‘We’ve no extra pace or magic spin, and on that wicket, we’ve nothing else to offer’
Coach’s candid admission
PAUL FARBRACE surveyed the wreckage of a new England Ashes low and attempted to absolve a fatigued bowling attack of blame.
England’s assistant coach argued that Joe Root’s team simply never recovered from being knocked sideways by the loss of six wickets for 35 runs on the second morning.
‘This has been a pattern of the series. We have got in good positions and we have either not been good enough or they have been better and taken the initiative away,’ said Farbrace, after Australia added 346 runs for the loss of just Shaun Marsh on the third day.
‘It was very disappointing to be in a position where 550 looked a good score for us. Not getting there does knock the stuffing out of you a bit. We have not lacked effort, it’s just that on that wicket, we haven’t got anything else to offer.
‘I don’t think we’ve learned anything here that we didn’t already know. We don’t have that extra pace, we haven’t got the highest quality of magical spin. We’ve got what we’ve got, and we feel we have managed to get stuck in and compete as hard as possible. It was exceptionally tough for our bowlers.’
Especially so when bowling to Australia captain Steve Smith, a batsman with legs like Chaplin but hands like Chopin.
Once again England had no answer to this whirl of perpetual motion at the crease, as they conceded their eighth 500-plus total in two and a half years under their Australian coach Trevor Bayliss.
‘What can we do? We have tried various ideas and plans. The majority of ways we have of taking wickets with the attack we have is to be monotonous with line and length, and we’ve tried that,’ added Farbrace.
‘We thought the cracks might open up a bit more. There was a little bit of variable bounce [on day two], but it hasn’t been the case today. It’s bounced nicely off the middle of the bat.
‘We have tried various plans for all of their batters and some have worked. We’ve had a little bit of success but with Smith we haven’t.’
In Adelaide, their approach to facing Test cricket’s top gun was to be aggressive with both words and actions. Here on the country’s fastest, bounciest pitch that attitude was conspicuous by its absence. 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 was not necessarily a ploy to go away from that.
‘Equally, it’s not been something we have talked openly about — getting stuck into him or into a heated battle.
‘When you have had a day like this it’s very easy to have spells where you look like the wheels have come off completely. We think we backed our bowlers up pretty well, they have been very honest, toiled away with what they have got.
‘We have got two more days, and we have got to get stuck in and play exceptionally well.
‘We have got to believe... show some guts and determination... (and) fight as hard as we possibly can.’