As Australia try to regain the urn this summer, can cricket itself rise from the ashes? A series between Test cricket’s fourth- and fifth-ranked sides has never carried such significance.
The sport has been torn apart by violent political attacks, corruption, administrative in-fighting, corporate greed and the increasing challenge of making five-day contests relevant for time-poor parents and their twittering, iPod-clad youngsters.
Huge crowds, exciting strokeplay, big personalities, winning cricket. It sounds like a tall order for Australia, who no longer rule the game.
Ricky Ponting’s men go into the five-Test series against England with question marks over the home side’s captaincy, batting and bowling.
The Andrew Strauss-led England squad have arrived confident of claiming their first Ashes series win Down Under since 1986-87.
England quick Stuart Broad is already talking up the team’s hopes of rising from fourth to be world No. 1, while Australia are coming off three consecutive Test defeats for the first time since 1988.
Add to that the uncertainty over the playing futures of middle-order batsmen Marcus North and Mike Hussey and doubts over Ponting’s captaincy and it’s no wonder England’s players couldn’t hide their delight at the dramas in the Australian camp.
Emerging batting talents Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson – and spinners Steve Smith and Xavier Doherty – have been included in a super-sized 17-man first Test squad although Australia’s selectors appear set to stick with their ageing middle order, at least for the first Test.
But Hussey and North know they are under intense scrutiny.
In contrast, England’s most damaging batsman Kevin Pietersen, who averaged 54.44 in Australia four years ago, has shaken off a form slump.
The big-hitting right-hander boasts that he’s “on fire”.
England batsman Paul Collingwood grinned when asked about Australia’s recent troubles.
“Let’s be honest, the more games they lose then obviously the better it is for us,” he said in Perth.
“The more games they do lose, confidence levels may go down.”
Collingwood claims England are not reading too much into Australia’s poor form, but there’s no doubt brash young paceman Broad will be aggressively taunting the Aussies, just like his dad Chris did 24 years ago with the bat.
Broad will no doubt try to bounce out Test cricket’s second-leading runscorer Ponting and expose Australia’s middle order.
As Cricket Australia’s selectors try to fend off criticism about the need for more youth in the side, CA’s administrators are also desperate for success on the balance sheet.
No matter how many times the “full house” sign goes up during the Ashes series, the knockers will be in full voice about the decline of the game.
Spot-fixing allegations during Pakistan’s recent tour of England haven’t helped. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer have been suspended and suspicions remain over Pakistan’s batting collapse in the Sydney Test of January 2010.
CA chief James Sutherland says the Ashes series is “incredibly important” for the health of the sport.
“The speculation about corruption in the game over the course of this winter has been unfortunate and I think this summer will serve as a reminder that the great game is alive and well,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland has received plenty of advice about how to handle selection, scheduling three forms of the game and other issues.
“I understand there might be some concerns about cricket,” he said.
“But I defy anyone to come and talk to me about that when the Ashes are underway and the level of public interest in the game is at basically an all-time high.”
For Ponting, who last year became the first Australian skipper in more than a century to lose two Ashes series in England, defeat on home soil could be the final nail in the coffin of his captaincy.
All-time great bowlers such as such Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath aren’t at Ponting’s disposal like they were four years ago when Australia regained the urn with a 5-0 whitewash.
A match-winner on his good days and a buffet bowler at his worst, Mitchell Johnson leads an inconsistent Australian attack.
Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch warns England are stronger than when they regained the Ashes in 2009.
Winning 5-0 looks a long way off for Australia this summer.
The home side would gladly take a 3-2 victory, with a one-wicket triumph on day five of the fifth Test at the SCG.
That wouldn’t hurt the attendance figures either, and at least we’ll know everyone is trying this time.
Despite the question marks over the Australian team, fans are getting right behind them with their hard-earned cash, making the home side firm favourites with the bookies.
That may be a simple assessment of England’s history of failure Down Under, or it could be simply the full weight of the nation venting its fury at the Poms once again.
As a fan famously yelled to England captain Douglas Jardine in the field during the Bodyline Tour of 1932-33: “Leave our flies alone, Jardine!”
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