Ashes 2017/18: 4th Test Day - Whinging Australians Struggle To Come To Terms With Not Winning

 

Ashes 2017/18: 4^th Test Day 4

Whinging Australians Struggle To Come To Terms With Not Winning

December 29^th 2017

I had enjoyed these last two days *so* much. Bat on. Farm strike. Aim for 180 lead?

Not a bit of it! Jimmy Anderson lasted just one ball. On a day of depressing squelches, it was but one more. Rain and Australian negativity combined to produce one of the most tedious days of the series and, as it became increasingly obvious that a 5-0 result was going out of the window, the Australian media decided to liven things up their own way, by accusing England of cheating. Simple reasoning: we cannot be losing by fair means, thus we are losing by foul. Jimmy Anderson smooths down a loose piece of leather on the shiny side to help the swing and all hell breaks loose.

It is not as if the media even gave the whole story. We then heard that England had been cautioned for throwing the ball in on the bounce to roughen it up. What was not reported was that the umpires had also spoken to Steve Smith about the Australians also doing it. It seems that the same action is only sharp practice when convenient.

Australia’s go-slow means that they are still a fair way behind with two good wickets down. If either Warner or Smith were to go early on Day 5 the Australians could well start sweating. However, what is genuinely a flat pitch that is getting slower and slower seems to be killing chances of a result.

In the absence of anything of any real interest on the field of play, a couple of numbers caught my eye. It is interesting that, despite all the stick that he has got, all lot of it from England fans, both Stuart Broad's  bowling and batting averages against Australia are actually better than his career averages, even if only by small amount. It does rather tend to give the lie to the suggestion that he does not perform regularly against the old enemy. Wouldn't he just love to be a match-winner for England on the 5^th day.

A better weather forecast and an extra eight overs will help to force a result, but the basic time equation is that England will have to bowl out Australia in about 65 overs in the day if they are to win. Someone is going to have to bowl very well, chances need to be taken and the bowlers will need a little luck.

Ashes 2017/18: 4th Test Day 3 - And For My Next Trick…

 

Ashes 2017/18: 4^th Test Day 3

And For My Next Trick…

December 28^th 2017

I suppose that if, at Lunch on Day 1, you had suggested that England would be pushing for an innings victory, would put on 100 for the ninth wicket and that Stuart Broad would make a major all-round contribution in this Test, you would have been locked-up as certifiable.

It makes a nice change to want to sit down and write, rather than find it an unpleasant chore in the face of another hopeless position.

The crazy thing is that it should have been so much better. If Vince was daft not to review his LBW – especially as Cook advised him to – what do you make of Malan getting a BIG edge to a ball well outside off stump and not reviewing? Malan’s LBW would not have hit the stumps even if he had not hit the ball… hard. And Stuart Broad must consider that he was somewhat unfortunate to be given out, as a more benevolent Third Umpire might well have considered that the ball had slipped out of Khawaja’s hands and was on the ground when he rolled on it (Australian fans, remembering Nottingham 2013, might not be so charitable – these things usually even-out in the end). You have to suspect that England left a hundred or so runs out there because of poor decisions and not just those of the umpires.

At 306-6 Australia must have been thinking of getting an unexpected first innings lead. Batsmen were getting in and getting out. And the last four wickets have not exactly inconvenienced Australia through the series. If anyone in the tail were to stand with Cook and add vital runs you would probably have said that it would be Woakes, or maybe at a stretch, Jimmy Anderson with some last-ditch defiance with the great position at the start of the day already wasted. No one would have expected Stuart Broad to recall that, not so long ago, people talked of him batting at #7 as a genuine all-rounder.

It is easy to forget that Stuart Broad has a better Test batting *and* bowling averages against Australia than his career figures: not by much, but enough to disprove those who suggest that he does not perform often enough against them. This has been his fourth fifty against Australia and first since Nottingham 2013. He says that he tried to be more aggressive bowling in this Test and it shows and has infused his batting with more confidence too. Many people thought that maybe he should be stood down from this Test and that Curran or Wood should replace him. Like Alistair Cook though, he has put his hand up big time.

What can you say about Cook? He says that he expected to be dropped from the team for the 5^th Test had he not made a score and there is undoubtedly a suspicion that England would have played Jennings and Stoneman – the former Durham opening pair – as openers in the Final Test if Cook’s struggles had continued. So often in this series Cook has looked totally lost. If Australia can put down their superiority to any factor it has been the runs from Steve Smith, far more than their bowlers. Had Smith managed Alistair Cook’s run of scores in the first three matches England would certainly have won at least one of them so, it is a pleasant change to see the balance tilt the other way: not even Smith's efforts have kept Australia level in this match.

Alistair Cook has this knack of suddenly producing a huge innings when he has no right to. Since his monumental 189 at Sydney in January 2011 he has passed fifty eight times against Australia, but just twice got past 72. His first ten Tests against Australia over two series were saved by just two innings of note, with just one other score past 30, before producing a sequence of 67, 235*, 148, 32, 13, 82 & 189 in 2010/11. He will undoubtedly flay attacks raw in the Championship come April, but one wondered if that ultimate edge was still there. Now we know that it is. Remove one Australian bowler. Have another bowl some overs at reduced pace and, suddenly, the eye is in, the confidence is back and, even with a fully healthy attack on Day 3, Cook was playing like it was Chelmsford in May against an under-strength county attack, rather than much the same bowlers who had been giving him the screaming meamies for three Tests.

