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If there was a worse way of starting this latest instalment of The Ashes, I can’t imagine that Australia’s middle order collapsing either side of lunch would have featured too far down many lists.
Expert colleague Cam Rose summed up things perfectly in a series of tweets on Wednesday afternoon, highlighting what’s becoming a bit of a bad habit of the Australian side in recent times.
@camtherose: Our problem isn’t just weak batting, but a staggering inability to prevent collapses. Until it stops, hope of a recovery is forlorn.
And…
@camtherose: In the last series alone, we had separate collapses of 5/9, 5/53, 9/62, 5/28, 6/65, 7/50 and 6/51. Fix that, and we can compete.
Therefore, it would be fair to say that Cam would have been neither impressed, nor surprised to see Australia lose 4/29 in the space of eleven overs just prior to, and after lunch on Day 1 at the ‘Gabba in Brisbane yesterday.
Much of the discussion in yesterday’s Live Lunch Q&A centred on Shane Watson’s dismissal in the over before lunch, where he again wafted at one outside off stump that just didn’t need to be played at ever, never mind four balls from a break.
To be fair, Watson was hardly alone in the collapse, even if he did initiate it. Michael Clarke, David Warner, and George Bailey were the three wickets immediately after lunch, where Australia slumped to be 5/100 at the time. Steve Smith was out 32 runs later, at 6/132.
Of those wickets, and we can throw Chris Rogers’ dismissal into the mix here, too, for the sake of discussion, only Bailey’s and Smith’s could really be marked down as classic first day ‘Gabba wickets.
Both players were certainly guilty of playing down the wrong line, but in both cases, the ball bounced more off a decent length than it had been for the morning session.
Again, there’s little argument that Bailey and Smith could’ve played the delivery better, but they were just about perfect deliveries for the ‘Gabba, where the length will draw the batsman into a shot which is then completely undone by the bounce.
Smith even withdrew his bottom hand from the bat, suggesting it really did ‘get big on him’.
The same can’t, however, be said for the first four wickets, all falling to Stuart Broad.
From Rogers at 1/12 to Warner at 4/83, and particularly the last three of those, the batsmen were guilty of putting the bat in places it just didn’t need to be.
Rogers got a lifting delivery from Broad, but suffered the consequences of his feet and hands going in different directions.
While his feet moved him outside the line of the ball, and ultimately left the ground completely, his hands proceeded to follow the line of the ball, nicking to Ian Bell in the gully.
While my initial thought was there wasn’t much Rogers could do about the delivery, subsequent replays showed just how much he contributed to his own demise.
Watson’s waft was just needless, and he knew it, muttering “oh, no” as soon as he made contact.
Clarke offered the England quicks the blueprint for how to bowl to him this series.
If he thinks he’s going to get anything other than back-of-a-length deliveries rising into his ribcage, he has another thing coming.
It’s been widely reported how much work he’d been doing against the shorter ball in the build-up, but you have to wonder how much he did against that uncomfortable ball into the midriff.
Warner either should have gone much harder at his ball from Broad and cleared the infield properly, or just left it alone.
Up until that point, Warner had been batting quite well to the England quicks and Graeme Swann alike; simultaneously watchful and aggressive.
Broad had his tail up by this stage, and after a nervous first spell came back strongly to wreck carnage on the Australian middle order in the afternoon session.
While Smith repelled the threats for a while, ultimately, the rescue mission was left to Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson, who combined deep into the last session of the day to add 114 for the seventh wicket as the pitch flattened out.
Johnson would fall to the new ball just before the close, but his 64 and Haddin’s unbeaten 78 were very happy reminders of what both have been long capable of, but have seldom shown in recent seasons.
Haddin, especially, needs a big series if he wants to fulfil his stated goal of playing through to the 2015 World Cup.
Since his last ‘Gabba innings – 80 against New Zealand in 2011 – this was only Haddin’s fourth score above 40 in twenty innings.
Like Johnson, hopefully runs will breed confidence in the more important parts of Haddin’s game.
Australia finished the day 8/273, and considering the position they were in, they’ve done very well to get much beyond 200, let alone nudging 300.
Another fifty or more runs tomorrow will certainly give the Australian bowlers something to defend, but they will have to bowl with great discipline and great purpose as the batting conditions only improve.
The middle order collapse was far from ideal, but this Test is not an automatic write off, either.
Back in 2010, England lost their last 6/63 to be all out 260, and then salvaged a draw and major series momentum by declaring one down for 517 in their second innings.
Haddin and Mike Hussey similarly rescued Australia’s first innings with a 307-run sixth wicket partnership.
At Trent Bridge in July, England lost their last 6/35 to be all out 215. And still won the Test.
Stuart Broad finished the first day with the honours, and he really did bowl superbly well to finish with 5/65 from twenty overs.
It was Broad’s eleventh five-wicket haul for his career, and his fifth for 2013 alone, where he’s also the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket this year.
It was a pretty fair reply to the Courier-Mail-led reception Brisbane had turned on for him, too.
As well as Broad bowled, Australia has to believe this Test is still theirs to win, and go on with the late order fight shown after the early collapse.
And if they can’t, then at least we already know to blame Ben Dorries.