Well Played Australia

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

First Blood to Australia

 

November 24^th 2013

 

First of all: well played Australia. They won more convincingly than anyone could ever have imagined before the series started. There are no excuses and there can be no excuses.

Second: Mitch Johnson was a revelation. We knew how dangerous Ryan Harris was but, it is only with another genuinely threatening bowler to support him at the other end that he has been able to win a game. Mitch Johnson was just as fast and nasty as we had been promised.

Third: save for that session and a half when England had Australia 130-6 on the first day, England were poor. It is shades of the UAE. In the 1^st Test against Pakistan England let Pakistan take control with a big opening partnership that proved to be the difference between a close match and a big defeat; here the game got away from England when Haddin and Johnson combined for a big partnership – from then on England were always chasing the game.

There are few positives for England apart from the form of Stuart Broad with his 8-136 in the match. Apart from 65 from Cook and 40 from Carberry, no one else passed 32 for England in the match. Twice, England were building platforms (at 82-2 in the first innings and 130-3 in the second, you would not expect to see totals of 136 and 179) and twice they collapsed in a heap.

Right now the reaction is about what you would expect. The “drop everyone” reaction has started, but players such as Trott, Root, Prior and Swann have not become poor players overnight. They have fine career records and, even if they have some issues right now, they need a vote of confidence, not a knee-jerk reaction.

Before this match you could imagine England playing all the reserves at Alice Springs – has any side ever had to endure a more meaningless and useless preparation match than this one? Now it is possible that we may see several of the Test team being given a chance to get middle time and some confidence, albeit against a schoolboy side.