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Did Australia get more out of this Test? What changes will be made to the lineups? Should the DRS have been man of the match? Has Haddin saved his bacon? How will Australia attempt to counter Anderson?
How can Australia counter Anderson?
James Anderson is an irresistible force. The England spearhead’s effectiveness is rarely blunted regardless of the state of the pitch, the state of the ball or the state of the match.
With the new cherry he is capable of gaining curve in both directions as well as generous seam movement thanks to deft changes in his wrist position and release point.
Once the ball sheds its youthful lustre, Anderson retains his potency by bounding to the crease with his left hand masking the ball in order to leave the batsman guessing about the identity of the next delivery.
His herculean spell of 13 overs, 3 for 29 to start the fifth day brought his side to the brink of victory. When the other bowlers could not finish what he started, the sublime swing merchant returned to dash Australia’s hopes of a miraculous triumph.
Just how can Australia stop Anderson from making similar inroads throughout the series?
Do they instruct their stroke makers to attack him in an effort to disrupt his rhythm? Or do their batsmen stonewall incessantly while going hard at the other bowlers?
Will Australia take more out of this match?
The overwhelming majority of cricket pundits and followers considered Australia not to have even the faintest chance of beating England in this series.
Yet, save for a string of line-ball decisions which went against them, Australia could be holding a 1-0 lead in this series.
England were exposed yesterday for their over-reliance on James Anderson and skipper Alastair Cook’s unimaginative, reactive tactics.
The Aussies have tasted blood and will enter the second Test with good reason to be confident. They managed to rattle the favourites despite being well below their best both with ball and willow.
But they still have giant concerns over the continued frailty of their batting, particularly when confronted with the moving ball.
So which side will take more out of this epic contest?
Australia will feel they have exposed numerous weaknesses in the English side which can be exploited over the next nine Tests.
England, meanwhile, have the benefit of receiving a resounding wake-up call without the sickening feeling of defeat.
I would wager that once the exaggerated emotions subside, Australia will identify more positives out of this contest than England will.
What changes will Australia make??
Australia crave consistency in the makeup of their side but it would not surprise to see them make a change for the next Test.
The man most vulnerable to receiving dreadful news from the selectors would appear to be Ed Cowan. Displaced from his opening role, Cowan was tasked with batting for time and frustrating England’s incisive attack at first drop.
Instead he twice donated his wicket to England playing cavalier strokes at inopportune moments.
After 18 Tests in as many months, Cowan’s time may be up. He has been given more opportunities than most State batsman could conjure up in a dream.
If Australia do drop Cowan, their chosen replacement will indicate much about the team management’s mindset.
The conservative option is Queenslander Usman Khawaja, who has a reputation for taming pace attacks on lively decks at State level.
The gamble would be to select bombastic former opener David Warner, recently banished from the one day side for clouting English batsman Joe Root in a nocturnal stoush.
Khawaja is to my mind the superior option at first drop, a role which will require a steady hand this series against the puzzling swing of Anderson and co.
What changes will England make?
Winning sides are typically reluctant to make unforced alterations to their lineup. But England will be mindful of how close they came to a shock defeat and how much of a liability Steven Finn was over the past five days.
In the opening session of day five, the big quick came on to replace Anderson, who had completed a sensational 13 over spell, and immediately bled 20 runs from two overs. His untimely waywardness forced Cook to make a hasty bowling change.
Recognising how difficult it is to score freely against Anderson and Swann, the Aussies have clearly targeted Finn, assaulting him early in his spells.
The frontrunners for the third seamer role appear to be Graham Onions, so effective in the 2009 series, and one of England’s heroes from 2010-11 Tim Bresnan.
The latter is likely to get the nod given his greater ability with the willow as England look to match the output of Australia’s productive tail end.
Hadding saves his bacon
Heading into the fifth day Brad Haddin was enduring one of the worst matches of his Test career.
Dislodged for just a solitary run in the first dig, his efforts were similarly unimpressive behind the stumps, where he turfed two catches, including a pivotal chance off centurion Ian Bell in the second innings.
Under mounting pressure, Haddin belied his attacking instincts early in the first session, adding just 11 runs from the first 40 balls he faced.
Cognisant of how tricky it was to play with belligerence against the soft ball, he waited patiently for England to exchange it for a shiny version before initiating his counterpunch.
In the 84th over the ‘keeper switched gears, lofting Anderson over cover for an adventurous boundary. He then set about peppering the leg side outfield with enterprising, often pre-meditated strokes.
Haddin slog swept Swann and opened his stance to the quicks in a fashion more commonly associated with the shortest form of the game.
The audacity of his strokeplay caught England off guard and left Alastair Cook scrambling to make fielding and bowling changes.
Australia will hope the confidence gained from such an innings will flow on to Haddin’s glovework.
Did DRS deserve to be man of the match?
Perhaps never before has the Umpire Decision Review System played such a substantial role in a Test match.
While some will excitedly argue that it robbed Australia of victory, the truth is decision reviews worked in favour of both sides at times in this Test.
But the drama attached to many of the successful reviews was so intense it beggared belief.
How fitting that the match likely to go down in history as “The Trent Bridge DRS thriller” was decided by yet another review when Haddin was given out on video replay.
From the perplexing Jonathan Trott dismissal in England’s second dig, to the furore-inducing Stuart Broad edge-that-apparently-wasn’t, the DRS was conspicuous either in its presence or absence.
We can only hope its contributions will be scarcer over the next nine Ashes Tests.
How calm is Ashton Agar?
Unerring poise is not an attribute typically associated with a 19-year-old Test debutant.
Agar, however, had already demonstrated during his infantile First Class career that he possessed unnatural composure under pressure.
The gifted all-rounder was the architect of a thrilling and unlikely Sheffield Shield victory for the Warriors against Tasmania in February when he cracked an unbeaten 77 in the fourth innings against a gun Tasmanian attack featuring James Faulkner, Ben Hilfenhaus and Luke Butterworth.
Yesterday, it was almost as if he was auditioning for a part in “Cricket on Ice” such was his coolness at the crease.
He batted with circumspection for almost two hours, rarely looking threatened until he was undone by a Jaffa from Anderson.
The boy’s calm is outranked only by his talent.