Australia 2 England 0 after two tests – one an emphatic and humbling victory at Brisbane, the other an exciting close finish at Adelaide. So why is everyone so surprised?
Look at the facts:- England won the last Ashes series 2-1, their first Ashes victory in 18 years. It could easily have been 3-1 had they won a great game at Old Trafford, but equally they could easily have lost 2-1, 3-1 or even 4-0 as the Aussies had chances to win at Edgbaston, Trent Bridge and the Oval. And, let’s not forget this was a series when England were at the peak of their powers guided by the gifted Michael Vaughan, while Australia were struggling somewhat with form (eg defeat to Somerset) and fitness (their talisman Glenn McGrath missed the 2nd and 4th Tests). Michael Kasprovicz’s hand (which had just been removed from his bat) had denied them at Edgbaston, as had Shane Warne’s hands at The Oval, as he dropped that catch off Kevin Pietersen – Small margins, big difference.
Since then, England have struggled to match their Ashes winning form, and numerous key players have had fitness problems. They were beaten 2-0 in Pakistan, drew 1-1 against India, and followed this with a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Sri Lanka and a 3-0 win over Pakistan – the latter score flattered them a little as Pakistan also played some very good cricket and it included the infamous “forfeited test”. Australia, on the other hand, stung by their defeat in England, humiliated a rather disinterested Rest of the World side, and followed this with wins over the West Indies (3-0), South Africa (2-0 and 3-0) and Bangladesh (2-0).
Australia have moved on from 18 months ago. They have got over their Ashes defeat and are absolutely determined that the same thing should not happen again. It may be hard to imagine how, but they have improved. England, by contrast, have not. They are floundering around still trying to recreate the same formula which was so successful last time round, instead of learning from their victory in 2005, taking essential elements from it and developing a new plan, which involves some new players. This new players component is critical, because injury and illness have forced England to field a number of players over the last 16 months who were not involved in the Ashes. These are the players with the most recent experience, and in many cases they have performed very creditably – Since September 2005, Paul Collingwood (921 runs at 48.47), Alistair Cook (851 runs at 47.27), Monty Panesar (32 wickets at 32.40), Sajid Mahmood (15 wickets at 33.20), and Liam Plunkett (11 wickets at 27.09 v Sri Lanka) have all made a mark. In addition, the poor batting form of Geraint Jones gave Chris Read his chances against Pakistan and he responded with 126 runs in 3 innings at an average of 45. Andrew Strauss replaced Captain Marvel Andrew Flintoff, and did a fine job. England had found their new formula at home to Pakistan, and it appeared to work, so why the desperate desire to change the order again and return to the 2005 status quo, when all that was needed was a quick change of Flintoff in for one of the bowlers? It certainly hasn’t worked, and in a number of cases, it was never likely to. Ashley Giles did not bowl a competitive over last summer, as Monty Panesar enthralled the nation with genuine spin from his left-arm orthodox action, as well as his infectious personality – Just look at Panesar’s 1st innings impact at Perth, 5-92. Giles could never be expected to be fit, either mentally or in terms of “match fitness”, for the greatest cricketing challenge.
There are other questionable areas:-
England’s centrally contracted cricketers have been protected from playing too much cricket for their counties, which is all very well when they are playing for England, but James Anderson received nowhere near the sort of workload he required last summer in order to work on his technical issues, develop a rhythm and develop confidence, and it shows. Steve Harmison was also shy of overs as he attempted to recover from injury in the summer. Again, it shows. His situation has not been helped by shielding him from one-day cricket. I don’t remember Australia denying Glenn McGrath one-day outings or Pakistan doing the same to Shoaib Akhtar. Both men used the one-day game to help develop their art, and in the case of Akhtar, a similar out-and-out quick to Harmison, he has developed highly effective slower balls and greater variation, losing nothing of his wicket-taking ability. Crucially, Harmison and England have denied their man exposure to cricket at the sharp end, and there is no substitute for that, particularly in terms of the mental toughness it requires or the confidence it generates. His form reversal in Perth resulted from his intensive sessions with bowling coach Kevin Shine and presumably his “match time” – This is where he should have been 3 or 4 weeks ago coming into the Test Series. Matthew Hoggard was in a similar situation last summer, in that injury limited his bowling, but he is a real trier with a different mentality, and he has performed creditably on the tour so far.
What did Geraint Jones do to deserve another shot behind the stumps? It certainly didn’t include scoring runs for his County side Kent, whom he was sent back to mid-summer. And he has done little to justify his re-selection in the first two tests – his dismissal in the second innings at Adelaide was appalling.
Why did England fail to arrange more cricket before the 1st test? I know there were problems due to the timing of the Champions Trophy, but these were not insurmountable, and while Australia were preparing with hard-nosed cricket, admittedly one-day stuff, England were “preparing” at home. Their warm-up games against New South Wales and South Australia can have done little to help re-create the feel of a Test Match as England juggled with 14 players in an environment very alien to that which they encountered in the 1st and 2nd tests.
And, then there’s the question of the captaincy. I am sure Andrew Flintoff was promised the captaincy back after injury, but Andrew Strauss did such a good job in his absence that to disrupt the momentum generated against Pakistan seemed needless, particularly when Flintoff has had more than enough to think about. He has looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders at times, and his batting has reflected as much. He is shouldering a huge burden with his bowling when only just returning to full fitness, and he certainly does not look comfortable in the field. I am sure he would have seen the sense in sheltering him from the worries of running the side at such a key time.
Having said all that, small margins often determine success and failure at the top level of sport. Had Ricky Ponting been correctly adjudged LBW to Giles in the 70’s in the 1st innings at Brisbane, Australia would certainly not have gone on to amass over 600. England, meanwhile, could point to a couple of dubious decisions, including Kevin Pietersen’s LBW, and may well have given a better account of themselves if they were not faced with a daunting 602-9. They would probably not have saved the game, but would have saved face, and importantly kept confidence intact. In addition, had Andrew Flintoff decided to bat on into the 3rd day at Adelaide, he would have effectively asked Australia to bat out the remaining time over two innings to save the game, and who knows what might have happened. He would also have limited the threat of batting again on an increasingly drying wicket against the mercurial Shane Warne. Furthermore, had Ashley Giles caught Ricky Ponting on 36 in Australia’s first dig, a draw was surely the least England would have secured. Like I said:- Small margins, big difference.
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