There is an age old adage in cricket that ‘catches win matches’, and they certainly do. But in order to take the catch there needs to be the right bowler supported by a fieldsman in the right position.
And the man charged with getting those combinations right is the captain. In this Ashes series that role is held by Michael Clarke and Alastair Cook.
FIRST ASHES TEST – FULL SCOREBOARD
Between them they will call the shots for their respective sides in the field. Each will receive valuable support from their senior players but in the end the final decision always rests with the man who has the ‘c’ alongside his name in the scorebook.
And with that in mind, Australia holds a distinct advantage.
As skippers, Clarke and Cook are very different in their approach. Clarke is a man who makes things happen while Cook is a far more formulaic captain. While Clarke always appears to be on the attack, Cook gives off a far more defensive air.
From the moment Clarke entered the Australian dressing room he was taken under the wing of Shane Warne, a man renowned for his attacking nous. Clarke is cut from the same cloth and is perpetually proactive.
The first hour of the opening Test at Sophia Gardens was a case in point.
Mitchell Starc opened the bowling and produced two maiden overs which on face value looked good on the scorecard but in reality were horribly wasteful. With a brand new ball there were too many ill-directed deliveries.
For Clarke, he had seen enough, and Starc was ripped from the attack and replaced by Mitchell Johnson. There was no period of grace for Starc to find his range and rhythm despite the fact that Josh Hazlewood had removed Adam Lyth in the second over of the innings.
Come the end of the eighth over, Clarke decided to change things up, throwing the ball to Nathan Lyon who shortly after struck a vital blow when he had Cook caught behind for 20.
It was typical Clarke – make changes in order to arrest the advantage.
Cook has had plenty of detractors in recent times with Ian Botham at the forefront of them. Less than two months ago the champion all-rounder said Cook’s time had come as skipper and he should be replaced by his deputy Joe Root.
Botham did not hold back, saying: “I want to know what Alastair Cook is doing with 100-plus caps of Test match experience, because I am not seeing it.”
Throughout his captaincy career Cook has erred on the side of caution when a match is in the balance. Taking calculated risks is not really in his make-up whether it be with respect to declarations or field placements.
He has stated in the lead-in to this series that we will see a more attacking England side.
“At certain times I have to be able to get on that front foot. As a leader of a group of players you do have to change your leadership to the style of players you have in the changing room,” he said.
He has some attacking players currently at his disposal, with bat and ball. Time will be the judge of whether we see a different leadership style from Cook this series.
Coming off the 5-0 drubbing of the last Ashes campaign he can ill afford another meek performance from his team. He needs to be the man who takes the fight up to Australia by dint of aggressive leadership, assured body language and bold captaincy.
A failure to do so may see Botham’s wish come true at series’ end.
Don Freo
Guest
Surely you don't talk about this stuff at parties? Parties? Really?
Dingleberry
Guest
Don, if you know the result. Why bother watching, you must be a blast to have a parties. Mr i know everything!
Don Freo
Guest
How are we going to lose the next 2? This mob of Englishers struggled against a Windies side that we monstered in 3 days in both Tests. Its like Range Rover versus a Lada Niva. Mind you, if we do struggle, I won't mind. It will mean we need a Dual Marsh injection. We'll be even better then.
Crispy
Guest
I never said we'd lose this one (but seriously though, if you think we're in an unbeatable position in this game you need your head read), but if we draw here and lose the next two (sound familiar?) we would be 0-2 down needing to win the last two to retain the Ashes.
Crispy
Guest
Andrew I agree with you, they SHOULD proactively blood younger players and make those changes before they're forced but if you look at selections (or rather non-selections) that have occurred over the past few years they have inevitably waited too long. Examples that stick in my mind include playing Hayden in the Sydney test in 2009 when we were already 2-0 down instead of blooding Phil Hughes in a dead rubber home test, meaning he had to make a debut in hostile conditions in South Africa instead of at his home ground, and the bizarre continued selection of Shane Watson when Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner and even Henriques (some Victorians would even say Maxwell) are better options in the all rounder position.
Rob JM
Guest
Thats what should happen, unfortunately half our batsmen will get out to brain farts and our tail may not have the skill to deal with jimmy if he gets decent swing. Smith and Voges give me some hope though.
Don Freo
Guest
Of course not. My wisdom tells me it would be better to not share my dividend with someone else.
Duck sauce
Guest
Can you please tell me the lotto numbers Don Freo. Your so wise!
Don Freo
Guest
Strangely, the one everyone thought would be consistent with the ball, Shane Watson, was equally scattergun...but it made his late outie more threatening. I wanted him to bowl more.
