Australia Gamble On Lulling England Into A False Sense Of Security

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Trick or treat?

 

November 6^th 2013

 

 
Today marked the start of the serious preparation for the 1^st Test in Brisbane, with a game against Australia A in Tasmania. England produced what was, at least to some, a major surprise by picking Michael Carberry, one of the big success stories of the Perth game, to open with Alistair Cook and dropping Joe Root to 5. On the fan fora the hint in the days before the game that maybe Joe Root might not be certain to open at Brisbane was pooh-poohed by most England supporters; it was even suggested that it would be a sign of panic. The suggestion was that, if you try something and it does not work out, you should persist with it stubbornly because, if you do not, you are guilty of panicking.

However, there were many hints that this was not a move that Andy Flower has come up with on a whim and a prayer. It was commented in India that there was no reserve opener: Compton and Cook were going to open the batting and, if one of them was injured, Plan B would be to use Jonathon Trott as an emergency opener. In a way it was a massive vote of confidence in Nick Compton to tell him that he would open for the whole series. For the Ashes tour though, not only did England pick a reserve opener, but they picked an experienced county pro who has toured with England, stepped in and played a Test and has been an England Lions regular, rather than someone such as Moin Ali who is an exciting young talent, but who has far less experience of top-level, pressure cricket. The obvious implication was that they wanted a seasoned professional who could step in and open in Tests with no fuss and no worries, rather than a young tyro who could struggle to make his mark in the tension of an Ashes series.

Andy Flower recognised two problems: England did not get good starts against Australia in the summer and, moving Joe Root from 6 had opened a hole in the middle order that Jonny Bairstow was struggling to fill. Joe Root is still only 22. He could reasonably play for England for 12 more years. He will learn and grow. No one would suggest that Michael Carberry is a long-term opener for England, but he offers the option of playing a series, maybe two series, shielding Joe Root from the new ball, which is the one area where Australia offer a real threat with the ball and taking some of the pressure off him. In this scenario, Joe Root would come back, possibly next winter, a more experienced and mature player, ready to lead the England batting for a decade or more. England would get better starts from a solid and unflappable opener and Joe Root would add his grit to the middle order: if it works, tell Australia to give up now.

This is one of those cases where the theory seems sound, but is usually followed by the batsman in question falling for a duck – end of experiment. With Cook and Carberry groping around for the ball early on and scoring at a snail’s pace from snicks and edges, it looked like a potential disaster but, as the morning wore on and the shine wore off the ball, the confidence came, runs started to flow more freely and the bowling looked as toothless as it had looked threatening an hour earlier. In these circumstances, you felt that the old England would get to 80-1, 100-2, 180-3 and that the day would be satisfactory, but mildly disappointing. However, this is not the old England. As the afternoon wore on the bowling wilted and the fielding looked lacklustre. You felt that if these were really the next eleven best players in Australia then the talent pool must be desperately thin. England got through a 93 over day without losing a wicket, with both openers passing 150. It will take a stunning turnaround now to deny Michael Carberry the chance to open the batting with Alistair Cook in Brisbane.

The spin was not long in coming. England were being suckered into easy runs against a two-man attack on a pitch as flat as a pancake and would fall apart when they faced proper bowling on a Brisbane minefield. However, a judge as clear-thinking as Jon Agnew suggested that Australia A were far from being as weak as was being suggested. Similarly, during the first hour of play the pitch certainly had not looked flat and dead, but the openers battled through it.

The Australian tactic seems to be similar to the Indian tactics last winter: provide pitches that look nothing like the Test tracks will do and weak bowling that is as far removed as possible from the Test attack. At the same time, take an England batting line-up that looked shaky and uncertain, play them into form and confidence and sort out their biggest uncertainty in the batting order. It may work, but it may also backfire horribly. Playing on sporty tracks in the Tests will help the Australian attack but, man for man in the summer series, the England attack was superior, so difficult pitches may not benefit Australia as much as they hope.

There is one further reason why the Australian tactics in this match may backfire. England batted on a glorious sunny day, quite unlike the normal conditions at the Bellerive Oval at Hobart. The forecast for Days 2 and 3 though is poor and Day 2 has dawned damp, overcast and threatening as expected. These are just the conditions where Broad, Anderson and Tremlett might be expected to enjoy themselves when England either declare, or get bowled out.

The first interesting question of the day though will be: will Carberry and Cook come back out to bat, or will they both retire out to allow Trott and Pietersen to bat, albeit in much less favourable conditions than yesterday?