England Exploit Australia's Weaknesses

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

A little role reversal

 

September 14^th

 

 

[23:00 CEST] There is something uniquely stressful about following a match, particularly a tense one on Cricinfo. It is far worse when you are out – in my case on the way to the cinema – and you can only see it on a smartphone, with the score updating just twice an over on the mobile service. It gives a whole new meaning to pain. The game was positively agonising. A delay in updating? Is that a wicket? A referral? The Martians have invaded? Your imagination goes into overdrive. It is compelling viewing.

The game was meant to be Australia’s party: the final proof that they had been the better team all summer and had lost unjustly, to some or, to others, the side that had finished the stronger and dominated, without ever quite being able to force victory. An Australian win would have won the series. In that sense, it re-enforced the series stereotypes. Once again, Australia looked to be cruising and lost their way to a massive collapse. At 209-5 at the start of the 43^rd over, with two well set batsmen Australia would have been looking at a possible total of 270 or 280. Instead, they lost 5 wickets for 18 and failed to see out their overs. James Tredwell, singled out for some brutal punishment earlier, came back with three cheap wickets as Australia subsided tamely.

The summer script then had England losing three cheap wickets, before the fourth and fifth wicket pairings took the game away from Australia, helped by catastrophic use of DRS. Would the ODIs be different? Darren Lehman must have nightmares every time that three wickets go down quickly that the game has just slipped away from his side. Today the Australians were reading the same script. 8-3, with a McKay hat-trick and Mitch Johnson bowling like a demon, slipped away and, suddenly, Mitch Johnson was England’s benefactor. His first 5 overs went for 22, his next 4.3 overs cost 42 runs as England found easy pickings. McKay ratcheted up the pressure with seven runs and the wicket of Ben Stokes from his last two overs, but with Johnson’s last nine balls going for nineteen, his efforts were in vain. It was the sort of performance to make England fans hope that they see much more of Mitch Johnson this winter. Even when the much criticised Carberry and Morgan fell quickly having re-built the innings there was a feeling that Australia were no longer in control and when Matt Wade dropped a sitter you knew that it was the same Australia from the rest of the summer.

For England, Rankin and Finn have probably confirmed their places on the tour of Australia – if there was any doubt about it. Stokes contributed with both bat and ball. Bopara failed with the bat for once, but turned in a handy performance with the ball and James Tredwell showed why he is England’s preferred stand-in stuntman for Graeme Swann in this format. In fact, you can argue that Tredwell should have the job on a permanent basis and not just to save Swann’s elbow from further damage. With the bat, Carberry justified the faith the selectors have had in him; to make such a big contribution will do his confidence no harm. Eoin Morgan, who was beginning to be seriously questioned, has come back with 124*, 54, 5* and 53 in his last 4 ODIs and Jos Buttler built on the platform set by Carberry and Morgan to control the chase and get England over the line. On a day where scoring was difficult, Buttler was the only batsman to score at over a run a ball.

Whatever spin Australia have put on the events of the summer, even in this ODI series that Australia were expected to dominate, things have not quite gone to plan and Australia now face playing the final match at Southampton on Monday with the series hanging on the result, wondering why they somehow manage to lose in the end. Yet the average Australian is still convinced that Australia were only denied wins at Old Trafford and at The Oval by rain and bad light at Trent Bridge by bad umpiring and at Chester-le-Street by bad luck. The conviction that, morally, the Test series finished 4-1 to Australia is so deep, that many Australian fans think that the return series will be a wipe-out, with the only uncertainty the margin of Australian victory. Australian overconfidence will be England’s biggest weapon.