Advantage England in first hit out with Aussies

England’s Luke Wright hits a ball from Australia’s Nathan Hauritz during the first one day international at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, England, Tuesday June 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Tom Hevezi)

Gideon Haigh writing for Cricket Australia’s website says: “The Ashes is cricket’s Stonehenge. Its origins are obscure. It was standing when we got here, and will outlast us all.” This puts last night’s one-dayer at the Rose Bowl in its proper context.

Pre-match Ponting declared “we are going to impose ourselves.” He duly won the toss and the openers Watson and Paine had more intent than actual performance.

Watson perished trying to hook and Paine inside edged trying to force. Ponting pulled the pin early, on what was more an innocuous pie down legside than a grenade, and will have to holster the hubris early in his innings.

Cameron White tried to force off the backfoot when he should have been less forceful and inside edged. This was more England playing the woodpecker role than Australia imposing themselves. Clarke and Hussey played with a pragmatism lacking in the first 25 overs. Australia scrapped to a less than imposing 7 for 267 and Clarke showed why he is Australia’s best batsman at the moment with a controlled 87 not out.

England’s reply mirrored Australia and at 98 for four it was an even contest. Ryan Harris bowled with pace and reached 96.5 MPH. He was Australia’s best and Watson proved he is not the answer to Australia’s fifth bowler. Every time he took the pace off the ball Morgan picked it like a locksmith and put it away for four.

Eoin Morgan took the game away from Australia in an innings of poise and nerveless improvisation. England has to find a place for him in their Test side. He was the difference today and, like the rest of the England team, does not fear the Aussies. His hundred at better than a run a ball was punctuated with cuts, pulls and an audacious reverse sweep. He is quick on his feet and like the other famous pirate had a broadsword to match, In the end England won with a lot to spare.

This was but a prelude to the main fare starting in November. The next four months is about honing the skills and applying the coup de grace when the cicadas are in their death throes at the height of the Australian summer.
Australia has made a significant selection for their Test squad in Usman Khawaja.

In this time of recriminations it is pleasing to see a Pakistan- born cricketer given an opportunity to press for a baggy green. It says a lot for how far we have come as a Nation. Usman has made it because of his talent and not because of the colour of his skin.

But back to the Ashes. Has anything so trivial sounding and so fragile ever been given such importance in a country’s history? It is the reason why generations of Australians and English have played the game. This is the only true and abiding rivalry in cricket. Where cricket is paramount.

The rivalry between India and Pakistan is more recent and has been subjugated to the political whims of the two countries. On occasions it has been played as the game was meant to be played. After their first meeting in nearly a year last Saturday the Indian captain Dhoni downplayed the aspect of “revenge” Too often these rivals have played with acrimony and recrimination.

The rivalry between Australia and India had its genesis in Laxman’s 281 at the Garden of Eden in Kolkata in 2001. This is when Steve Waugh’s juggernaut was stopped. But increasingly this is a rivalry calculated to maximize revenue rather than emphasise the closeness of the protagonists.

Indian fans will not be overjoyed by this assessment but then there is ample time to give this rivalry the credibility it deserves in the years to come. The rivalry will need to be defined on the pitch rather than the 80% revenue that India generates. India has yet to win a series in Australia and till they do that it is empty rhetoric to talk of great rivalries.

Sadly, the Frank Worrell Trophy has not left Jollimont for more than a decade. Lillee versus Richards and Waugh v Ambrose. That was another time and another place. Lara versus Warne. Gayle has flattered to deceive and made a mockery of the traditions that so underpinned the rivalry of Australia and the Windies.

The Ashes has a cast of thousands. Heroes and villains for the ages. Douglas Jardine who so outraged Australia’s sensibilities with his merciless barrage of Bodyline. In retrospect I see him as a supreme strategist. He had a master in his craft in Harold Larwood. You needed a bowler with pace and accuracy and Larwood,”reluctant professional” that he was, obliged his “amateur” captain.

Len Hutton’s battles with Miller, O’Reilly and Fleetwood Smith evoked this offering from David Frith: “At times he seemed the head and the spine of England’s batting”

The mysterious “spirit of cricket” has been moulded to suit each succeeding generation’s value systems. Cursory and matter of fact congratulations now give way to exuberant and some say disrespectful celebration. Merv Hughes forever changed the joy experienced at the fall of a wicket. His tongue in the unsuspecting bowler’s ear is a thought Richie Benaud would have cringed at.

And what of Benaud? The Errol Flynn of Australian cricket. The shirt unbuttoned and the upturned collar. He reclaimed the Ashes in 1958-59 and then successfully defended them twice.

Most famously at Manchester in 1961 when England were set 256 to win in 230 minutes. Ted Dexter batting at 3 scored 76 at nearly a run a ball with 14 fours and a six and at 1 for 150 had the game won. Benaud went around the wicket and bowled into Trueman’s considerable footmarks. Benaud, in the space of 13 runs dismissed Dexter (caught behind) May (bowled around his legs) Close (caught O’Neill) and Subba Row (bowled). RB got 6 and England lost by 54 runs.

Ponting and Strauss will strategise endlessly till the hostilities resume at the ‘Gabba in November. Everything they do in the next four months, including walking the dog, will be geared to getting that little edge which will determine the next keepers of the Urn.

The centenary test in 1977 saw Australia win by 45 runs the same as a hundred years previous. This is the legend of the Ashes. The rivalry is permanent. The bragging rights are temporal.