Ashes 2017/18: 1st and 2nd ODIs - Cricket Through The Looking Glass

 

Ashes 2017/18: 1^st and 2^nd ODIs

Cricket Through The Looking Glass

January 19^th 2017

It has been an odd week.

The Crown Prosecution Service decides to prosecute Ben Stokes for Affray. This is a serious offence that can be tried in a Magistrates Court (3 magistrates instead of a jury) with a maximum sentence of six months in prison, or it can be sent for trial to a Crown Court for trial by jury with a sentence of up to three years. Stokes’s case has been sent to Bristol Magistrates Court so, with the possibility that the case might take a year or more to be heard, the ECB decided to re-commission Stokes when many fans and pundits thought that maybe he would not play again for England.

Significantly, Stokes will not go to Australia for the end of the ODI series and the T20s that follow; he will go for the follow-up tour of New Zealand where the press and the public are less hostile and the media tend to be far thinner on the ground anyway.

It is fair to say that not everyone favoured the decision and the ECB committee was deeply split. However, restraint of trade and maintaining a presumption of innocence were powerful arguments. Stokes has already been punished severely by missing a significant part of the ODI series against West Indies and the whole tour of Australia and stopping him playing while maintaining the image that he has not been convicted without trial, could be hard to justify in the courts.

Could it possibly be coincidence that the day after Ben Stokes’s date of return – February 20^th – was announced, it was announced that this same date he would be required to present himself in court in Bristol?

It is possible that Stokes could manage to negotiate a change in date. He is going to contest the charge. It is also quite possible that the magistrates will refuse to accommodate him, media personality or not. It is also possible that he may enter the court on foot and leave it in a prison van, thus halting his return to the England side at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.

Watch this space. This one may run and run.

So, have England been further distracted? After all, in 2013/14 they lost all five Tests, lost the ODIs 4-1 and the T20s 3-0. Two of the ODIs were very, very close, but, of thirteen international matches on the tour, England won but one. They then went to the Caribbean for a T20 series… and lost that too. In other words, losing became a habit and the Australians were in no mood to let up even when the Ashes were won. It was thus not surprising that the book-makers had Australia firm favourites for the first two ODIs.

Yes, we expected a one-sided ODI series. And boy have we got it. A whitewash looks a pretty good bet. The novelty is that it is England who look to have a pretty good chance of imposing it. Yes, this is a mirror image of the Test series. Both games have looked closer on paper than they were on the pitch. England chased a ground record 305 to win at Melbourne and got them with some comfort. And, at Brisbane, despite a late wobble, a wholly inadequate 270-9 by Australia was chased down with more than five overs to spare. Australia look to need to set 330-340 to test England and are getting nowhere near that.

Even the Australian successes are a mark of their failure. Aaron Finch has scored 107 and 106 and both matches have been lost. Both innings though have been at under a run-a-ball: he just has not been able to accelerate and get away from England. In fact, today, until a late thrash from Carey, no one had come close to scoring at a run-a-ball and even Carey’s innings was 27 from 24. To have set an adequate target, someone had to score at 150 and get the scoreboard accelerating but, in a batting-heavy line-up, no one could. In the first game, Australia were 196-3 with 15 overs to go: a platform for 330+? Australia simply do not have that kind of vision. Only Stoinis, with 60 from 40 balls, threatened to play the sort of match-changing innings that we have associated with Australia and even he could not see it through. The last three overs produced 19 runs and three wickets. Today, seeing the way the wind was blowing, the CricInfo commentator almost begged for 50 from the last 4 overs to make a game of it: he got 20. Today, Bairstow, Hales, Buttler and Woakes all made significant contributions and all scored faster than Finch. It did not matter than Root’s innings was relatively slow: he anchored as runs came in a flood at the other end.

Part of the difference is the taming, at least thus far of Sir Donald Smith. Caught behind off Adil Rashid in the first game and LBW to Root today, he has made two starts, but not been allowed to get away either time. An important part though has been England’s spin pairing. Adil Rashid has been expensive but taken match-changing wickets. Eoin Morgan has been prepared to see him go for some runs in return for vital breakthroughs and so far his wickets have been Smith, Mitch Marsh (twice) and Stoinis. Today, a handy 209-3 with 10 overs to go, became 216-6 as Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid turned the match on its head. And there hangs a tail: Moeen Ali, 17-0-70-2 – of the bowlers who have bowled at least ten overs in the two games, comfortably the most economical on either side, with his nearest challenger Joe Root, who has only bowled today.

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are forming a middle over stranglehold with the ball. And so effective has Adil Rashid been that he was even entrusted with the ball in the final overs in the first game. Moeen looks a totally different player to the sad, lonely figure of the Tests. Add to it that the wicket-taking menace of Mitch Starc is being countered by the menace of Liam Plunkett and suddenly it looks like a different pair of sides. Starc has more wickets at a better average and strike rate, but Plunkett has better economy.

Steve Smith has admitted that Australia are well off the pace and lacking answers and will not have felt in any way relieved by Eoin Morgan stating that England have been well short of their best. And, truth be told, they have not batted anywhere near as well as they can, mainly due to their minimal preparation. With the third game back-to-back with the second, England should start to get into their stride. If they do, you would not bet against 5-0. As it is, Australia have to win the third match to keep the series alive. And you do not know how good it is to say that.