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Will Nathan Lyon become a better spinner than Graeme Swann? Did England’s arrogant tactics against Michael Clarke backfire? Was today Warner’s coming of age? These questions emerged from a scintillating day’s play of Ashes cricket at the Gabba.
Australia completed a second successive day of extraordinary dominance, setting England a mammoth chase of 561 before making inroads into their top order just before stumps.
Will Nathan Lyon overtake Graeme Swann?
Rarely has Graeme Swann been treated with such disdain.
Centurions Michael Clarke and David Warner toyed with England’s champion tweaker today, milking him for ones and twos in between dispatching him to or over the boundary.
The Gabba pitch is one of the better venues for Test spinners in the country as Nathan Lyon has demonstrated in recent years, grabbing 13 wickets at 22 in Brisbane.
Pervasive wisdom suggests Lyon is a vastly inferior spinner to Swann.
Yet the young Aussie has comprehensively outbowled the veteran in this Test.
Lyon has troubled every batsmen he’s encountered thanks to the drift, loop, dip and bite he has earned.
Swann, by contrast, was utterly toothless today and at times looked less likely to make a breakthrough than his teammate Joe Root, a rank part time offie.
Australian leg spin legend Shane Warne remarked that Swann was operating with an excessive level of sideways revolutions, neglecting the overspin which can be so effective on the hard Australian decks.
Warne may be responsible for some ridiculous utterances but he is a sage analyst of spin bowling.
Swann’s first wicket was a fortuitous one as Clarke, sprinting towards a declaration, played an uncharacteristically wild stroke to be bowled.
It was a welcome respite for the Englishman who has been clueless as to how to counter the nimble Aussie over the past six Tests.
Clarke had scored 187 runs off him without being dismissed once since the start of the last Ashes series.
Lyon and Swann have now played against each other in four Tests.
Swann has averaged 46 in those matches compared to Lyon’s mark of 29.
Take pause and consider that disparity. Admit it…you’re a bit surprised.
While it would be folly to declare that Lyon has become the equal of Swann, his rate of development is such that he could potentially overtake him in the coming years.
At 34 years old with significant injury problems in his recent past, Swann is in the twilight of his career.
Lyon, who turned 26 just days ago, is still three-and-a-half years younger than Swann was when he made his Test debut for England.
The issue now for England is whether Swann can recover from this mauling to have an impact in the remainder of the series.
History suggests that he can.
In the corresponding fixture of the 2010-11 Ashes, Swann was slaughtered by Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin en route to returning match figures of 2-161.
The Englishman showcased his resilience by operating with far greater penetration and control from then on, claiming 13 wickets at 33 in the final four Tests as England romped to a series victory.
Swann’s ability to tie up one end while also posing a consistent wicket taking threat has been a key to England’s success in recent years.
But he will need to swiftly identify a strategy of countering the controlled aggression of the Aussie batsmen if he is to help dig England out of their hole.
If Australia continue to punish Swann England will almost certainly relinquish the Ashes.
Did England’s arrogant tactics against Clarke backfire?
When Stuart Broad vaporised Australia’s batting line-up on the first day, many pundits attributed his commanding performance to the needling he had received from the Australian team, media and public.
Some had warned prior to the start of the series that it was a mistake to provoke England’s firebrand.
The Poms made a similarly disastrous miscalculation this morning when they decided to treat the Australian captain with bold disrespect.
When Clarke arrived in the middle, Alastair Cook set his field deep to David Warner, repeatedly offering him an easy single to get Clarke on strike.
The tactic spiralled out of control to the point where Stuart Broad remarkably refused to field the ball in his delivery stride when it was struck back at him gently by Warner.
He clearly wanted the Aussies to change ends and they gleefully accepted that present.
It was a truly strange tactic to use against a top order batsman, let alone a side’s best player.
It was all the more confounding given that Australia were only 234 runs in the lead and England had just taken two wickets in quick succession.
With Warner yet to get his eye in England essentially had two fresh players at the crease.
Considering the ball was just 13 overs old they had a realistic chance of limiting Australia’s lead to a gettable 350-to-360.
Instead, in their attempt to belittle Clarke, they allowed Warner to play himself in by repeatedly bunting the ball for easy singles.
Broad then overdid the short stuff against Clarke, who lashed several of these rising deliveries to the leg side boundary.
In the space of six overs, England’s bizarre tactics released all the pressure they had built.
The Aussies added 28 runs in that period and the confidence of both batsmen soared.
The Poms were left to rue their ill-advised strategy as a fired-up Clarke and Warner crafted a 158-run partnership in just 29 overs. It was deserved punishment for England.
Has David Warner come of age?
Written off throughout his Test career as a leaden-footed slogger, David Warner today proved he has the capacity to be a brilliant long form batsman.
Whether he himself recognises the foundation of his success at the Gabba will determine how quickly he can realise his enormous potential.
Warner furiously frustrates Aussie supporters with his frequent lapses in concentration and discipline.
When he makes the fatal decision to thrash at a wide ball early in his innings he sometimes shuffles back to the pavilion with an expression which reads as, ‘Well, that’s just the way I play’.
Certainly his greatest strength as a Test batsman is his rare ability to flay the new ball, handing his side the momentum and setting the opposition back on their heels.
Yet all too often he attempts to manufacture boundaries against deliveries deserving of respect.
When he shows due restraint and carefully chooses which balls to obliterate he still scores at a rollicking pace but is infinitely harder to dislodge.
As fellow opener Chris Rogers and first drop Shane Watson perished around him this morning, Warner consolidated, scoring just three runs from his first 18 deliveries.
He manifestly identified the need to halt the slide and repeatedly resisted the temptation to smite balls which were in his hitting zone outside off.
His half century featured just four boundaries as he cannily exploited the many gaps in the infield to deflect the ball for singles.
Once England’s challenge had been thwarted, Warner switched on the afterburners, scoring his final 74 runs from just 82 balls.
He should use this innings as the blueprint for his Test career.