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There are plenty of talking points going into the final day of the first Ashes Test. Can Australia pull off a miracle? Should the DRS rules be simplified for LBWs? Is Ed Cowan’s career over? How often will Australia waste strong positions? Has Cook lost faith in Finn?
Can Australia pull off a miracle?
It has been a Test match punctuated by shock and controversy. It wouldn’t be appropriate for it to peter out with a comfortable English win.
Will Australia cause one final resounding surprise by knocking off the required 137 runs with just four wickets in hand?
Can their strong tail prove its worth and devastate England? Yes they can. Would I bet money on it? Absolutely not.
What is certain is that the remaining batsmen Ashton Agar, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Peter Siddle are all capable of scoring Test half centuries.
But producing such an effort on a final day wicket against a surging England side is a different proposition. What are your predictions Roarers?
Australia fritter away another strong position
Thrice in this Test Australia have found themselves in command. On all three occasions they swiftly handed the ascendancy back to their foes.
After rolling England cheaply on the first day, Australia wasted their commendable work in the field by losing four wickets before the close of play.
On day three they reduced England to 5-174, a lead of just 109, before allowing Ian Bell and tail ender Stuart Broad to put England back in control.
But perhaps their most disappointing capitulation began yesterday at 2:47pm English time. Using contrasting styles of run accumulation, Australia’s new opening pair Chris Rogers and Shane Watson had England fretting as they brought their side within 227 runs of an unlikely victory.
Within three hours the Aussies had capsized, losing six for 80 to give England the chance of finishing the match by day’s end. Australia have shown encouraging signs in this Test but against quality opposition will not get away with such constant lapses.
Is Ed Cowan finished as a Test cricketer?
An oft-scorned cricketer due to his exasperating inability to convert starts into meaningful contributions, Ed Cowan may have cruelled his chances of playing in the second Test with two uncharacteristically cavalier strokes.
The dogged Tasmanian earned his position, in spite of his obvious shortcomings, because it was believed his grafting, determined style would be useful against the potent English attack.
Batting at number three he would help to shield Australia’s brittle middle order. It has not been so.
The Tasmanian arrived at the crease yesterday on a king pair, having gifted his wicket to Steven Finn in the first dig when he needlessly slashed at a full offering from the towering Englishman.
With Australia in a commanding position at 1 for 111, just 200 in arrears the over prior to the Tea break, Cowan again made a charitable donation to the Poms.
Unable to resist the temptation of a looping delivery from part time spinner Joe Root, he played yet another fatally ill-advised drive. The resultant edge lobbed to first slip and provided England a desperately-needed boost at the Tea break.
Both of Cowan’s dismissals arrived at the worst conceivable juncture for the Aussies. Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Steve Smith and Phil Hughes all have made half centuries in the match, leaving Cowan manifestly the most vulnerable member of Australia’s top six.
The Aussie selectors will surely give strong consideration to the merits of Usman Khawaja as an alternative first drop for the second Test. That may spell the end of Cowan’s career.
Should the DRS be simplified for LBW reviews?
Shane Watson exited the pitch shaking his head in disappointment after being dismissed LBW by Stuart Broad yesterday.
When Watson reviewed the decision the ball was shown by Hawkeye to be only shaving the leg stump.
Watson had no right to be miffed as the correct decision was made based on the current Decision Review System protocols.
Those rules dictate that an LBW given out by the umpire can only be overturned if Hawkeye shows the delivery missing the stumps.
Contrastingly, had Watson been given not out to the same delivery and the fielding side reviewed it they would have been unsuccessful.
This has long confounded many cricket followers – how the same delivery shown to be hitting the stumps by Hawkeye can be given out or not out depending on which team calls for the decision review.
Australian pace bowling legend Glenn McGrath, a vocal supporter of the DRS, said yesterday on Twitter that this element was its only flaw.
Is it time we simplified the DRS as it applies to LBW reviews? Should any delivery shown to be hitting the stumps by Hawkeye be an automatic dismissal on review?
Has Cook lost faith in Finn?
In a tense situation, captains turn to their most bankable bowlers. With the first Test on the line yesterday, Alastair Cook waited until the 29th over of the innings before introducing Finn.
The lanky quick promptly bowled a succession of deliveries in Cowan’s hitting zone, short and wide outside off stump.
Fortuitously, Cowan took full advantage of just one of those generous offerings but a more capable batsman would likely have reaped at least 12 runs from the over.
It is this profligacy which has long haunted Finn, who was carted for 5.3 runs per over in Australia’s first innings. Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions will be jostling for his position in the second Test.