The discussion about the places of Cook and Broad for the Sydney Tests is over.

Finally, Australia are learning the pain and frustration of having to bowl over after pitiless over against well-set batsmen in uncomfortable bowling conditions of very high humidity, after a hot day yesterday and are not enjoying it one jot. Five sessions in the field with stretched resources is suggesting that England have not been wrong in asserting that had the Australian pace attack not made it through the first three Tests without issues the result might have been far closer. Or, put another way, if Australia had been missing as many bowlers as England are, they would have struggled themselves. One gets the feeling that Australia like being the bullies, but are not so keen when they are on the receiving end of it, or that conditions are not stacked in their favour.

There has been some debate as to whether or not Joe Root should have declared. No, he should not have. The lead is only 164 and Joe Root has bigger fish to fry. Cook and Anderson have so far added 18 – Anderson with 0* from 15 balls – and Root knows that three important landmarks are coming up: the Cook 250, the England 500 and a lead of 180. Tick them off, one by one. Make the Australian attack continue to tire and frustrate itself (the fact that Smith ended the day with the unthreatening Bird and Marsh bowling suggests strongly that he is into “energy conservation mode” for his main bowlers) and look to have enough for Australia to start to worry about the innings defeat. With a lead of 180 that result comes into consideration. England, and particularly Joe Root, who has come in for some pretty nasty criticism from the Australian media, will be keen to add some payback in the form of an innings defeat for Australia to compensate the innings defeat that England suffered in the 3^rd Test.

If Cook continues to farm the strike there is no reason why this partnership cannot continue for a while longer, with the Australians asking themselves when Root is finally going to call a halt.

With two days to come, even if there is some rain around and conditions for once favouring the England bowlers, this is no time to let up or to be merciful.

Ashes 2017/18: 4th Test Days 1 & 2 - What On Earth… Back to 2002?

 

Ashes 2017/18: 4^th Test Days 1 & 2

What On Earth… Back to 2002?

December 27^th 2017

It is Monday December 30^th 2002. England are 3-0 down in the series… again. The series is lost… again. And a tour that began with high hopes of at least putting up a fight, has ended with another awful beating. It started with such an awful insertion by Nassar Hussain in Brisbane that he must still wake up in the night sweating about it. Simon Jones was horribly injured on the first morning of the Test series and young fast bowler Steve Harmison has been unselectable after a 14-ball over in one of the early tour games but, such is the injury crisis facing England that he has had to take the new ball in this Test and racked up figures of 0-103 as Australia finished the first day on 356-3.

Yes, England disasters in Australia are nothing new.

That fifth morning started with Australia needing a token 107 to win, having made England follow-on, 8-0 and looking set to win long before Lunch. I remember tuning-in to Test Match Special. Andy Caddick took a quick wicket, but then Langer and Ponting set about the bowling with gusto and it looked as if the end would be swift. Suddenly Steve Harmison got Rickie Ponting to edge through to James Foster. 58-1 after 11.1 overs became 58-3 in four balls and, amazingly, Caddick and Harmison tore into a terrified Australia. If a catch had not gone down that would have made Australia 94-6 (if memory serves), it is even possible that England might have won.

And, of course, the final Test was won to make the final scoreline 4-1. This was an old tradition in the old years of total Australian dominance, that England would win the final test of a series to add a little respectability to the result. Modern tradition has been that the last two Tests of a series in Australia have been even more excruciating to watch than the live matches.

All through this series there has been a suspicion that the gap between the sides is smaller than has appeared and the Australia’s strength in depth is suspect. For the first time Australia have been unable to repeat their #1 attack of Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins and have had to dip into the reserves. England have lost yet another bowler and are exploring the reserves of County players, with Tom Curran the latest beneficiary.

The first session of the opening day was painfully bad. What do you say when the opposition are 102-0 from 28 overs on what appears to be a perfect batting strip?

Then, England turned-up. The rest of the day saw Australia score 142 runs for the loss of three wickets in 61 overs. It was a different game.

Still, with Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh purring along, the Australians were confident of scoring 500+, as in the corresponding game in 2002 and then letting Cummins, Hazlewood and Bird show that there was plenty in the pitch for their attack.

What happened must have had a lot of fans rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Tom Curran – son of Gloucestershire stalwart, Kevin – may have missed David Warner’s wicket with a no ball, but he made no mistake with Steve Smith who helped the ball onto the stumps with an aggressive shot.  What a debut for the Surrey lad, who has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water and who could well  (and maybe should) have played the 3rd Test too. Then Woakes did for Mitch Marsh the same way. Surely not?

Paine and Shaun Marsh started to build a stand and you instinctively thought that those two early wickets were just sent to build up hope so that it could be crushed by a big stand. 314-5 and 400, 450, maybe even 500 beckoning still. In nine overs, 54 balls, 314-5 became 327 ao. And, more gloriously still, Stuart Broad looked set for a 5-for until Jimmy Anderson nipped out Nathan Lyon for a ten-ball duck.

