This first Test between Australia and Pakistan showed the beauty of Test cricket. It is a serious examination of technique. Test cricket is not the last-minute ‘cramming’ some HSC students go through. It is knowledge as opposed to rote-learning.
Katich, Clarke and Hussey showed they had understood the theory and executed under pressure. Ponting was undone by a freakish catch after battling for 26 in the first innings and got a jaffa in the second.
Contrast this with Afridi’s batting. His team is 5 down for 83 and he comes out and scythes his way to a manic 31 off 15 balls and at a strike rate of over 200. What was he thinking? This was as bewildering as his bite of the cherry and pirouette just on a good length.
In the second innings Afridi lasted four balls before doing the moth to the light routine and holing out to Mike Hussey. Shades of Icarus and his wings of wax!
It is time to stop being romantic and calling the Pakistan team an enigma. Stigma would be more apt. All the other adjectives like unpredictable and surprising should be erased from our vocabulary when describing them. This team is predictable. Predictable in its apathy, and utterly predictable in its capitulation.
Pakistan may have trooped on the field with their own version of the Baggy Green but all it signified was a lesson not comprehended.
Natural talent without the hard work is like a mirage. It would be more helpful to Pakistan if we just castigated them for a gutless display. Perhaps they will then work harder to give us the performances we all know they are capable of. Aamer and Asif would be secretly cursing their captain.
They need curse no more. Captain Clouseau has resigned. Perhaps he has seen a replay and been embarrassed. Salman Butt seems the logical replacement as captain and one hopes that Afridi is never again considered for Test cricket.
Pakistan has the bowlers to take twenty wickets. In Butt, Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal they have Test quality batsmen. They can build around this.
Australia got lucky with the bowling of Watson and North. Johnson is caught between bowling fast and being clever. He should just accept that fast bowlers are not supposed to think. Just bowl fast. He must step up and lead the attack. Not bowl first change. And if he cannot do that then we should look elsewhere.
This bowling attack will struggle to take twenty wickets. Smith needs two years of Test match bowling to become a force. But batting him at eight is regressive. He must replace North at six.
Hauritz, when fit should come straight back in. Lords was crying out for a second quality spinner.
Bollinger showed what Test cricket is all about. He wore half a dozen on the body rather than give his wicket away. He dropped his hands and took the bat away from the ball. The 33 runs he added with Hussey illustrated that lessons had been properly understood.
So what are the implications for Test cricket from this first Test?
Firstly, given the proper conditions and pitch, Test cricket is a riveting spectacle. Every ball was a vignette of the human psyche.
To play or not to play. To go hard or with soft hands. To protect your partner or let him fend for himself. Hussey did this with a mixture of judiciousness and appropriate encouragement.
Once Bollinger had settled he let him face a full over from Gul. The man did not flinch. Every blow he took was recorded in the memory bank. He would exact his revenge when the time came.
Secondly, it is outrageous that the umpires can stop play for bad light at 11AM in the morning. The batsmen have a suit of armour that would have comforted jousters from the Medieval Ages.
Just before the second light stoppage Butt had hit the shot of the match. A blistering cover drive. There was nothing wrong with the light. For too long the issue of light has been subjected to the petty whims of captains looking for a tactical advantage with umpires acting like the arbiters of fair play.
Did they think of the spectators, at the ground or at home? Lords has some of the best floodlights in cricket. Apparently the Pakistan management refused this on the grounds that Headingley, the next venue, did not have lights.
Two different matches and removed light years from each other.
When will the ICC learn it is their duty to govern and not to wipe the snotty nose of a spoilt kid?
The Lords pitch, with the sun on it, once again showed that pitches have to have more bounce and bite. Golf has a stimpmeter that determines the pace of a green. Greens can be made slow or medium or fast paced. It is time for cricket to incorporate this and ensure pitches are at least medium to fast.
The next bit of the puzzle is the bounce of the pitch. There has been extensive work done on this and there is information available that can ensure pitches have the right amount of bounce. Sometimes bounce is more important than turn.
Thirdly, a good Test cricketer can play the shorter forms. But a good Twenty20 cricketer does not translate into a good Test cricketer.
Where to now? Haroon Lorgart spoke last week about a Test Championship final in 2012 or 2013. This is imperative and must not, again, be derailed by petty bilateral considerations so favoured by India and Australia.
India is playing Sri Lanka in Galle and like at Lords there will be no UDRS (Umpire’s Decision Review System). The ICC has just declared a profit of $80 million dollars to December 2009. They have the money to ensure every series is played with the UDRS in place.
Sri Lanka wanted it in place and India did not. In this case the ICC should have insisted India agree. India cannot be allowed to dictate what happens on the playing field. They have demonstrated they are masters away from the playing surface.
The Australian Cricketer’s Association looks set to reject the split innings format being floated by Cricket Australia. They believe that context and contest are more important. Less is more is the way to go.
There is no need to impose artificial solutions. The natural thing to do would be to schedule ‘contextual’ matches, irrespective of the format. Ensure a proper balance between bat and ball. Every match must mean something.
Spectators will no longer put up with one sided matches. And has anyone surveyed what spectators really want? How about getting the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra to play God Save the Queen and Advance Australia Fair?
Full strength beer and pies at leagues Club prices? Free public transport included in the price of the ticket? Car parking in the price of the ticket? Kids under 12 free? This is a time to give back to the lifeblood of the sport: the spectators.
Australia has two blockbuster home series in 2010 and 2011. England and India. Will these be a celebration or another attempt at eye-gouging long suffering spectators?
Will the broadcasters continue to shamelessly, super-impose the next episode of Underbelly as Ponting is nearing his 40th Test century? Will they continue to flog the one millionth ‘limited edition’ print of ‘Wincibles’?
Australia has an opportunity in the next two summers to show the world that Test cricket remains the jewel in cricket’s much maligned crown. This is an examination we must not fail.
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