PACE rack as Aussies treat pop-gun bowling attack with contempt SPIN HOPE
Root staring down the barrel of an Ashes rout
JOE ROOT was left helpless and his England team horribly exposed as Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh took Australia within touching distance of Ashes glory.
The relentless duo took it in turns to prise England’s fingers off the famous urn with an unbroken partnership of 301.
Smith, unbeaten on 229, hit his highest Test score when he passed 215.
And, at the other end, Marsh strolled to his maiden Test hundred on his home ground.
After a day in the dirt at the WACA, the realisation hit home that there was actually very little England could do about Australia’s dominance.
Mystery
This England side are illequipped to cope with Test cricket overseas and on flat pitches with a Kookaburra ball with almost no sideways movement in the air.
Root’s bowlers are neither quick enough to be a threat with the new ball, nor pose enough mystery or variation to be a danger with the old one.
Their previous successes with reverse- swing have not materialised on this tour, and it means that Australia are marching purposefully towards another potential whitewash.
“I don’t think we’ve learned anything from today that we didn’t already know,” admitted assistant coach Paul Farbrace.
“We don’t have that extra pace, we haven’t got the highest quality of magical spin. We’ve had to work very hard, and it’s been a tough day. What can we do? On that wicket, we just haven’t got anything else to offer. They have got stuck in and worked hard.
“We have tried various ideas and plans. The majority of ways we have of taking wickets is to be monotonous with line and length, and we have tried that. We’ve found it hard to get the ball off the straight on good pitches.
“When it comes to flatter pitches, we don’t have that express pace. We knew that coming into the series.”
So what can England do? They can get into a battle with the opposition to try and knock them off their stride for a start. They did just that in Adelaide to Smith – and it worked.
Here the atmosphere was far more subdued and allowed the Aussie captain to stay in his happy bubble and pile up runs to his heart’s content.
Farbrace added: “We don’t need to necessarily go down the route of the verbals.
“Yes, there was a bit of a chat on the field at Adelaide and it is not a ploy necessarily to go away from that.
“We are trying very hard to get Smith out and he has played exceptionally well.”
Greatness
Even in a game in which England scored more than 400 in their first innings with two players celebrating centuries, Smith was able to record two of his own to continue his march to greatness.
There are similarities here with the final two games of last winter’s tour to India in which England registered first innings scores of 400 and 477 before losing both by an innings.
Life on tour has become the stiffest of challenges and until they can find genuine pace, real mystery or a greater variation to their attack, their chances of taking 20 wickets to win a Test match will be slim at best.
“Today was very special and it was just a great day for Australia – to just lose one wicket in the day put us into a really strong position to win this Test match.”
Shaun nicknamed ‘SOS – Son of Swampy’ had his own hundred to celebrate in Adelaide and with Geoff in the crowd for both, it has been a special time for the family.
“It was probably more special for Shaun because I can tell you two months ago he didn’t really think he would ever be playing cricket for Australia again,” added Marsh.
“I remember sitting at his house when he got selected and we were just having a cold beer together and it was pretty emotional.
“And for him to have done what he has over the last couple of matches shows you should never give up.”