Australian fans were gloating. The performance of England’s pop-gun attack showed that the pitch, far from being flat, would have plenty of demons for Cummins and Hazlewood and that Jackson Bird’s height would make him unplayable.

Reality was different. England have lost just two wickets and both were unlucky: Stoneman fell to a tremendous catch from Lyon off his own bowling and Vince clearly edged the ball that got him LBW, but did not review. Even better, an over of filth from Steve Smith allowed Cook to race through the 90s to a century from the last over of the day, with Joe Root one short of his own 50. Pat Cummins has a dickie stomach and has been on and off the pitch and Jackson Bird is showing no great resemblance to “Big Bird” Garner, despite averaging 27.5 with the ball from his first eight Tests.

Of course, we have been here before, most notably in the 3^rd Test, when Malan and Bairstow threatened to take the match away from Australia before the most diabolical collapse set in. However, the first big score by Alistair Cook in an Ashes Test since 2010/11 has heartened the side. If Cook and Root can keep batting on the third morning, who knows what is possible? It is Christmas and a fan can dream...

Afterthought: I wonder what Alice Cook said to her husband on Christmas Day to buck him up? Whatever it was, she should get a tour bonus!

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Day 5 - 5-0 Coming

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Day 5

5-0 Coming

December 19^th 2017

So, despite a lot of help from the rain, England were a full session from saving the Test and keeping the series alive. Two Tests still to go and the inquests are starting. And, Nathan Lyon’s comment about ending careers is looking to be increasingly self-fulfilling: Broad, Cook, Moeen and Anderson’s futures are all under the microscope, with it being a 50-50 bet, no more, that all four will see out the series in the side. All four have had their career ups and downs, with Cook and Moeen’s careers looking like roller-coaster rides. What is undisputable is that with four young and/or inexperienced players in the side in Stoneman, Vince, Malan and Overton, England can scarcely afford to see so little return from Cook, Moeen and Broad, while the contributions of Root and Anderson have been reasonable, but not match-winning.

We always knew that it would be tough at Perth but, as the match degenerated from England’s initial position of total ascendancy, three players fought, all marginal choices, with just twenty Tests between them. First, despite the pain of a cracked rib, Craig Overton got through 24 overs. He did not threaten but, at very least, he eased the pressure on Anderson, Broad and Woakes, none of whom none the less bowled fewer than 35 overs in the innings. Then, as Cook, Stoneman and Root all walked back, leaving England 60-3, Vince and Malan stood firm. Malan, with a big hundred and a fifty in the Test knows that his place is safe for the foreseeable future. Vince, whose returns had fallen since his initial 83, managed another skilful half century. With the two together, you could hope. Vince though continues to frustrate and show why he looks like being a temporary incumbent: he got to a fighting 50 and was out soon out, even if it took a special delivery to defeat him. After ten Tests and seventeen innings, Vince has just 2x50 and a Test average of 23. He has reached double figures in eleven of his seventeen innings and passed 30 on six occasions, but has reached fifty just twice and on neither occasion converted. In contrast, Malan is growing into the #5 position in a way that Middlesex supporters could never have imagined. Scores of 56, 4, 19, 29, 140 & 54 have shown his appetite for this game, added to 1x100 and 2x50 in the warm-ups.

A three hour rain delay and two set batsmen at the crease in Malan and Bairstow set England up nicely for the great escape. First session lost. See out the first hour and, by then, the 259 that England needed to eat-up time would be coming ever-closer: 10 minutes, or 2 overs lost to the change of innings and then whatever token chase would eat-up some more overs. That was the plan. What happened was just the reverse. Four balls. A single. Bairstow gets a straight one that keeps rather low and that, ladies and gentlemen, was that.

Moeen started the series well, but his confidence looks completely shot now and he is reading Nathan Lyon as well as I read Linear-B. Not the man you want striding out for the sixth ball of the day when you desperately need a hundred partnership. Moeen is such a wonderful counter-attacking batsmen when he feels confident. Here though, injury and the resulting lack of rhythm and confidence have sapped him and his bowling difficulties have just made things worse. When Moeen gets an early wicket he grows visibly. In Australia though the side injury reduced his bowling to minimal before the Tests and that contributed to the soft skin that saw him ripping open his spinning finger early in the match at Brisbane. When it has started to heal it has broken-open again and that has stopped him bowling and hardening the finger. The whole matter has snowballed and the consequence is that Moeen is a shadow of the player who started last winter in such fine form before unsympathetic handling totally neutered him by the end of the Indian series.

Rather than the long partnership that England so desperately needed, the innings just became a procession and the match and the series were over by Tea.

Telling is the statistic that six batsmen apart from Vince and Malan got into double figures, but Woakes’s 22 when last out was the highest score among them: had each of those six doubled his score, England would most likely have saved the match.

Now, England have two dead rubbers to play, with cauliflower ears the most likely result, even if this series does not match the desperation of 2013/14. Then, it was hard to find any positive. Here, Stoneman, Vince, Malan, Bairstow and Overton have all shown that they are up for it.

