Brendon McCullum’s verdict on Aussies’ dismal start
KEEP GOING, ENGLAND
England were awesome at Cardiff and made brave decisions from the moment alastair Cook chose to bat in tricky conditions. They went at australia throughout the game.
It’s a style of play they need to stick with, and they’ve got the personnel to do it — young guys who play that kind of cricket naturally, and enough experience to shore things up if they start to go wrong. England will come a cropper at times but this style of play will deliver them results. They need to stick with it.
CAPTAIN COOK
I was delighted with the way he led his side, especially after some people had wondered how pro-active he might be. His field placings were excellent and the line and length of his bowlers suggested they were well prepared.
There were a couple of moments that stood out for me. I liked the way Cook brought stuart Broad on as soon as Michael Clarke came out to bat — Broad’s got him out a few times in Tests and this told Clarke that Cook was well aware of it.
Cook also did well to give Moeen ali a chance to get back into the game with the ball by handing him the last over before lunch on the fourth day. His first overs had been expensive but he trapped david warner straight away and his confidence returned.
Cook also kept catchers in key positions. when he had australia on the run, he reinforced England’s dominance with his field placings. Throughout he showed aggressive intent. and you could see from the way the players responded when they held catches how much it meant to them.
1D AUSSIES
By contrast, I felt the australians were one- dimensional at times. I think they reckoned Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell starc would rip out the poles with a combination of bouncers followed by yorkers. But it wasn’t easy to do that on a surface like Cardiff.
It was interesting to see the comments from their coach darren lehmann, who said he wanted some pace and bounce in the pitches. But what was he expecting? when you play away from home in international cricket you have to adapt to conditions. australian pitches have more life in them, Indian pitches help the spinners. It’s the beauty of international cricket.
what the great australian teams in the past did so well was adapt to whatever was put in front of them.
Make no mistake, this australian team will bounce back because they have some quality players. But it’s no secret on the international circuit that they’re less comfortable when the pitches are on the sloww side. and they’d be mad to expectct England to accommodate them.
SHOW RESPECT, WARNER
davId warnEr is a fine player,r, but I was disappointed to see someme of the petulance on show in Cardiff. ff. when Joe root got his hundred,d, warner just stood there with hisis arms folded. There was no applause.
Then there was the way he and nathan lyon tried to upset Ben stokes’s routine, in which he likes to sweep his bat around the crease. It’s a petulance that doesn’t need to be there. australia are a better team than that. It made me wonder if their focus was always on stuff they could control.
warner said recently that he was going to try to change his ways. It was great to hear, but you’ve got to live it, too. some of the great australians — guys like shane warne, ricky Ponting, adam gilchrist, Mike Hussey — were hard customers on the field. But if you had success against them, they’d go out of their way to acknowledge it.
I understand the way warner’s trying to play but he needs to show more respect. He might look back on his career and have a few regrets about the way he carries on. The danger is that people won’t think about his cricket as much as they should.
WATSON NEEDS A HUG
I fEEl a bit for shane watson. He’s the kind of cricketer who needs a bit of love so I was surprised to hear lehmann say that it’s going to be neck and neck for lord’s between watson and Mitchell Marsh. That’s not going to fill him with confidence.
I know that’s the aussie way of going about things but watson is still a very good player — he just needs an arm around him.
MOVE ROOT TO No 3
wHEn we played England earlier in the summer we didn’t really spot a chink in root’s armour. His two failures in the Headingley Test were a bit unlucky: he nicked one in the first innings when the ball was swinging under lights, then he hit the spinner straight into the chest of short leg in the second.
all you have to remember is that everyone’s susceptible early, so you have to make sure your first five to 10 balls are bang on. and it helps if you hold on to the edges.
If there is a slight weakness, it’s the one that England have exposed in steve smith: aim for a sixthstump line, pack the offside with fielders and play a patience game. guys like root and smith like to feel bat on ball, so you have to make them wait for their chance.
I’d actually move root up two places to no 3. I know he’s scoring runs at no 5 and I doubt they’ll change that. But I like to have my best player at first drop, just like new Zealand do with Kane williamson, because they can dictate the game from there.
WHICH MITCH?
lord’s won’t be as slow as Cardiff and a lot could depend on which Mitchell Johnson shows up. sometimes it doesn’t matter how well you play against him. If he’s bowling well, he’ll knock you over. If not, there’ll be scoring opportunities. He’ll keep bowling wickettaking deliveries and he’ll still be hostile.
lord’s is a big Test for Johnson and for australia. If England can keep him at bay, it will have a significant impact on this series. I’m expecting another cracking Test.
BEWARE THE SLOPE
lord’s is so different to any other cricket ground because of the slope, which runs downhill from left to right as you look out from the pavilion and measures two-and-a-half metres. you have to think carefully about your bowling options because it can all depend on their rhythm and whether they want to swing it against the slope or down it. Josh
Hazlewood could be a handful from the Pavilion End. He may bowl too straight, because the ball will naturally come down the slope, but if he finds his line and length early he will niggle around off stump which can be hard for a batsman to judge at Lord’s. Mark Wood did that well against us in May.
I’d bowl Johnson from the Pavilion End and Starc — assum- ing he’s fit — from the Nursery End, because he could swing it back up the slope.
You also need to get your slips positioned properly — further apart if the ball’s coming down the slope, much closer if it’s going up. And always bear in mind that the game can move on quickly at Lord’s, depending on overhead conditions. Not that either side will need much encouragement!