It’s just not ‘quicket’: England win by knockout
In the Trent Bridge pavilion, the image was verily Victorian, England on the top balcony, Australia the bottom, upstairs and downstairs, rulers and ruled. But if you studied both perches, you might have discerned one egalitarian sentiment in common: both were a little dumbfounded by what had just happened.
Downstairs, Australian coach Darren Lehmann did not once take his eyes off the ceremonies and the celebrations. He might have been in a trance. But upstairs, when England’s latest hero Ben Stokes, was mentioned, he did not appear to recognise his own name. It was as if all of this had happened to someone else.
The last twist was that there was no twist. England had been very good at Edgbaston and even better at Trent Bridge. Thirty-nine minutes into day three, it was all over, and the fans were sauntering off for a Saturday lunch of fish and chips and Ashes. It has been this way all summer. Each of the first three tests was more or less won the on first day. The fourth test was won in the first hour. It is as if cricket is being played not to a schedule, but a deadline.
It can be bewildering. Four months ago, Michael Clarke was a grandee. Now he is a gonner. Four weeks ago, Steve Smith was the No 1 ranked batsman in the world. Now Joe Root is. In a bowlers’ series, his batting has been upstairs to everyone else’s downstairs.
England has astounded themselves. Three months ago, they lost a match to the West Indies and could manage only a draw in the series. Now they had crushed Australia. In the formalities, England captain Alastair Cook admitted that this triumph had arrived sooner than he thought possible.
‘‘I didn’t think we were quite ready to win the Ashes at the beginning, because I thought you needed a group of players who were match-hardened,’’ he said. But the guys have surprised me. They have made big steps, from guys with little experience to match-winners for England.’’
Cook thanked coach Trevor Bayliss, but also sacked coach, Peter Moores. Man-of-the-match Stuart Broad thanked bowling coach Otis Gibson, but also recently departed bowling coach David Saker. No sooner had the old administration cleaned out their desks than the new one was setting the Ashes urn on the mantlepiece.
This is what happens in the era of ‘quicket’. Recently, the ICC voted down a proposal to limit test matches to four days. Soon, they might have to pass a decree that tests last at least four days. It might be disorienting, but as Broad noted, no one can complain it is not exciting.
Besides, it is the way cricketers are taught to play now, and the only way most know how, and soon enough, it will be the only way anyone remembers. In this series, even Chris Rogers is hurtling along at 60 runs per hundred balls. Cook still is puttering along at 46, a rate that belongs in a museum. But he does have the Ashes, and the last laugh.
In this new cricket millieu, if you don’t try to stay ahead of the game, it might pass you by, giving you a dig in the ribs as you go. England changed.
It raises the possibility that Australia rested on their laurels, just for a minute. Australia will look at selection policy. They might also look at programming – they had only two weeks in the country before the first test – and hubris. Pre-series, Steve Smith said: ‘‘I don’t think they’ll come close to us, to be honest.’’
Fundamentally, Australia have not coped with English conditions. Australians still spend time in county cricket as per long tradition, but don’t come as young and stay as long; visa restrictions and clashing timetables prevent it. At times in the last two tests, the Australians have looked like babes in the woods.