Overton wants to play at Melbourne but the reports that he could have punctured his lung by insisting on bowling will probably see Mark Wood elevated, subject to fitness. Two failures for Cook at Melbourne could see him rested for the final Test, while Tom Curran for Stuart Broad is a tempting change to add variety to the attack. As England re-commission Haseeb Hameed in the Lions and continue to invest in Keaton Jennings – again named Lions captain – Cook may be looking uncomfortably over his shoulder. Again, it may be tempting to play Jennings in the 5^th Test and see if his form and confidence are back to the level of his early Test innings.

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Days 3 & 4 - Rain and Marginal Choices Combine to Give England a Possible Escape Route

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Days 3 & 4

Rain and Marginal Choices Combine to Give England a Possible Escape Route

December 17^th 2017

When you have only taken one wicket in a full day of play and that one early, with the scoreboard at the end of the day showing the batsmen 229* and 181* after an unbroken partnership of 301 and, to boot, the bowler who has so far looked the biggest threat, has a cracked rib, you know that things are not going well.

Add to it the fact that the two Marsh brothers, whose selection has been ridiculed in Australia, have 209 between them when even the Australian media would have expected their combined scores to be closer to 9 than to 209, you know that even if the weaknesses in the opposition are manifest, your bowlers simply cannot take advantage of them. If you had offered England the chance to bowl at the two Marsh brothers before the series, they would probably have seized it with open arms sensing that the middle order would be vulnerable. Well, Shaun came in at 179-3 and Mitch left at  549-5. Scratch that theory!

Even when there were signs that England could get some self-respect back as three wickets fell quickly – 549-4 became a slightly more respectable 561-7, with hopes of keeping the lead under 200 – Tim Paine, another ridiculed pick and the not particularly highly rated Pat Cummins added 93. In this series you can say that Cummins has given England at least as many problems with the bat as with the ball.

Before the series there were two manifest, gaping problems in the England side:

·       Multiple injuries and other issues have robbed the squad of many support bowling options (Wood, Plunkett, Finn, Roland-Jones, Stokes, …) were all unavailable and Moeen has been hampered by injury all tour, reducing him to a shadow of his fotmer self.

·       While England had several solid, experienced batsmen, Stoneman, Vince and Malan were “hail Mary” picks who convinced very few pundits. Australian press and pundits ridiculed them as nobodies and anticipated that their careers would be ended rapidly.

So far, in five and a half innings of the Test series, the England batting has amassed 2x100 and  7x50. Of those, Stoneman, Vince and Malan account for 1x100 and 5x50. Put another way, Cook, Root, Bairstow and Moeen have managed just 1x100 and 2x50 between them. Moeen’s top score is 40. Cook’s is just 37. Without the contribution of these three marginal picks, England would be in a far worse mess.

Rain has helped the England cause, but England will have to survive 98 overs with four good wickets down. Realistically, their best chance of a draw is for Malan and Bairstow, who have already steadied England from 100-4 with a partnership of 32, to repeat their first innings heroics and for rain to help. However, there is one more factor that will help: we are in a “SWALEC 2009” situation. If England can get ahead – and the deficit is “only” 127, or one good partnership – every run will be a run that Australia have to get and every over an over that Australia will not have to get the runs; take off a few overs for the weather and it should be possible to survive. For England, it is vital to save the match and to do it with as little help from the weather as possible. That means batting out 70+ overs. If they can, the criticism will fall on Steve Smith again for delaying his declaration and giving England an escape route: in Adelaide he got away with not enforcing the follow-on; here it would be nice to ease the pressure on England by seeing how the Australians miss out due to slightly dubious tactics.

This is England’s last chance. Fail to hold the line tomorrow and the series will be lost and with it, potentially a couple of senior players too.

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Days 1 & 2 - To Sleep, Perchance to Dream… Before Reality Brutally Re-establishes Itself

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Days 1 & 2

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream… Before Reality Brutally Re-establishes Itself

December 15^th 2017

Been there. Done that. Still got the scars.

The good news: despite all dark forecasts, this will not be a three day defeat for England, barring a catastrophe even greater than Adelaide 2006.

The bad news: England have let slip a position of total dominance and may yet lose.

There is much about this match that evokes Adelaide 2006, which should be enough to bring out several of the team and most fans into sleepless nights and a cold sweat.

In that never to be forgotten debacle, England were blown away in the 1^st Test and then, as in 2005, revived miraculously, winning the Toss and reaching 551-6d before collapsing horribly in the second innings (despite having reached 69-1). There can few side that have been 468-3 half way through the second day of a Test and have lost convincingly.

Here, England reached giddy – Nay! Stratospheric! – heights of 368-4 before subsiding embarrassingly to 403ao. Here was a chance to make Cummins and Starc bowl 40 overs in an innings and see if they could be ground down given that, equally embarrassing, Mitch Marsh was selected as fifth bowler to reduce the load on the pace attack and was hardly trusted with the ball (at the same time, Nathan Lyon was severely neutered and bowled far fewer overs than his pace colleagues). Even so, England only crossed 400 thanks to a late slog from Stuart Broad. Whereas the minimum requirement at the start of the day must have been to bat until Tea and score 500, the innings was over before Lunch.

