BUMBLE ON THE TEST
BEEFY AND JIM-JAMS!
MADE my debut on the Channel 7 ‘English tea-time’ slot which I’m sharing with Jofra Archer, Graeme Swann and Stephen Fry. So I got myself a mug of tea, and, as it was on air before 5am, sat there talking to them on Zoom in my pyjamas. Who should be at the other end but Beefy! His lordship (above) was all suited and booted commentating on the Test from a Melbourne studio as nobody can get into Brisbane! It was good fun…
PREPARATION’S WHAT YOU NEED
THERE it was staring England right in the face throughout the second day. The big P word — preparation. Or complete lack of it in their case. They ran out of steam in the final session. You can’t question the effort of the bowlers but there was just nothing there. They were running on empty. Travis Head took full advantage and he reminded me of Dougie Walters in that game in Perth on the 1974-75 tour when he smashed a hundred in a session.
CLEAR PLAN TO HAVE CRACK AT JACK
I ALWAYS like to see what a team’s game-plan is and Australia’s was clear. As soon as Jack Leach came on to bowl they just tried to knock him into the city. It must have been written down on the dressing-room whiteboard. Leach didn’t do much wrong. All the batters just decided, ‘You ain’t bowling’. English finger spin just doesn’t do anything
in Australia.
ROBINSON WILTED AGAIN
OLLIE ROBINSON is a fantastic bowler and is clearly suited to Australian conditions, but, not for the first time, he wilted in the last session. Of course you can look at that lack of preparation and it was hot and sultry at the Gabba yesterday which left everyone looking exhausted. But conditioning is still one area of Robinson’s game that needs work.
LEARN FROM WARNER
DAVID WARNER (right) is 35 now but he still looks to score off every ball. So much energy and positivity. And I’m sorry to keep going back to England’s openers but they look to defend every ball. Warner, in contrast, gets the hump when he’s looking for a single and his mate up the other end won’t run. He gets a right send-off. Of course Warner had a bit of luck but that’s England’s problem. Failed opportunities cost them dearly.
OVER-RATE IS A SCANDAL
ENGLAND were a whopping 14 overs short of the 98 they were meant to bowl by the end of the second day, and for all the heat and their lack of a proper build-up, that is simply not good enough. Even a former fast bowler in Stuart Clark, over on test Match Special, agreed. I’ve given up banging on about this now. It’s a complete waste of time. Nobody’s bothered.
ON THE BLINK? FIRST, PULL PLUG OUT...
I HAVE sympathy for umpires regarding no-balls. I go back to when I did my stint in a white coat and was given advice by Dickie Bird. There were no cameras of course and Dickie said to me: ‘Your business is at the other end.’ More often than not when a big fast bowler’s front foot lands, his body is in line with it and the umpire can’t see. So technology has been the answer but the problem in Brisbane is that it’s been on the blink. The Bumble solution? Take the plug out, leave it 30 seconds and put it back in again. That should do the trick…