10 points to come out of the first Test at the Gabba

As the dust has settled since the first Test at the Gabba, now is the time to take a look at 10 key talking points from Australia’s first Test win in months.

1. The difference in pace is startling
Mitchell Johnson was regularly bowling in the high 140s, Ryan Harris in the mid 140s and Peter Siddle mostly the high 130s or occasionally just creeping over 140.

The English had James Anderson and Stuart Broad mostly operating in the low 130s, occasionally upping it to the mid or high 130s and Chris Tremlett rarely cracking the 130 barrier.

With this difference in pace, the ability for the English to equally exploit quick bouncy conditions as was suggested before the series is now under question.

Broad and Anderson are fine bowlers who have both bowled a lot quicker than this in the past. And Finn, as we know, can crack 90mph. So will England be able to get their pace battery firing for the rest of this series?

2. England’s habit of starting series slowly shows no signs of ending anytime soon
England seem to have a habit of performing poorly in the first Test of a series. Two other series this year include India where they lost the first Test but won the series, and the Ashes in England where Australia, despite not playing that well, almost stole the first Test off England.

This is a bad trend that England need to work out how to turn around. However in this situation it could give them some hope, knowing that they have often come back in recent times from those poor first up showings.

3. Australia showed ruthlessness in this Test
When Australia declared setting England 561 for victory, it seemed that a massive amount of rain was the only thing that could save England.

Yet, they still have a good batting line-up, so it was a chance for them to at least try and post 300+ and have several batsman score some good runs on what was still a good batting pitch.

But instead Australia really turned the screws and smashed through England for a second time in this Test.

England could have come out of this match saying the first innings was just an aberration and with some batting form under their belt, instead they came out having been rolled twice by Australia on a good batting pitch.

This second innings capitulation, more than the first, could be a very bad sign for England.

3. David Warner is the real deal
I must admit that I’ve always believed that David Warner actually has one of the most complete techniques going around and has a very good chance to forge a career where he’ll finish with 8000+ Test runs as one of Australia’s best batsmen.

In this match he showed again that if he can avoid lapses of concentration where he gets out to reasonably innocuous deliveries, that England don’t seem to have a lot to threaten him with.

He looked probably the most comfortable of all the batsmen out there bar Michael Clarke in the second innings.

4. England had better rethink their “bounce Michael Clarke” policy
Prior to Clarke’s second innings hundred, I already had the thought that if England want to target Clarke with the short ball he’s going to score a lot of runs in this series.

Clarke might get out occasionally to a short ball, and might look awkward doing it.

So will just about any batsman in Test cricket.

However, the vast majority of Clarke’s dismissals are to balls at just outside off stump with a bit of movement. England focussing on bowling short to Clarke meant that he was able to get going in his innings while barely facing a single ball in the “corridor of uncertainty” around off stump.

Clarke is someone England need to get out early or he’ll make a lot of big scores.

To do that they need to get a lot of balls around the line and length to be hitting the top of off stump or just outside when Clarke first comes to the crease, not bowling short to him.

Once he’s got a few boundaries away and is seeing the ball well it’s too late to move back to that line and hope it will work.

By then his feet are moving, he’s seeing the ball well and instead of beating the edge and bowling him or being edged behind, it will hit the middle of the bat and fly to the boundary through the covers.

5. Nathan Lyon likes the Gabba
Lyon stated in the match that the bounce at the Gabba works well for him and it’s his favourite place to bowl.

He clearly outbowled Swann in this match, and the England batsmen didn’t play him nearly as well as the Aussies played Swann.

Considering Lyon’s statements about the Gabba it will be interesting to see if he can maintain that for the rest of this series.

Stay tuned…

6. Mitchell Johnson is back… hopefully…
Johnson bowled well at the Gabba. Sure he had the odd wild ball that got away from him, but they weren’t the norm, and the extra pace he brought really made life difficult for England.

More importantly, while some of the dismissals in isolation can have the look of “lucky” wickets (like caught behind flicking down the leg side) but in just about all these cases they were the result of well laid and executed plans.

Thus Mitch has shown the ability to bowl to a plan set for him by his captain.

This bodes well for the series.

While it remains to be seen if he is able to come out and bowl well in places like Adelaide and Sydney, if he can keep his pace up and keep bowling to the plans his captain asks of him, then there is definite hope that he can have a good series, not just a couple of good games.

One other good sign was his economy rate.

After going for over four an over early in the first innings, he pulled that back considerably in the second half of the innings.

In the second innings he went for less than two runs per over as England mostly just looked to try and survive against him.

There was little intent to take him on, even from the top six batsmen.

7. Reports of a fractured Australian dressing room seem well off the mark
Australia not only played well in this first Test match, but there were a lot of signs that they were a very happy and united team. Darren Lehmann surely has a lot to do with this, taking over from the dictatorial Mickey Arthur and making it a more enjoyable environment where players can prosper and have fun.

There was clearly a lot of belief in the Australian team even before they started the route of the English in their first innings, the way they came together and had a real belief that whatever England could get them out for they could get England out for less.

8. The jury is still out on George Bailey
In the second innings, Bailey came to the crease in a situation where the team were looking to push for quick runs and England obliged him by bringing on two spinners to try to replicate the feeling of playing ODIs in India as much as possible.

He got a few runs there, but in a lot of ways still looked out of depth.

It was his first Test match however, so how much of that could be nerves we don’t know.

The selectors are likely to give him the entire series in that position to try and make some sort of impression.

Coming into an Adelaide Test most people are expecting to be a high scoring draw may be his best chance to get some runs under his belt and feel comfortable at Test level.

If he does, that won’t show he’s up to Test cricket as such, but it may give him the confidence to go on from there. Only time will tell.

Personally, I don’t think he’s going to be a successful Test cricketer, but I’m totally happy for him to prove me wrong as this series progresses.

9. Batting collapses aren’t just an Australian cricket team thing
Before the Gabba Test there was much thought that the Australian batting line-up was one that had the potential to score a lot of runs, but which could collapse at a moments notice, while the English batting line-up was much more solid and wouldn’t be subject to those types of collapses.

This has now been shown to be false. England have collapsed twice to be bowled out for very low scores and this will give Australia confidence that even if they have a collapse of their own, they are able to inflict one on England too.

10. This will be a hard fought Ashes
Prior to this series there were many English saying how Australia wouldn’t win a Test and England would thump Australia. Now, not only have Australia won the first Test, but they delivered England a right royal hammering.

England now have to regroup and come back from that.

They have a history of showing they can come back well after losing the first Test, and they have two grounds in particular in this series that will likely favour them.

However, without significant change, or the WACA providing a very non-WACA like pitch, it’s hard to see Australia not winning in Perth after this performance at the Gabba.

That then means England will have to win two out of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney just to draw the series. They have the ability to do this.

There is every chance this series will still be well and truly alive going into the Sydney Test.