The script called for England to fade tamely on the first day after declining to 131-4. Stoneman, at least, could say that he was unlucky – after a lot of replays you could say that most probably he was out and the right decision was reached, but a different Third Umpire would very likely have let him get away with it. Stoneman has impressed in his short Test career but, despite 3x50 in his first ten innings, his top score remains only 56: Stoneman has to start to convert these gritty fifties into equally gritty centuries. He has passed 50 in 8 of his last 12 innings, but managed just one century. Alistair Cook, in contrast, has less excuse. He has a lot of credit in the bank but, 2010/11 aside, his record in Australia is mediocre. If this run of low scores continues – and he has only had one decent score all tour – the selectors will have to ask themselves whether to pick him for the final Test, or re-commission Keaton Jennings. We have written-off Cook several times previously but, on Christmas Day, he reaches 33, when he should be at his peak, is no longer captain and his motivation is being questioned. Cook should be playing for England for four or five more years, but retirement to the farm with Alice must be getting more and more tempting, even if the selectors don’t take the decision out of his hands.

In contrast, Joe Root is a victim of the Australian decapitation strategy. Scores of 15, 51, 9, 67 & 20 are not failure, but they come nowhere near matching Steve Smith, the sine qua non of England holding on to the Ashes. Joe Root is scoring regular 50s but, like Mark Stoneman, is struggling to convert them and Australia are making life as hard as possible for him.

From 131-4 there was a real danger of not reaching 250. That it did not happen was down to Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow. Many pundits and fans were amazed when Malan was picked in the summer. His name had shone bright in 2009 when his T20 century helped Middlesex to the T20 title, but he then faded for some years, despite plenty of signs of his talent. Very much a marginal pick for the Ashes, he is another who has shown signs of being made for Test cricket, but has not converted: 3x50 in his first twelve innings, but a top score of 65. He fought his way through a sticky start and launched a counter-attack that had Australian fans licking their lips at the prospect of a quick suicide. That he has the first England century of the Test series and went on to make it a big one should have silenced the doubters. It was a wonderful effort. At the other end, Jonny Bairstow silenced the Australians by steady accumulation.

By the time that the stand reached 200 you could dream: 500 and then an Australian collapse before the Close? For any fans waking up early to take in the afternoon session the sweet dreams of 500 became the nightmare when the last six wickets fell in under 9 overs. England had Australia under the cosh, but were just not ruthless enough. And Moeen Ali, who you hoped would be liberated by coming in at 368-5, with the bat on top, lasted just two balls. Flood gates open. Australia rush through. Humiliating. Mind you, fans will longer memories will remember the successful 1985 series, which still featured a couple of England collapses that made this one look positively like a run-glut.

England still had a chance to set matters to rights when Craig Overton took two quick wickets. Unfortunately, a couple of half-chances and one sitter went begging and Australia will have gone to bed knowing that, if things pan out as they expect, they should take the lead around Tea and be able to put England in for a few overs before the Close, if they wish to see if the wobbly top order will oblige with a panic.

England are 200 ahead still. Technically, the follow-on has not been saved (admittedly, it is the safest of safe bets that it will be in the first over of the morning). England should be looking for two quick wickets and putting Australia under pressure yet, that collapse makes one think that Day 3 will end with England fighting to keep themselves in the series. With rain forecast for the last two days, they could escape even if the worst happens, but one would like to see them saving themselves without help from the weather and, preferably, setting up a difficult fifth day for Australia to maintain the momentum from Adelaide.

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Preview - Checkmate in Three Days?

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Preview

Checkmate in Three Days?

December 13^th 2017

“Same side. Better play”, would have legendary Essex captain Tonker Taylor’s reaction to the 2^nd Test defeat. Having got within an hour of inducing genuine panic in the Australian side, England threw away a potentially winning position in half an hour of reduced intensity.

There were plenty of panic remedies: with Liam Plunkett still struggling with a hamstring problem, Mark Wood looked like making an incredible comeback. Yes, he impressed in patches in Perth, but showed too that he was nowhere ready for Test cricket. It is not pace, it is quality pace that is needed: that was a lesson of the great West Indian sides. In fact, of the reserves and Lions who supplemented Moeen Ali in the England XI, only Keaton Jennings and Sam Curran really impressed. With Alistair Cook’s place in the side starting to look in danger again, Keaton Jennings showed the application that got him into the Test side in the first place and also demonstrated that his form and confidence are returning. And Sam Curran impressed enough with his left arm seam to make one wonder if having a left-armer among so many right armers might not be a bad thing. Worse, Jack Leach and Mason Crane took such fearful punishment that England could even have lost the two-day game: both have shown that they will not be pressing Moeen for his place – in fact, Leach has probably bowled himself out of any chance of a Test debut on this tour by going at more than ten-an-over (Crane managed a more respectable eight).

So, eliminating an out and out quick bowler and eliminating a second spinner and thinking that Sam Curran is probably neither quick enough, nor quite ready, the only England change is the one that was called for, of all people, by the Australians: Jonny Bairstow moves up to #6 and Moeen Ali drops to #7. “Moeen, you’re batting a place too high” sledged the Australian fielders at Adelaide. Despite making a better fist of batting than many around him, Moeen just replied “actually, probably two places too high”. Self-deprecating, situation de-fused. With the loss of Ben Stokes, Moeen needed the series of his life to compensate. Unfortunately the spinning finger that he split open early in the Brisbane Test has still not healed and even started to split open again. England face him being severely hampered at Perth too, adding to the advantage that Nathan Lyon is giving Australia.

