ROOT’S CLUTCHING AT STRAWS
Joe talks a good game but 5-0 is on cards
We can only hope they are right. That Joe Root, deep down, means it when he says england are in a ‘ much better place’ than at this stage of the ashes four years ago. and that Trevor Bayliss is more than just a cricketing corporal Jones when he tells us not to panic.
The alternative is too painful to contemplate. The alternative is that england are plummeting towards their third whitewash in four away ashes series, as sure as english wicket followed english wicket here yesterday.
Why should this be any different? Yes, it is devilishly hard to win in australia, but england just cannot seem to halt aussie momentum over here once the home side get on top. at least australia, beaten in the last four ashes series in england, tend to make a fight of it in alien conditions. even england’s 3-0 victory in 2013 slightly flattered them and was very soon avenged in the return series.
andrew Strauss and andy Flower’s outstanding success in australia seven years ago when, remember, they won three Tests by an innings, increasingly feels like a glorious aberration.
We all got suckered by the hope yesterday; the irrational belief that england had got australia rattled and would bat their way to one of the greatest victories in Test history. So much for that.
The hope lasted just past the dismissal of chris Woakes to the second ball of the day, until Josh Hazlewood’s second over when he sent Root packing without the skipper adding to his overnight 67.
It was all over just before ‘tea’, which again does not paint a true picture as the 20-minute interval is the first break in day-night cricket. So, this finished inside the first session of a day of such promise.
england’s captain is indicative of the batting problems. It is not enough to just reach half-centuries in australia and Root is making such a habit of it that it is stopping him fulfilling ‘great’ status.
as Root acknowledged, he has to lead by example in getting the big hundreds england desperately need if they are to have any chance in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
england scores in this series of 302, 195, 227 and 233 betray a batting side who can get away with it on the green grass of home but not here, not against this attack full of so much more pace and spin than england’s. Root, whether he will admit it or not, was wrong to insert australia in adelaide. as Michael Vaughan pointed out on BT Sport yesterday, england’s record over the last two years is far better batting first.
To bowl first here was a negative move born of the reality that england are the inferior team on flat pitches.
‘I don’t think we’re in a situation like last time here,’ insisted Root. ‘We are in a much better place. There is still a lot of confidence going into the next game and the way we went about the second innings proved we are massively in this series. The belief in the dressing room is definitely there.’
It will need to be in Perth next week in what is likely to be the last Test at the famous Waca, where england have won only once. even Strauss’s team lost there en route to their famous 3-1 triumph. Bayliss intimated that england will be unchanged, which means there will be no call for the extra pace of Mark Wood, however fit he looks with the Lions. Wood scored 51 from 52 balls and took two wickets in the Lions’ six-wicket defeat by a Western australia XI in a warm-up game in Perth yesterday.
craig Overton, to be fair, deserves to keep his place after a promising all-round debut, but question marks remain throughout the england team.
James Vince has to prove soon that he can cut out the loose shots outside off-stump that repeatedly lead to his downfall, while alastair cook must show that he is not starting to wage a battle against the dying of the light.
Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan have displayed promise without reaching the three-figure scores that are essential, while Moeen ali looks a shadow of the all-rounder who had his best summer at home with bat and ball.
Jonny Bairstow looks too low at no 7 while even Jimmy anderson and Stuart Broad, entrusted with making inroads by Root when he threw them the ball on the first morning, will have to answer why they failed to have a proper impact in the first innings. Once australia had reached 442, england were playing catch-up.
at least australia did not have it all their own way, certainly not on a cracking day four, and they are far from a vintage side with batting frailties of their own.
Steve Smith is the main reason the atmosphere has been so ugly between the teams since The Gabba and there is no question england got to him in this Test.
The australia captain admitted to a ‘difficult 24 hours’ but the nervousness he clearly felt after failing to enforce the follow- on quickly dissipated.
as long as australia’s big three fast bowlers stay fit and as long as spinner nathan Lyon maintains the form that has made him 2017’s most prolific Test bowler, australia will remain in the box seat. and Root’s verbal defiance may prove to be somewhat misplaced.