- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
I’ve only ever seen headbutt. The deliverer was a footballer, not having the best of days and deciding the bloke marking him had crossed some imaginary line, who was sent for an early bath after rearranging the facial features of the aforementioned defender.
Pretty nasty stuff and the guilty party’s lengthy suspension, as well as the recipient’s dripping nose, was indisputable evidence of it actually happening.
In stark contrast to the Cameron Bancroft and Jonny Bairstow episode of the past few days which, to those who may have just been taking a passing interest in the Ashes, must have appeared as a really crappy soap-opera.
A bloke allegedly sinks his head into an opponent (well, one who would become that), nothing is heard of it at all until it suddenly comes to light a month later, the bloke who was butted says it wasn’t anything, the bloke who butted doesn’t say anything, the former conducts a bizarre press conference in the manner of a kid holding court in a classroom, no disciplinary action is taken against the latter but he’s now not allowed out past midnight because he’s been naughty, and all onlookers are left completely bemused.
Well this one certainly is.
[latest_videos_strip category=”cricket” name=”Cricket”]
As far as the definition of a storm in a teacup goes, this is hard to beat. Nothing happens + nobody knows about it = ludicrous over reaction.
The desire to explore the periphery, and it’s scraping the barrel to even think of it as that, of a sporting event and the need to seek a different angle and this is what you end up with.
Still, the headline writers must have thought Christmas had come early.
The disappointing thing about this earth-shattering discovery was, and I’m thinking about the psychologically-scarred Bancroft here, that it took some of the gloss away from what was a fine performance.
To play in such an assured manner on his initial foray into Test cricket was the perfect example of why picking someone in a run of excellent form is sometimes a good idea.
He complemented David Warner nicely in the run chase – if its straightforward manner can allow it to be described as such – and he’ll head into the Adelaide day-night encounter in good spirits.
AAP Image/Richard Wainwright
As will the rest of his colleagues, who stood their ground during a couple of tricky periods before noticing when the door had been left slightly ajar and then charging through it.
The period on the third evening, when the slightly lacklustre efforts of the Australian seamers on the opening day were shoved to one side, showed England that if they don’t grasp what is handed to them then the uphill nature of their task will become all the more difficult.
It doesn’t take a wizard to work out that from a position of 4-246, you really have to amass more than 302 and when you reduce the opposition to 7-209 in reply, they can’t be allowed to escape to the relatively safety of 328.
If any headbutts were being served up then it was England on themselves.
Of course, it is easy to strip the contest down to such bare details and suggesting the tourists should have done one thing doesn’t take into account it isn’t against the law for Australia to provide resistance – and it really was a fantastic effort by Steve Smith – but on such shifts in momentum do results balance.
England simply aren’t the side of a few years ago, who could get on top and grind their way into the ascendancy. If they need to operate at virtually full capacity to come away with anything then such slip-ups have to be eradicated.
The method of taking your time to put up a total isn’t a bad one in theory but one has to be complemented by the other. Mitchell Starc and his fellow seamers don’t want to be brought back for a fourth spell but the required outcome isn’t achieved if the runs scored don’t exaggerate the desired effect.
And while no batsman wants to be kept out in the field when there is batting to be done, staring at a mediocre total will never sap the spirits like that of a more substantial one.
It will never win awards for the most imaginative method of playing, but you can only work with what you’ve got, and 60 per cent of their efforts in Brisbane showed what could be achieved.
But as they head south, it won’t be lost on Joe Root that his charges somehow need to locate the other 40 per cent.