At Perth, the same batsmen have to bat for at least four sessions and Joe Root needs to win the Toss. Otherwise, this match is going to end Saturday or, at latest, early Sunday and the Ashes will go with it.

Ashes 2017/18: 2nd Test, Day 5 - The Bowlers Save Steve Smith’s Embarrassment

 

Ashes 2017/18: 2^nd Test, Day 5

The Bowlers Save Steve Smith’s Embarrassment

December 11^th 2017

Here we go again. Probably the turning point of the 2^nd Test was the fall of Dawid Malan just before the Close of the 4^th Day. At that point the Australians were visibly cracking under the strain. Smith himself has admitted that he needed a sleeping pill to rest that night because even he started to have horrible imaginings of England escaping from a seemingly impossible position after 8 sessions of the Test and getting the win that they so desperately needed.

At 169-3, just before the Close on Day 4, England were almost half way to their target and almost cruising.  Pat Cummins produced a wicket from nothing and, in just 30 balls, England went from a position of comfort to 177-6 and on the point of defeat. In his first two overs of Day 5, Josh Hazlewood kicked open the door that Pat Cummins had burst off its hinges. You thought that if England could see off the first hour and remove the shine from the new ball, Australia could really start to sweat. With the fall of Joe Root and Chris Woakes within twenty minutes, all that was left was a rearguard operation and, to be honest, it was never going to happen once the Australian bowlers had their tails up. Whatever Steve Smith is paying his bowlers, it is probably not enough because, this time, they really have saved his bacon when the chips were down.

It was the story of the series so far. All the wonderful work of the previous day completely wasted in thirty minutes of surrender. Each time England have got level, they have been unable to sustain the effort for the extra hour that might have made all the difference.

What have been two, close-fought Tests against surprisingly well-matched sides, have ended up being one-sided wins. Australia are 2-0 up. And with a Test at Perth to come, there is no confidence at all that England will not surrender the Ashes in under three days of the 3^rd Test.

England have shown that they can compete. The Australians have shown that they are nowhere near the 2013/14 side in talent and far from as good as they like to think that they are. Unfortunately, that is still too good for England unless they can start to believe in their own ability and put in a complete Test rather than a half good, half bad performance.

Ashes 2017/18: 2nd Test, Days 1-4 - After Fourteen Consecutive Sessions of Handing Out Cauliflower Ears has Steve Smith Fallen for a Sucker Punch?

 

Ashes 2017/18: 2^nd Test, Days 1-4

After Fourteen Consecutive Sessions of Handing Out Cauliflower Ears has Steve Smith Fallen for a Sucker Punch?

December 5^th 2017

After 3 days of this Test journalists and fans were becoming desperate. Finding ways of re-arranging the words “England”, “waggon”, “tour”, “wheels” & “falling off” into new and inventive phrases was getting beyond most.

After 7 sessions of this Test Australian fans were licking their lips anticipating a 3-day finish. It should have been a 3-day finish. We now go into Day 5. And, all results are still possible, with an England win starting to look plausible. Even if Australia win, which is still the most likely result, it looks as if Steve Smith has blown it big time and made what is potentially one of the most series-changing calls since the catastrophic insertion at Brisbane in 2001.

In what every single pundit has said is a must-not-lose Test, Joe Root made the controversial decision to insert and England bowled poorly for two sessions. First and foremost, on the available evidence, it was the right choice. However, when the opposition makes 442-8 and the tail again scores big runs, making the bowlers look impotent, it is never going to look good on your CV. The theory was that Joe Root was running scared of the Australian pace attack. Actually, he thought that Anderson and Broad could knock Australia over for 150 – and subsequent events have proved him right.

When the opposition have made 442-8 and the top order fails, despite being largely spared batting under the lights and the follow-on looks inevitable, maybe as many as 300 behind, things look pretty awful.

Cheer was pretty limited, but the fact that in his debut innings as a Test bowler Craig Overton equalled the number of wickets that Jake Ball has from four Tests was one bright spot. Another is that those three wickets cost significantly less in total than each of Jake Ball’s wickets suggests that, as in 2013, amid the ruins England may have unearthed a gem.

Wind forward. England 142-7. 300 behind. And those last 3 wickets expected to go down without getting England over the 150. Follow-on under lights and the real possibility of the game finishing that same evening. It was awful. Worse, it was an embarrassment.

Then, the unexpected. Overton’s three consecutive ducks did a lot of damage to his chances of playing the 1^st Test (especially when combined with an erratic last day of bowling in the warm-ups). Chris Woakes has struggled to reproduce his all-round form so far in the series. Put the two together and Pat Cummins must have been licking his lips, especially with the timorous Stuart Broad to come in behind them. Stand of 66 and, for the first time, Australian belief seemed to start to waver: this was not in the script. The follow-on edged closer and speculation mounted about whether or not Steve Smith would take it, even if given the chance! OK.

