Ashes 2013
This is how the series ends: not with a
bang, but with a whimper
August 25th
[10:00 CEST]
Barring something totally outrageous, the 5th Test and the series
will ended with a draw tonight. There is still a chance that something could
happen if there were to be a full day of play because the follow-on is not yet
saved and, were Australia to be able to enforce it, they would fancy their
chances of pushing England very close. However, were Australia to take 6
wickets for 46, it would be one of the biggest and most unexpected collapses of
all time. It is more likely that England will bat on, reduce the deficit to 100
or so and then watch Australia make a token reply.
However, the
chances of any play today depend on the weather and the news is not good on
that score. The first session of play will almost certainly be lost and, after
more heavy rain overnight, another shower this morning might well be terminal.
The scene at The Oval this morning is of huge areas of covers fully on and a
major mop-up operation in progress.
There is a
flat feeling. England have won by being methodical and efficient, not by
playing great cricket and people now expect great cricket from England,
conveniently forgetting that, last year, before the India series, England were
in their worst slump in many years and that any victory looked unlikely. In November
2012 Australia were beginning to look supreme again, with strong batting and
limitless bowling reserves and England looked a rudderless rabble. Australian
fans were anticipating a rout and the rapid return of the Ashes. It did not
happen and the way in which the series is being spun as a huge moral victory
for Australia is a sign of their disappointment: they cannot understand how
Australia lost and reason that a fairer reflection of the balance of play would
have been 3-0 or 3-1 to Australia.
There is
still plenty to play for today. Bell and Woakes can put down major markers. For
Woakes in particular, the value of a big innings cannot be underestimated. He
will be up against a deflated attack in a dead session and will never have a
better chance of making the sort of score that will guarantee his place on the
tour of Australia. Bell knows that another century will put him down in history
as having had one of the greatest ever series by a batsman. Matt Prior, in
contrast, just needs some runs. He has had an awful series and has yet to get
close to a fifty, with his top scores being 30 and 31: for him too, an
attacking 50 in a dead session would be manna from heaven.
[12:00 CEST]
11:30BST start today. Geoff Boycott slamming England’s defensive tactics and
suggesting that England will bat on, try to get someone up to a century and
then go flat out at the Australians after Tea and try to knock over a few
wickets.
Jon Agnew,
in contrast, is looking at the England management huddle and just wondering if
England might declare after saving the follow on and challenge Australia to
make something of the day with the result of the series safe.
However, 3-0
will (just) make England #2 on the ICC Test rankings. 3-1 will keep England in
3rd place. It will not mean anything for the return series if
Australia manage a consolation win, but that 3-1 result will stay in the record
books and will not look as good.
I am with
Boycs on this one. A declaration of intent can be to make a score and then have
a real go at the opposition when they are relaxed and thinking of other things
at the end of the match, with no result possible. . I
keep remembering how, at Old Trafford in 1953 (3rd Test), the game
was rain-ruined and England were all out for 276 in reply to Australia’s 318
only after Tea on the last day. However, in an hour of manic
play, Australia fell to 35-8 and, for many people, that was the turning point
of the series that set up the win at The Oval that re-gained the Ashes after 20
years.
[12:45 CEST]
Australian feedbackers on CricInfo still saying that the series should have
ended 3-0 to Australia. Meanwhile, the TMS team have received this comment on
the series from a listener: https://twitter.com/Aggerscricket/status/371583589365714944/photo/1
Spectacular!!
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