PMs XI Tour Match: England get a win, but some familiar tales remain

Well, it’s taken them into their third month on tour, but England have finally had a win on Australian soil, fairly comprehensively beating the Prime Minister’s XI by 172 runs at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

But where England might have had little to lose in a festival match like the Prime Minister’s XI clash, and even with Alastair Cook winning another toss on tour, the tale of the tape took on a very familiar look very early on in the piece.

Cook had no hesitation in batting on getting the call of the coin right, and PM’s XI Captain, Brett Lee, had said 24 hours out from the match that he was hoping to bat first, too, to avoid the south-eastern Australian heatwave which has taken residence in the Nation’s Capital as well.

Here are the talking points from the match.

Cook can’t buy a run at the moment
Lee won the early head-to-head, nicking up Cook to Victorian ‘keeper Peter Handscomb in the first over of the game. With England resting Ian Bell from a match that perhaps Cook might ordinarily have sat out, too, England needed runs from Cook almost as much as he needed them himself.

However, from the second ball he faced, and in all too familiar fashion, Cook again wafted at one outside off, and England were one down early in a match again.

Cook trudged off, very much in that same style as Shane Watson, looking every bit like the man who just doesn’t know where his next run is coming from.

He looks to have resumed the very active, overly moving stance and set-up that didn’t exactly serve him well on his first tour to Australia, whereas in 2010/11, he was very still by the time the bowler was approaching the wicket.

For such a classy batsman, it’s becoming uncomfortable to watch his continued struggles.

Brett Lee is still quick
At 37 years of age, and now operating only as a freelancing Twenty20 specialist, Brett Lee has certainly lost none of his pace. The mercury was well north of 36°C when Lee opened up for the match, and within no time at all, he was sending them through as quick as anything he’s delivered wearing Sixers pink this summer.

It was noticeable in Lee’s first spell that all the England bats were starting well back in their crease, so as to give themselves that extra little bit of time. Not that that helped Cook and Joe Root, mind, who were both back in the sheds courtesy of Lee inside five overs.

Lee’s captaincy was pretty reasonable, too, despite no top-level experience that I can recall off the top of my head. Admittedly, with England’s batsmen struggling to build partnerships, Lee was never really called on at any point to contain a runaway partnership.

Even on a new wicket, and an outfield that has been re-laid for the first time since the late 1920s, England’s 8/264 felt like it was well below par. In the end, of course, it was more than enough.

James Muirhead is one to watch
We in Australia tend to get a bit carried away with young spinners that look half-promising, and particularly if said young spinner happens to employ the wrist, but young James Muirhead genuinely does indeed look a prospect.

Muirhead has looked quite good in his couple of Big Bash League appearances for the Melbourne Stars, and showed great composure to come back in his first spell after taking some stick from Ravi Bopara. He kept throwing it up, giving the ball air, and in the end, he was able to extract a false shot out of Bopara and have him caught at slip.

Prior to that, he completely beat Eoin Morgan, knocking his off stump out of the ground after the Irishman came down the wicket.

Muirhead finished the England innings with figures of 3/52 from his ten overs, well and truly announcing himself as one to keep an eye on.

… as is Garry Ballance
We got a glimpse of Garry Ballance in the Fifth Ashes Test in Sydney, and subsequent viewings in the first ODI and this match in Canberra confirm that he has a long future ahead of him for England. His upbringing on hard pitches in Zimbabwe has given him a level of comfort and confidence not always associated with English batsmen.

He has the full range of shots, and he showed in his innings of 56 that he can manage the tempo of an innings pretty well.

As can man of the match Jos Buttler, for that matter. Buttler had given us a sneak peak at his vast array of shots during his couple of Big Bash League games for the Melbourne Renegades, but he took it up another couple of notches last in his innings of 61, with expansive drives followed up with deft paddles around the corner, followed by upright-standing ramp shots over his shoulder.

And Buttler’s ‘keeping is more than adequate too. A looming move to Lancashire from Somerset should give his ‘keeping the extra exposure and time it needs, but even before he makes that move, he still looks more comfortable and more natural behind the stumps than England’s no.2 ‘keeper for the Ashes Tour, Jonny Bairstow.

England still have the killer instinct in them
Even just a cursory glance at the scorecard shows that England took early wickets, and kept attacking throughout the PM’s XI innings, bowling primarily with their pace men.

Boyd Rankin (2/39 from 8 overs), Chris Jordan (1/13 from 5), and Tim Bresnan (1/26 from 6) all bowled deep into the innings where having got the early breakthroughs, England might have been excused for taking the foot off a touch.

Instead, Cook kept with his quicks after spinner James Tredwell opened the bowling, and saw some rewards, with Rankin in particular, getting better as his night went on. In the end, it’s the medium pace of Ravi Bopara who earned them all an early night, wrapping up the match with 4/3 in three overs, and with a comical run out in the middle of it all too.

After a tough tour to date, it’s a well-earned early mark, too.

The PM’s match has a place, but…
Cricket Australia has done it no favours with the scheduling this summer. Slotted in after the first ODI, it can’t be considered a warm-up game for the tourists, and putting it on in the same period as three Big Bash League games drastically reduced the pool of players that could be selected.

In fact, with the Melbourne Renegades-Sydney Thunder game on the same night, and broadcast coverage restricted to a Cricket Australia video feed and a local ABC Radio broadcast (which I was a part of: disclaimer) that was restricted to the listening reach of 666 on the AM dial, you’d have done well to know the game was even on.

With the PM’s side picked predominantly from the Melbourne Stars and Brisbane Heat, the side had a very makeshift feel about it. The withdrawal of Brisbane and Queensland bat Chris Lynn the day before weakened an already thin batting line-up, whereas the likes of Chris Rogers and Ed Cowan sit unwanted or unused by BBL sides.

More’s the point, 12,316 people paid decent money to watch a touring England side, and the contest was robbed somewhat by a side that perhaps could have been stronger than it was. As soon as Ben Cutting went in at no.6 – and even in as good nick with the bat as he has been – the chase was never going to eventuate.

England 8/264 (Buttler 61, Balance 56, Carberry 47; Muirhead 3/52, Lee 2/22) defeated Prime Minister’s XI 92 (Brad Hodge 28; Ravi Bopara 4/3, Boyd Rankin 2/39).
Crowd: 12,316 people at Manuka Oval in Canberra.