The last three wickets fell for nineteen. Normal service resumed. Surely Australia will enforce the follow-on. Tricky session under lights. Ball on a string. The main betting was about whether England would be four or seven or more wickets down by the scheduled Close.

And then, incredibly, Smith blinked. Starc had bowled 20 overs, but Cummins and Hazlewood had only bowled 16, the new ball had not been needed and batting conditions were at their most difficult, but Smith made Bancroft and Warner sprint off to pad up and gave his own batsmen the difficult session under lights. You could almost sense the relief in the England camp: they knew that they were back in the game if they bowled as they could.

Suddenly Australian were under the cosh. Bancroft fell to only Jimmy Anderson’s eighth ball and England tails were up. Instinctively you felt that someone would get in and the fun would be over. At 39-1 it looked as if Australia had weathered the storm, but Khawaja, even liberated from the threat of Moeen (who is obviously not fit to bowl) fell for 20. If you had said then that that would be the top score of the innings, you would have been locked-up, but it was.

Warner and Smith fell before the Close as Australia discovered that they are not as good under pressure as they thought. Australia 53-4 at the Close and you thought that England really needed at least one more wicket: surely, in the afternoon, on Day 4, with ideal batting conditions, 50-4 would become 220-5 and it would be as if the Australian collapse had never happened?

Wonder of wonders, with England needing quick wickets Australia obliged and panic set in: 75-6, 90-7… surely not? Even when Marsh and Starc held out, it was only a brief respite of less than eight overs and the collapse resumed. 138 all out. England would have settled for 50 more as a superb day’s work.

So, target 354. Can England even get close?

Standard wisdom is “no”. Australian fans were confidently predicting that a best case scenario for England was to take the game into the fifth morning but, it was noticeable, as the openers put on 50 together and then Malan and Root added 78 that the Australians were nervous and, at times, as chances went down and reviews went wrong, seemingly close to panic. Steve Smith certainly was transmitting anything other than calm. The inconceivable was looking all too conceivable at 169-3, just before the Close. If Steve Smith were to lose this one – and it requires the highest chase ever by England and the thirteenth highest ever in Tests, so it is not exactly a gimme – it may well be his head that replaces the replica of the Ashes urn at the end of the series.

You sense that the fall of the unflappable Dawid Malan just before the Close swung the balance firmly back towards Australia but, is Chris Woakes and Joe Root can get in in the morning, with Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Craig Overton to come, Steve Smith may yet sweat quite a bit before he can close this match out. See off an hour in the morning and get through the new ball and Australia will really have reasons to flap.

The fact that we can even talk about an England win is a measure of the seismic shift in momentum in this Test.

Ashes 2017/18: 1st Test, Day 5 - Accepting the Inevitable

 

Ashes 2017/18: 1^st Test, Day 5

Accepting the Inevitable

November 28^th 2017

Australia duly sealed a 10 wicket win that probably flattered them somewhat. It is tempting to think that all is doom and gloom, but there is no reason why it should be so as England have a real chance to level the series in the 2^nd Test.

We tend to forget that the 2005 Ashes started with a heavy defeat after a bright start by England. Of course, in that series, England’s cause was helped by Glenn McGrath trying to unicycle on the ball an hour before the start of the 2^nd Test and by the lack of credible support to McGrath and Shane Warne. However, it is easy to forget that England were blown away for 155 & 180 in that 1^st Test and in three of their first four innings of the series, failed to pass 182. England’s luck was that they just sneaked home in two of the Tests and that Brett Lee, though a big wicket-taker in the series, took his wickets at well over 40 each, while Shaun Tate, Mike Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie combined for 12 wickets at more than 63 each. It was only as the series progressed that Australia’s problems of squad depth became more and more evident.

The key was that, despite a very disappointing 1^st Test performance, England kept the faith, trusted their players and took their chances.

If any pitch on this tour is going to suit the England attack, it will be Adelaide. Lose here and it will be 5-0: you might well have said then same after the 1^st Test in 2005.

England carried too many players at Brisbane. Alistair Cook’s form on tour is worrying. What is more, apart from 2010/11, he has never done well in Australia. With no reserve opener, Cook has to fire. Is he still hungry? Jake Ball, who was a big gamble due to his lack of match practice, looked short of match fitness. He now has 3 wickets at 114 each in his 4 Tests. Had he been mean and economical, that could be overlooked but, in a slow-scoring match, he was by far the most expensive bowler. Craig Overton was not risked because the selectors felt that he might be too expensive, but his replacement was neither threatening nor economical. Chris Woakes had a match that was more the Woakes of 2015 than that of 2016 and 2017 who has carried all before him: neither runs, nor wickets and, to be brutally frank, not much threat of them either. And Moeen, hampered by a finger injury, struggled to spin the ball for much of the match.

The biggest problem that the team faces is the fact that even though they knocked over the top order, the tail was able to add more than one hundred for the last three wickets and that, in the end, was the difference between the two sides. There was no enforcer to come on and knock over 9, 10, Jack.

