Reflections On The Second Test: it's not as bad as it looks

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Second Test Reflections

 

December 10^th 2013

 
 

In the end it was quick and it was painless. Matt Prior continued to bat well and managed his first fifty since Auckland, but that was about the extent of the good news. Stuart Broad can bat, but all those ideas of him moving up to #7 and playing as an all-rounder after his 169 v Pakistan in 2010 have been forgotten. The sight of him sending the ball down Fine Leg’s throat in the second over of the morning ended any thoughts that the end might be delayed. Realistically Broad and Prior had to bat past lunch for England to begin to hope. Stuart Broad has ability with the bat – he is a much better #8 than the greatly valued Ashley Giles was – but Geoff Boycott was fuming (again) at his dismissal because, even when the situation looks hopeless and you decide to attack, you should use your brains.

With Broad gone it was always going to be over quickly. Graeme Swan has four First Class centuries (Broad has just the one) and five Test fifties to his name, but rarely hangs around for long these days. Had he come in in the wake of a long partnership between Broad and Prior you could have seen him having some fun, as he did against South Africa at Lords in 2012, when Prior and Broad had put on 64 in a similarly hopeless situation and Swann then batted for 11 overs of mayhem with Prior, leaving South Africa on the verge of panic and getting England agonisingly close to an extraordinary win (a partnership of 74 in 11 overs ended by, of all things, a run out).

In this match, Carberry, Bell, Root, Pietersen and Prior have all got fifties, but Root’s 87 and Bell’s 72* were the highest scores. The killer for England is that no one was able to push on and convert a fifty into a big century. All of England’s top seven – barring Trott and Stokes – have a fifty in the series, but Joe Root’s 87 is still the highest individual score.  In contrast, there have been four Australians centuries and Brad Haddin can also beat Joe Root’s best effort.

One of the top four has to make a century. If they do, England will compete and will have a real chance of winning.

The second great problem at Adelaide was missed opportunities in the field. If England had held their chances, they would have won. Simple as that.

I have to admit that, at times during this series I have started to believe that a 5-0 defeat is almost inevitable. Cold reflection says that it is not. There is not so much between the two teams as has appeared. Last summer England won because (a) Ian Bell had a sublime series and (b) they played the critical sessions better. Right now we have the inverse situation. Australia’s Plan A is that Mitch Johnson continues to fire and that Michael Clarke gives him the runs to defend. It is not obvious that there is a Plan B because, if Mitch Johnson has a shocker at Perth, there is not a whole lot of depth in the bowling to support him, as we saw last summer when the biggest single factor in England’s success was the greater depth of England’s attack. The margin between the two sides is a lot smaller than it looks.

England can come back and win at Perth. To do it they need to build on the (mild) progress shown at Adelaide and pick another “horses for courses” side. That means probably an all-seam attack (Anderson, Broad, Bresnan and Finn or Rankin), with Pietersen and Root supplying any spin that is required although, in 2010, Swann bowled just 25 overs (2-103) and Australia did not bowl a single over of spin in the match. England also need to take their chances in the field. The fact that the slip fielding will suffer if Graeme Swann does not play has been held up as reason to pick him. No, if we want to win this series we should not pick a player for his fielding: not even Gary Pratt got into the side on his fielding!

If Steve Finn plays, he has to be bowled in short spells (3-4 overs) and let loose. No point pussyfooting around: “Steve, you are going to bowl fast and aggressive and if you go for a few runs, that doesn’t matter if you knock over a few wickets”.