Don Freo
Guest
We're never going to be behind. That pitch and the fact that England will get beyond 400 means this game is a draw or an innings win to Oz. We'll bat for 2 1/2 days, get a score of 700 and either roll England or they'll play out the draw. They are simply unable to bowl out Oz twice in 3 1/2 days.
Don Freo
Guest
Sam Whiteman's conclusion to the Shield season was dripping with strong batting form and outstanding keeping form. He's the one...but Nevill will get his chance. Healy's take was interesting...that Hadden stood too tall too soon and wasn't able, therefore, to use the low squat position to control his sideways movement, thus going too far. The fact he didn't remain low might be a function of advancing years. I enjoy Channel 9's commentators because of the cricketing expertise they provide when it is needed. Sorry, I don't want the rest of this thread to discuss the merits of commentary. (Glenn was the best of them all, anyway...better than MacGillivray).
Ironmonger
Roar Rookie
Haddin's drop was a shocker. He was moving the wrong way and then over compensated back. Maybe he isn't used to a swinging ball either... I agree that bowling was wasteful. Given the early unevenness of the pitch I thought they'd be better off holding the ball cross-seam - for a couple of balls an over at least. The pitch seemed to flatten out as the day wore on though. A couple of wickets from the ball sticking on the pitch a bit. I also felt Clarke could have been a bit more defensive in his field placements - might have helped the bowlers build the pressure... Mitch Johnson did not look threatening at all. The English players left his better balls well and even attacked his short stuff.
andrew
Guest
crispy - i disagree. you have to be pro-active. what is the point of waiting until we are behind before making the change. you dont make change to re-act. you make changes to avoid that situation arising in the first place. haddin is on very thin ice. we have capable and adequate replacements.
Mitcher
Guest
There was more than enough swing for me to be seriously jittery about what the artiste Anderson could do to us. Fearful but excited to see a quality bowler in action in his element.
Rellum
Roar Guru
At the toss Cook did say his new captaincy style was more about change in the dressing room rather than anything to do with tactics on the field so I imagine he will stay the same there. Very hard to change someones captaincy style mid career.
DJW
Guest
Hard to tell what is par on this wicket but Australia definitely won't be happy with there bowling for large parts of the day. They built the last series win on building pressure by tight bowling. The ball was swinging just wasn't put in the right spot enough. If Jimmy Anderson gets similar conditions he could make it pretty tough for the Aussies. 343 on the board after the first day of an Ashes series I think you be pretty happy as the batting team. Especially if they add a few more on day 2. Root will be full of confidence for the series now, Ballance might be feeling ok after toughing it out. Australia would have liked to keep the foot on the throat from last series so I think England would be happy with there day. Hopefully we can knock them over quickly tomorrow then when we bat it will give us a real idea about the pitch and par scores.
Crispy
Guest
I think Haddin continuing is entirely dependent on what the score is after 2 tests. If we're 0-2 down and his form hasn't improved drastically then the tap should come. I was calling for his head before the 2013/14 Ashes but he proved me wrong then.
Glenn Mitchell
Expert
I think the bowling was underwhelming although it is a very dead pitch. Like you JimmyB I think it will be s close run series. The loss of Ryan Harris will severely impact on Australia's potency.
JimmyB
Guest
I thought Clarke's captaincy was quite poor yesterday actually. In his desire to be seen as endlessly proactive and ahead of the game, he ended up captaining like an excitable teenager. He showed a distinct lack of patience and virtually never gave any plans a chance to come to fruition before he changed the field, the bowler or both. Admittedly he wasn't much helped by his bowlers in the main, who struggled to build any pressure due to the scattergun nature of their offerings, interspersed with some excellent deliveries of course. It's only the first day of the Ashes, but as has been pointed out many times in the build up, the first day is so important in setting the tone of the series. For me, Australia's bowlers have shown themselves to be fallible human beings after being elevated to near mythical status in the pre Ashes hype. It's very important for England's confidence that they weren't torn apart by the Aussies, although it's not the kind of pitch to get torn apart on, but Australia got plenty of movement and had they put the ball in better areas more often then I reckon they could have cleaned England up for about 250-270ish. How costly will Haddin's miss be? It still looks likely to be a close series IMO.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
With Haddin's recent batting form so poor the excuse for keeping him in is his experience and that he's been keeping well. If he is missing chances like this then it becomes harder to keep him there because of his keeping, and Nevill is definitely in much better batting form at the moment! I reckon Haddin might be getting very close to getting the tap on the shoulder if he isn't able to really step it up from here.