Is the dye cast? Are England finished? Have James Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann seen their best days?
Is Jon Trott a nervous wreck? I tend to think not… but one never knows while Movember Mitch Johnson is around.
It would seem on the evidence of the Brisbane Test that Australia has done their homework. Yet England seldom wins in Brisbane and they won’t take this lying down I’m guessing.
The Australiann fields were better placed, the batting was more solid, but above all, Movember Mitch was a game changer.
Fear is a great leveller. The red cherry makes a sickening thud when it hits you, irrespective of whether it hits arm guards, collar bones, thigh pads or helmets.
It stuns you. If it is bowled at 150 kph, it makes a hole in your psyche.
It is as if a baseball pitcher with a cricket ball in his hand is simply winding up and throwing a ball directly at your body via a glassy pitch.
The batter in cricket has as much protection as an American NFL player, yet the fear of the red missile is one of the great fear factors in world sports.
Pictures of Geoff Lawson spitting blood and teeth out of mouth containing a broken jaw spring to mind.
Grills bent, noses split, collar bones broken, fingers fractured – the head and eyes of batters rushing to get out of the way.
It is the most potent weapon a fast bowler has, and it is within some interpretations of the law to allow fast bowlers to actually attack the head and body of a batter in cricket.
There is this fallacious belief that the bowler is not aiming at the batters head , shoulders, bat and gloves, but it is so much rubbish.
Brett Lee was an assassin. I could name 10 West Indians who loved nothing better than seeing a batter grovelling on the pitch. Shaoib Akhtar didn’t care who he hurt. Jeff Thompson did care, but not too much.
Ask Mitch Johnson, or any great quick, why he employs the fear factor with such lethal intent, and the answer will go something like this.
“The batters have got a box, pads, two sets of gloves, a bat, rib protection, helmet and thigh and arm guards. If the pussies can’t handle it they should play marbles. We get a deck that is as flat as a pancake and they get only 10 fielders and one of them is the keeper. And the gaps in the field are sometimes 50 metres. If they can’t score after facing a couple of bouncers an over, they should give it away.”
So Mitch Johnson provides a strict diet at 140-150 kph, and groundsman Kevin Mitchell provides a deck which encourages chin music, and England capitulates.
You and I would too.
What has been encouraging for Australia is the work load they put England through and the cruise control they applied to win the match very comfortably.
By having Johnson with his 9 wickets help finish the match in four days and scaring the bejesus out of them, Australia has the ascendancy. Haddin was exceptional. Clarke came back well. Warner was a major factor in the turnaround. Every Australian will take great heart from the performance, even if players such as Watson, Rogers, Smith, Bailey still have some way to go.
Clearly at the moment, Australia have 11 players who are settled in their roles, albeit that they are only one Test into five very big Tests of their resolve.
Harris was quick and persistent. Siddle produced one of the balls of the match to get Bell. Lyon was at his very best. Watson was not a factor in the match with bat or ball. Smith bowled some leg spin but wasn’t really a factor at all.
I have always been of the opinion that the Star Chamber mentality of Australian Cricket, the Sledge Mentality , the belligerence is unnecessary for a team which thinks that verbal abuse is par for the course.
Perhaps the weight of so many losses has loosened tongues, let frustrations get away from them.
Cricket is a great leveller. Adelaide in 10 days will be a great test of bowlers stamina and fitness. If there are physical weaknesses or injuries, they will surface.
I fear for the health of all the quick bowlers in this series, and perhaps Johnsons’ extreme fitness is the major factor amongst the six quicks used by both teams in this match.
There are 10 days to Adelaide, then four days after the Adelaide test to the Perth Test. If Australia keeps four quicks and a spinner for Adelaide, or even two spinners and three quicks to cut the work load, they may well go to Perth in good shape. If they keep the three quicks and overuse them, then our goose may be cooked.
Adelaide looms as a draw, given scores there recently on the drop-in pitch, but Perth should provide a result with the bounce there. That said, the Perth track too has produced a welter of runs in recent games.
The strain and pain are all worth it when one wins though, and for the first time in 10 tries Australia are victors, and winning can be contagious.
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