Ashes 2013

 

Here we go again!

 

August 10^th

  

[09:30 CEST] England won the toss and batted and at 107-1 and, again, at 149-2, must have felt that it was their day. A total of 450-500 looked to be well in their sights. Every batsman but Bell and Broad got into double figures, but only Cook and Trott passed 26. Trott managed 49 and Cook 51 when 149 and 151 seemed indicated. And, worst of all, most of the damage was done by a spinner who did not turn a single delivery all day, but simply bowled to a plan and let batsmen get themselves out. It was all pretty depressing despite the late counter-attack when Swann, Bresnan and Anderson started to whack the ball and added a few, precious runs. The 41 added for the last two wickets may yet be crucial. Even so, reaching 250 looks unlikely and that is the absolute minimum that England will want to defend, even knowing that Australia will have probably the worst of the weather when they bat.

Where have we seen this before? Oh yes! The 1^st Test. Then, it looked as if England’s score on a blameless wicket was pitifully inadequate, yet England won the Test comfortably, with only a last wicket partnership letting Australia get close. Then too, after Day 1, the prophets of doom were out in force and England looked unexpectedly off the pace.

It may well be that, this time, England’s performance is simply indefensibly and unrecoverably bad and that the momentum in the series has truly swung to Australia. This would be an unsatisfactory result as it would convince many fans that England did not deserve to be two games up and that they would be unworthy winners of the series.

However, it is also true that Australia have struggled to find the  right combination and, in this Test, there is a further change. Rather than rest Ryan Harris, who many were expecting to be rested to leave him fresh for a possible series-leveller in the 5^th Test, it is Mitchell Starc who has, again and with most people probably not quite understanding why, been replaced: this time by Jackson Bird. Similarly, the mystery of where Watson and Warner will bat has not yet been unveiled. How Australia have managed to make such an improved showing with such instability in their team and their tactics is the biggest mystery of the series.

Bottom line: let us wait and see Australia bat before jumping to conclusions about the state of this match. We have been wrong before in this series when we have tried to reach an instant verdict after Day 1 of a Test.