England get the plot right in Ashes tune-up
Visitors have to thank head coach Bayliss for getting it right this time
Given all the coaches, experts and analysts employed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, it is remarkable nobody has put two and two together — until now. Yes, England have realised at long last that they almost invariably lose the Brisbane Test if they do not play — and acclimatise — in Queensland first.
The first Ashes Test venue, the Gabba in Brisbane, is Australia’s fortress. It is to them what Karachi was to Pakistan, and Bridgetown to West Indies. Australia have not lost there since 1988, when West Indies were in their prime. That gives them an unbeaten run of 28 Tests, only seven of them drawn, at the “Gabbatoir”.
England’s record in Brisbane is not brilliant but still passable: in 16 Tests, they have won five (one at the Exhibition Ground in 192829), lost seven and drawn four. At the least, England on these occasions gave themselves a chance.
On their past three tours, however, as in the early 1990s, England have allowed themselves to be sidetracked in their preparations — usually to Tasmania, when it is still springtime, the winds are whipping and the temperature is barely warmer than Chester-le-Street.
England’s 2006-07 tour was a classic example of how not to prepare for an opening Ashes Test. They flew in from Adelaide on a Monday evening, there to meet their wives, girlfriends and jet-lagged children, who had just flown from England. On Tuesday they had what was the first sight of the Gabba for some of them, and their first practice. On Thursday morning a busload of silent, sleep-deprived England players turned up, ripe for the roasting.
The only time England have escaped defeat at the Gabba after failing to play first in Queensland was in 2010-11, but even then England’s Test bowlers were sent ahead to Brisbane five days early to acclimatise, while the rest of the squad beat Australia ‘A’ in Hobart. And the first three days of that opening Test went according to the Australian formula until Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott scored centuries to draw.
For getting it right this time, England have mainly Trevor Bayliss, their head coach, to thank. He wanted a preparatory game in Queensland, whereas Australian officials would have preferred England to play their second match against their Cricket Australia XI — the same bunch of kids England beat by 192 runs in Adelaide — in a nice congenial venue, like Australia’s research station in Antarctica.