The England Tour Continues Going To Plan... For Australia

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

Smoke and mirrors

 

November 8^th 2013

 

Ashes series are all about smoke and mirrors and this one looks to be no exception. Graham Gooch has just added another good blast of obscuring fog by commenting that far from being a deliberate plan to give Michael Carberry a chance to open in the Tests, it was all just an accident brought about by the happenstance of Alistair Cook dropping out of the Perth game with a sore back. One thing that England-watchers will have seen over the last few years is that such things are rarely left to chance, as the England cook book shows. In the absence of any play at Hobart and the absence of any real risk of play, the fact that England expect to receive a spinach curry instead of a chicken tikka masala has become a major talking point. The fact that Graham Gooch has revealed that he laments the lack of a good beef wellington has become a major talking point. It all goes to show that, in the absence of cricket, anything is good fare for the starving press.

The Australian media have delighted in the details of what the pampered darlings of the England side require on their dinner plates. What has not been mentioned is that, had the Australians shown the same sort of attention to detail, they would not have slipped so far down the ICC Test rankings that they depend on the West Indies losing badly in India to save them from the imminent indignity of dropping down to sixth in the ICC Test rankings.

Going into the Ashes series, South Africa continue in a comfortable lead in the rankings having limited the damage by squaring the series against Pakistan. England and India are in a tight battle for second and third, while another tight battle groups the mid-table sides, with Pakistan, Australia and the West Indies all within three points. Australia, still hanging on just above one hundred points, will drop below this benchmark if they lose the series by a margin of more than two Tests.

With the loss of a second full day the only thing that England can do, should play be possible in the final day, is to salvage what practice they can from the wreckage of the match. However, with the game reduced to a glorified net, the intensity is going to be low and trying to get something useful out of the game is going to be difficult. Australia can, even if they have learnt very little themselves, tick another day off on their fingers and smile, knowing that England have a maximum of just five days practice left before the 1^st Test.