The selectors have a straightforward choice. It seems that Jake Ball is unlikely to get another game. Overton seems the most likely to replace him, although there are arguments for Mason Crane to share the spin duties, albeit that would be to take a massive punt – there are already suggestions that if a second spinner were required, it would be more likely to be Jack Leach, conveniently nearby with the Lions. The wild card is Mark Wood, another Lion, who seems to be getting back to fitness. Wood would supply the high pace that England lacked in Brisbane. It would be a risk: he is not match fit and he is coming back from injury, but a gamble is less dramatic in a four-man pace attack than in a three-man attack. The most likely change is Overton for Ball: Overton has taken wickets consistently in the warm-ups, although nerves seem to have  betrayed him every time he has come out to bat. Overton is a wild card, which reminds one a little of another Somerset lad who got an unexpected Test debut in 1977, bowled erratically, batted nervously, but somehow took 5-74 and never looked back.

Apart from Overton for Ball, the selectors are likely to keep faith with the same XI. Stoneman, Vince, Root and Malan all got runs, even if none of them could convert and Moeen did enough in both innings to suggest that a big score is there and could come at any time. In fact, Stoneman did enough to suggest that if Cook can get himself in, that century opening partnerships can be expected.

However it might seem, the situation is far from hopeless.

Ashes 2017/18: 1st Test, Day 5 - The Mischief-Makers Threaten to De-Rail England

 

Ashes 2017/18: 1^st Test, Day 5

The Mischief-Makers Threaten to De-Rail England

November 27^th 2017

First, the good news: England duly lost by 10 wickets before Lunch. OK, not so good, but compared to what follows, it seems wonderful. Enough about this until tomorrow. It is not the end of the world, nor are England in free fall. For Saturday’s day-night Test, which even the Australians believe that England could easily win, the one change is likely to be Craig Overton for Jake Ball, unless Moeen Ali’s injured spinning finger obliges a second change.

Now the bad news: no one is talking about this story.

And the worse news: what they are talking about is another dubious “England players are drunken thugs story”.

By a strange coincidence, exactly on the day that Australia went 1-0 in the series, what was apparently a minor piece of horseplay between Jonny Bairstow and Cameron Bancroft several weeks ago, has suddenly and mysteriously emerged in the Australian press as a brutal assault. An incident so “severe” that no one from the always hostile Australian press corps, never slow to publish negative news about England, even knew about it.

Bairstow is mortified. The England management are mortified, not to mention furious with Jonny Bairstow’s stupidity. The Australian team were, by all accounts, enjoying themselves hugely sledging him over the incident and the Australian press have another stick to beat the England team with.

Combine this with a Test defeat and the impression is of a side and a tour that are disintegrating. The danger is that it could.

Okay. So we expect mischief from the Australian media. All is fair in love and war. There was a massive over-reaction to what was essentially a non-story, but destructive mischief from the British press too?

For several weeks there has been a growing sensation that there is also something very disquieting too about the reporting of the Ben Stokes affair. And it seems that I am not the only one who feels that there is something missing from the reporting at all levels and that the press has quite not played clean.

Consider what we now know about the incident. An England player witnessed a brutal homophobic attack and, instead of standing by and watching two young men receive a severe and possibly even fatal beating, stepped in to protect them. Instead of standing aside, as it appears that some of the critics would have preferred and leaving them to be victims of a violent crime, he was brave enough to intervene.

If the press had been interested, the headline would have been:

“Hero England Star Saves Two Men From Brutal Beating”

In which case, the England management would have taken him aside and said something like “Ben, you were daft to get involved and in public we are going to have to say so, but we are really quite proud of you for doing it”. It is also quite likely that rather than a police investigation for assault, there would have been a quiet caution and a warning to leave matters to the police next time. Unfortunately, given the reporting of events, the police have had no option but to send a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions and management no choice but to eliminate Ben Stokes from their plans the short and medium term. The fact that no charge has been brought, even two months later, suggests that there is no clear evidence of a crime having been committed… at least by the person being accused in the media.

Of course, if Ben Stokes had stood to one side and had been a witness to a serious crime without intervening, the newspaper headline would almost certainly have been something on the lines of:

“England Star Watches Passively Horrific Attack”

When the press is out to get you, they are out to get you and, like Ian Botham before him, Ben Stokes’s name sells newspapers, particularly when there is some muck to spread.

When we should be proud of our star player’s courage – if somewhat horrified that he was stupid enough to be out drinking that late and around a violent incident in the first place – we are depriving the England side of his services and subjecting him to a parallel trial in the media, instead of bigging him up. Stokes showed the willingness to stand up to aggression that could have converted a England “close, but no cigar” performance in Brisbane, into a hard-fought win.

You may be disappointed that Ben Stokes was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You will most certainly decide that he committed more than one serious error of judgement. You can rightly suggest that maybe he released one or two unnecessary punches at the end, when the thugs who were the real criminals had been stopped in their tracks. And certainly no one should condone committing criminal violence, whatever the motive, but certainly all the evidence suggests that he has got a raw deal in the reporting of the incident.

As a proud Bristolian, albeit one who would never have been seen dead around that bar at that time of night (although I am reliably informed that I was born not far away from the scene of the incident – admittedly, decades before the bar even existed), I am increasingly glad that Ben Stokes had the courage to do what he felt was right, even if he was a bit of an idiot, knowing that he had previous, to get himself into a situation where he could turn into a “have-a-go-hero”, as the press would term it when they approve of a citizen’s actions in similar circumstances.