SO, HOW DO ROOT’S MEN FIGHT BACK? ASK FOR A NICE LORD’S GREENTOP!
It won’t just be the loss that will trouble England — it’s the manner of the loss. Australia were 122 for eight on the first afternoon. to come back and win this test by 251 runs reflects well on them, and especially Steve Smith, but it’s a damning indictment of where England’s test team finds itself.
the game reminded me of recent Ashes tests in Australia, when the pitch is flat and there’s nothing in it for the seamers. Look at the difference in the way the teams bowled on the fourth and fifth days here.
Yes, England badly missed Jimmy Anderson, but you could see how much their three seamers needed lateral movement as Australia racked up 487 for seven in their second innings.
then, when it was Australia’s turn to bowl yesterday, they got so much more out of the surface. It wasn’t that they were a lot quicker than England’s seamers — it was more their control of line and length which gave them that bit of extra zip.
Look at the way Rory Burns and Jonny Bairstow were bumped out by Pat Cummins. or the way Peter Siddle hurried Joe Root because he bowls a good length and tries to hit the top of off stump.
Australia’s seamers have been very impressive in this game, and they’ve got power to add, with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood waiting in the wings.
Root has a problem, because he’s going to have to go to Lord’s groundsman Karl McDermott, who he criticised after the Ireland test, and say please can we have a nice greentop against Australia? Because England need the ball to move off the straight and narrow if they’re going to have any chance of removing Smith and therefore troubling Australia.
on flat pitches, not only does the extra edge of Australia’s seamers count in their favour, but their batsmen — who love to hit through the line — feel more at home. the
trouble is, Root will be going cap in hand knowing full well he’ll be without Anderson, the bowler most likely to prosper in those conditions.
In that respect, losing him proved a triple whammy. It allowed Australia to wriggle off the hook on the first day, it meant England’s other bowlers carried too big a burden, and it leaves them underpowered for Lord’s, and possibly beyond.
It was also tough for Root to see how easily nathan Lyon outbowled Moeen Ali. Lyon’s six wickets yesterday put into context how poorly Ali had bowled on Sunday in helpful conditions.
what can England do? Jofra Archer has to play, clearly, and Root might decide to use him against Smith: here, have five overs at him and give it everything.
one way or another, England have to stick to a plan against Smith — whether it’s Archer charging in, or the other bowlers drying him up outside off stump. At Edgbaston, they seemed unsure what the plan was.
the worry, though, is that the team contains so much uncertainty. Ali and Bairstow are both horribly out of nick, while Jason Roy is still trying to work out his game in red-ball cricket.
It’s no good criticising him for charging Lyon yesterday, because that style of play is why he was chosen. the only thing I’d say is that you need a Plan B if you dance down the track and find the ball isn’t quite there. For example, you can pad it away.
But Roy will take time to learn, and it’s not as if there’s an orderly queue of red-ball openers forming in county cricket.
when you throw in the fact that Rory Burns and Joe Denly are also finding their way at test level, there’s a lot of vulnerability to this England line-up.
what Root needs to tell himself is that Australia are vulnerable, too — as long as the conditions are in England’s favour. over to you, Karl McDermott.