Cricket 2014
Australian Lazarus, English consolation
March 6th 2014
Yesterday Australia duly finished-off
South Africa to win the 3rd Test and the series. It has been a
series of three incredibly one-sided matches, the smallest margin of victory
was the 231 runs of South Africa’s win in the 2nd Test.
Following on from the pattern last
summer, the side that won the toss dominated all three Tests, scoring 397, 423
and 494-7d in the process, while dismissing the opposition for under 300 in
every innings of the three Tests. It is a curious statistic, but South Africa’s
287 in the first innings and 265 in the second innings of the deciding Test
were by some distance the best efforts in either innings by a side not batting
first. In contrast, the side that had batted first declared in the second
innings in all three Tests, losing a maximum of 5 wickets in the process.
In the 13 Tests that Australia has
played since the start of the English summer the side batting first has taken a
first innings lead in all but two games – the 1st and 4th
Tests in England, both of them still won by the side batting first. In fact.
The only time in the 13 Tests that a side batting first lost the match was
England in Melbourne, where even a 51 run first innings lead was not enough to
conjure a win.
Given this sequence of “bat first and
dominate (usually win) the match”, one wonders what would have happened had
England won the toss and batted in the first three Tests in Australia, or South
Africa had batted first more than just the once in the recently concluded
series. Would England have gone 3-down and had the fight knocked out of them?
Would South Africa have capitulated so tamely? We will never know… What is
clear is that, in all three series, the toss has had a disproportionate
influence on the course of the matches.
The South Africa series also
confirmed another trend in the 13 matches: despite the heroics of David Warner
and Chris Rogers, their starts have frequently been diabolically bad, with the
side being rescued time and again by the middle order and the tail.
At Trent Bridge, 117-9
At Lords, 128ao
At Old Trafford, 129-3
At Chester-le-Street, 76-4
At The Oval, 144-3
At Brisbane, 132-6
At Perth, 143-5
At Adelaide, 174-4
At Melbourne, 122-6
At Sydney, 97-5
At Centurion, 98-4
At Port Elizabeth, 128-6
The best start, by far, was in the
Cape Town Test, when the third wicket fell at 217 in their first innings. Seven
times at least half the side was out for under 150 and nine times the middle
order and tail had to orquestrate a recovery from a distinctly unpromising
position such as the 132-6 at Brisbane, or the 97-5 at Sydney. That Australia
have won seven of eight matches this summer despite a stuttering top order that
has only twice delivered a good start (counting the 174-4 at Adelaide as “good”),
is a tribute to how well the lower order and the bowlers have rescued
situations, leading to frequent jokes that they have followed Bradman’s example
of reversing the batting order to confuse the opposition.
The revival of Australian fortunes
has been astonishing, having been saved by bad light from losing 4-0 in England
after a disastrously misjudged declaration at The Oval, they have roared back in
a way that few people anticipated. Many fans were expecting a closer fight in
Australia, as the Darren Lehmann regime started to take effect. However, there
was an understandable feeling that Plan A was for Mitch Johnson to have one or,
just possibly, two good matches and for Michael Clarke to have a couple of big
innings and, between them, to win a Test or two. There was though no obvious
Plan B. What has happened is that the new ball pairing of Ryan Harris and Mitch
Johnson has proved (almost) irresistible. The one occasion that they had an off
day – at Port Elizabeth, on what was expected to be a sporty pitch – the side
was overwhelmed.
However, the fundamental problems
have not been cured. The top order is still very fragile, but being bailed-out
constantly by players such as Clarke and Haddin who are close to the end of
their careers. One suspects that much of Mitch Johnson’s revival and
effectiveness has been very much due to his new ball partner who is now going
under the knife and whose career has been extended nervously Test by Test. Will
Mitch be as effective without another bowler to support him who can bowl at
high pace and with great stamina? Siddle is a good third seamer. Pattinson has
promise, but seems not yet to be ready. Others are highly rated in Australia,
but are yet to show themselves to be matchwinners. The other side of the coin
though is that Brad Haddin has found a formidable lieutenant at marshalling
recoveries in Steve Smith who is scoring big runs and starting to develop as a
spinner. It will be interesting to see how Australia fare if they have to go
into a Test without both Harris and Haddin.
While South Africa and Australia were
playing out an extraordinary finish in Cape Town, England and the West Indies
were struggling to look the part in the Caribbean. Although England have won
the series, mainly thanks to adapting better to the conditions, the level of
cricket was often dire. The batting was hit or miss and the death bowling from
both sides appalling, to be charitable and describe it with no worse a term
than that. South African and Australian fans were united in being dismissive
and have every right to be. However, there are some encouraging signs for
England: having thrown away the first game, they could have fallen apart as
they did in Australia, instead they came back and won two tight finishes with a very young team,
despite wobbles that showed just how low their confidence has fallen.
Ravi Bopara held together a chase to
reach a target in a match that appeared to have slipped away in yet another
miserable collapse. Joe Root has scored 167 runs in three innings and has
centuries in the warm-up and the 3rd ODI and taken wickets. Moeen
Ali has had two useful innings and bowled well. Tredwell has been very economical
and Steve Parry a revelation. Michael Lumb also has a century and Jos Buttler
should have had one.
On the flip side, Ben Stokes showed
that he is far from the finished article with a few, expensive overs and a
grand total of 9 runs in three innings. And Luke Wright’s contribution from two
matches was one run and not a single delivery.
It is hardly a recovery, but maybe
just the beginning of better times to come.
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