hungry aussies on the prowl...
Adam Collins says England have it all to do to wipe away the memory of their 2013/14 hammering Down Under...
Teams that beat Australia in Australia have a certain look and feel about them. Given it has only occurred three times in the better part of three decades, the degree of difficulty is clear. Completing the mighty task invariably earns the side the tag as best in the world. Rankings may not immediately reflect that – England took another year to top the pops after winning in 2010-11 – but there was no doubting the primacy of Andrew Strauss’ side from that point on. But this England, evidently, is not that.
And it’s a shame... for this looked to have the makings of an almost-mythical close Down Under Ashes series. There hasn’t been one of those in a couple of generations. Australia, in disarray themselves when South Africa decimated them in November last year, looked ripe for a plucky England outfit. Even if mostly it felt like a couple of inexperienced teams were only ready to fumble around in the dark, led by two skippers yet to oversee an Ashes Test series after the old-and-jaded set who travelled to these shores in 2015 were systematically retired or retrenched.
But the more we see of this England team, the less equipped they appear. As Nasser Hussain made plain to Cricket Writers on TV last Sunday, how can you travel to Australia with two of your top three so precariously placed? The former England captain went on to describe the selection as “abysmal” – and he knows a thing or two about that in the series scrutinised more than any in our game.
South Africa boast a formidable seam attack who were nearing the peak of their powers at different periods during the Trent Bridge Test. But what England have coming up in Australia is different gravy. Make no mistake, if the Baggy Greens can field a battery of Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in the same Test XI, it will be the most formidable quartet assembled since Marshall, Garner, Holding and Roberts.
That the first Test will be played at the Gabba only sharpens that point, and increases the chances of the four quicks – who all bowl above 90mph – showing up on the team sheet in that opener. It’s close to three decades since the hosts lost there for a reason.
That England have only one bowler who can clear 90mph consistently, Mark Wood, speaks volumes. As does the faith being shown in him to win Tests doing just that by talk of nursing him to the starting line in Brisbane. High class as he has looked periodically since returning from an ongoing injury lay-off, he was short of penetrative menace at Trent Bridge.
Then there’s the small matter of taking 20 Australian wickets when four of those will be Steve Smith and David Warner. For the former, he does it anywhere and everywhere; 20 Test tons to his name by the age of just 28 in just 54 Tests. All at an offensive average of 61. The latter has 14 of his 18 Test centuries on home soil, collecting those at 59 apiece. Good luck with that.
Home is where the heart is for Usman Khawaja and Nathan Lyon as well, both performing auxiliary roles in this side as it currently reads, but saving their best for their local summer months. Then there are the hungry newcomers, Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw, two inspired selections who were ready-made for long Test careers from the moment they arrived.
The way the England batsmen have taken to their task with the bat has a modern familiarity to it.When Michael Clarke experienced his terminal run of form in 2015 he said the harder it got, the better the bowling, the harder he swung. It didn’t end well.Watching Root’s men, there’s a similar pattern. Australia went to India desperate to show they could adapt to conditions that weren’t to their liking. England could do well to take a leaf from this book. Cricket laced candour can be some of the most effective.
In the aftermath of the Nottingham debacle, Root cited the struggle to bat time was in part due to the “amount of white-ball cricket we play and the crossover”. But that hardly stacks up. Professionals have been bouncing between formats for decades. If anything, that points to a mental fragility rather than a technical one.
In a similar way, so does England’s scattergun use of DRS.“I’ve always been terrible,” said Root of his early issues deploying technology. He sure is.
Whimsy batting is seldom winning batting in Australia.When Alastair Cook, Strauss and Jonathan Trott were running up 500-1 at Brisbane in 2010 – setting the tone for the series triumph that followed – it was through squeezing the life from the attack. Now, they are defined by what Hussain describes as a “rubbish brand of cricket”. Michael Vaughan added that it demonstrates a lack of respect for the longest form of the game. Both are correct with their points.
Four years after that stunning series win in Australia, a similar XI arrived exhausted. After that humbling whitewash, the experience leaving the ranks has been replaced by a chronic inconsistency; a side lacking in brawn above the shoulders.
“I wish I could explain it, as it has happened over the last few years,” lamented Root.“We put in one good game and win and then a poor game and lose well.”
Plainly, this doesn’t happen to teams ready to be the best.
Yet England could yet still be the beneficiary of Australia’s own messy vision of division. Every day the pay dispute drags out is another where the gap between administrators and players grows. At least they are at the table, and finally down to a bit of old-fashioned horse-trading between the parties. But sources close to negotiations told The
Cricket Paper during the week that the gap remains even bigger than what public posturing would suggest. It might not be the way Root and co want to claim the advantage, but with how they are looking four months out from their biggest test, they’ll surely take it.
It’s a shame... this looked to have the makings of an almost-mythical close Down Under Ashes series. There hasn’t been one of those in generations