runs, wickets and easy victories under their belts before the Tests start. Whatever has happened to the spirit of 2009 when Australian wunderkind Phil Hughes was subjected to such a brutal bombardment by Steve Harmison in a pre-Ashes match v The Lions that his confidence never recovered and, two matches later, he was dropped from the Test side?

Seeing the success of the young Essex leg spinner, Tom Craddock – 16 First Class matches and 37 wickets – against England, the news that Fawad Ahmed has had his application for nationality approved and is now available for the 1^st Test has led to calls from some Australian fans to get him straight into the Australian side.  I am not sure that Nathan Lyon, whose results are nowhere near as poor as made out, will be entirely impressed by these calls. And, with Usman Khawaja getting close to a re-call, Ahmed’s selection would be a gift to English fans tired of taunts that their side is a team of non-English mercenaries, as was the news that the Australian Immigration Minister was sacked (albeit in the post-coup government re-shuffle) immediately after taking the decision. With very limited First Class experience and a return of 2-165 in the two Australia A matches against Ireland and Gloucestershire, the biggest single reason for picking him is the perceived English fallibility against leg spin bowling, although his 16 wickets at 28.4 in his only three Sheffield Shield matches for Victoria have certainly excited some interest.

With some lusty hitting from the last pair just saving the follow-on and England’s second innings being no more than an extended net to build on a huge lead for an anticipated declaration, it seems unlikely that Essex are going to waste too much effort from their strike bowlers. Tymal Mills is reportedly injured after his batting efforts and has bowled just three overs before going off and out of the rest of the game so, one suspects that things could get rather farcical by the end of the afternoon. The early entry of the occasional spin of Tom Westley has done nothing to suggest that this will be a particularly searching examination of the batsmen, although Joe Root has again flattered to deceive, adding 26 to his first innings 41. You feel that one fifty would have sealed his case, what though do the selectors do if Nick Compton makes another good score now against the Australians?

[Later] The England match against Essex has degenerated into a farce, as predicted. With new ball pair of Tymal Mills and David Masters both injured, increasingly heavy rain falling and Essex bowling occasional bowlers, Reece Topley – a strong prospect for a winter tour anyway – has come on, along with Boyd Rankin to reinforce the Essex attack. As a result, the match is no longer First Class, which means no 5-for for Craddock and no century for Bresnan, as their efforts will be struck out of the records. With the crowd restless and expressing its displeasure with the turn of events, the umpires finally decided that enough was enough and took the players off after Topley had delivered exactly three balls. In some parts of the world Reece Topley could get seriously rich by provoking rain as soon as he appears on the scene; England though is not one of them. All it needs now is for the England Twelfth Man, Boyd Rankin, to take six wickets bowling against his own team-mates. The crowd has voted with its feet: a large number went home as soon as the match degenerated, long before Tea.

In the end, rain has seriously curtailed the afternoon. Cook and Trott retired at Tea and only eight more overs were possible. Despite England changing their batting order to let Ian Bell and Jonny Bairstow bat ahead of Kevin Pietersen, it was a pretty futile exercise because the little play that was possible after Tea was in dreadful light with, inevitably, a level of intensity to match the light.

At New Road, the campaign to build Australian confidence has worked brilliantly. 340-4 in just under 82 overs. The lowest score for a batsman who was dismissed was 58 and two of the wickets fell to runouts. Shane Watson scored a run-a-ball century and the modest Worcestershire attack was made to suffer big time. It was impressive and it was brutal.