Chris Rogers’ position in the Australian side was questioned by many cricket followers in the lead up to the Ashes. It seemed ridiculous then and looks even more absurd now after he made a fluent 95 last night.
While he fell painfully short of a ton on Day 2 of the first Test, it was his seventh consecutive 50 in Tests, underlining how consistent he remains, even at 37 years of age.
FIRST ASHES TEST – FULL SCOREBOARD
The veteran left-hander may well turn out to be Australia’s most important batsman over the course of these five Ashes Tests.
With dry, flat pitches expected throughout the series, if England are to regain the Ashes surely it will be on the back of devilish displays with the new ball by experienced pacemen James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
No player in the Australian side looks more assured against that accomplished pair than Rogers.
The last time Australia toured England, Rogers floundered against spinner Graeme Swann but dominated the home side’s pacemen, scoring 272 runs from them at an average of 91.
Overnight, Rogers first blunted and then plundered England’s pace duo, taking them for 56 runs from 75 balls without being dismissed.
His capacity for blunting Anderson and Broad is of extreme value to his team. How dearly England would cherish an early look at new first drop Steve Smith, let alone the chance to bowl at number four Michael Clarke with a new ball.
Rogers was not alone in facing pressure to retain his spot as the Ashes drew near, with Mitchell Johnson having found himself trapped in the same position.
This pressure evaporated following some venomous spells by Johnson in a warm-up game and then the retirement of spearhead Ryan Harris. But it swiftly has re-emerged just two days into this first Test.
With England likely to serve up similarly dreary, high-scoring surfaces across the remainder of the series, bowling in partnerships and building pressure on the batsmen will be crucial.
Australia cannot afford for two of their frontline bowlers to be hemorrhaging runs. Johnson and Starc both did just that in England’s first innings, going at 4.4 and 4.7 runs per over respectively.
The left-handed quicks seek wickets as a priority and struggle to shackle the batsmen in the manner which is familiar and comfortable for Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle.
This has been a major reason why the selectors in the past have been reluctant to field them both in the same Test XI.
It also almost certainly contributed to the selection of Shane Watson, who offers skipper Michael Clarke a frugal bowling option.
Starc started nervously on Day 1 before gradually becoming more assured. His lack of economy can be forgiven because he took five wickets, including the key scalps of Joe Root, Ian Bell, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali.
Johnson looked decidedly unthreatening by comparison. Aside from one spell on Day 1 when he peppered Gary Ballance with short balls, the veteran wasn’t incisive or intimidating.
His rampage in the last Ashes ensured that the English batsmen would start this series wary of or even worried about Johnson.
Not so now. Any psychological edge Johnson may have carried over has been swept away.
Peter Siddle is waiting for his opportunity and, for now, it seems the most probable avenue into the side would be opened up by Johnson’s axing.
The selectors apparently have been impressed with the way in which Siddle has bowled in two warm-up games and in the nets so far this tour.
They also could be swayed by his extensive experience in England, where Siddle has turned in serviceable performances on the previous two Ashes tours.
Johnson’s goose is not yet roasted but it is being licked by flames. Similarly expensive bowling in England’s second innings could have Australia looking for a more reliable alternative.
CW
Guest
Very magnanimous Dan. The "baggies'' need a record last innings score to win. To be perfectly honest. This 2015 outfit is not in the same class as our 1948 Invincibles. If we are to win or even get close we have to nullify the dangerous James Anderson. He and the up and down nature of this Sophia Gardens deck. The Lancashire (?) swing master is in his element in these conditions. If we are to get win Warner has to take a leaf out of Roger's book and play the moving ball later or let it go completely. He played right into Jimmy's hands in the first innings with his bravado. Smith and Clarke are wonderful players of spin. Having said that .They also need to pay a little more respect to Moeen Ali. Play back more. Pick your time more wisely when to attack him. Watson is on his last chance. Enough said about this man who has made mediocrity an art form.
JimmyB
Guest
Good old ifs, buts and maybes. Funny how quickly we all fall back onto them isn't it?!
Rohan
Guest
Colin. Journalistic integrity? Phone tapping, fake sheiks. The Grauniad, loved by us lefties but a serial tax evader, gets most of it's news from twitter. The BBC now little more than a shrill for the establishment with once great programs (Horizon, Question Time etc) neutered. All news outlets feigning shock outrage about the recent paedophillia while intimating that it has been an open secret. Channel 4's constant haranguing of welfare recipients, the Beeb exposing dodgy plumbers but afraid to tackle Amazon, Starbucks & the ilk. Everyone pandering to the biggest bludging family of them all, the Windsors. I'll allow a pass mark for Private Eye but thay don't talk about the cricket much.
JimmyB
Guest
Well that's kind of the point in a roundabout way SC, you're spot on really. I was going to write a very long reply which I may still do, outlining why I wrote what I wrote. Still, you've got to love the Ashes, looking at the comments around here, it brings out the best and worst in all of us.
Rob JM
Guest
Mitchell Marsh did that in the nets!
Nudge
Guest
"When your team was anchored by a Saffa" hahaha absolutely still hilarious mate
CW
Guest
I suppose it was too much to expect Watson to get us out of trouble. He has rarely been able to do it in the past. Why change now? Aussies looking down the barrel. Good disciplined bowling by England attack. Australia has to do something similar in the second innings. No freebies.
Birdy
Guest
At least our 'Saffas' had an English parent or two, Nudge. Virtually all your poaches across a range of sports seem to have been kidnapped in transit going through Sydney airport.
Birdy
Guest
Geez, Brian, chip on both shoulders much? Anyway, without wanting to send your blood pressure too high - did an Aussie just call Britain a 'backwater'?
Danno74
Guest
Terry Alderman would have loved this wicket, control and late swing.
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
Well, I'm rather glad we're 260 odd and not 170 odd, to be honest. But yes, it's one thing for one of our vaunted match-saving middle-order batsmen to throw away a good start, but all three doing it in the same innings is a bit of a bugger.
brian drian
Guest
What is with these little englerlanders that they need to come onto an australian website to spectacularly display (think royal peacock) the things their class ridden society has driven into them with comedic hypocrisy? They love sneering at Australia and Australians in a similar way that they do to working class 'oiks'. So they say australians are bores and 'classless' (without a hint of irony), then come onto an australian website to show exactly those traits they so haughtily dismiss Australians with. Going from dominating the world to an also-ran, mediocre (not only, but very much so in a sporting sense), snobbery riddled backwater must be hard to take.
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
I didn't think Johnson bowled all that badly, to be honest - he was pretty much on the money after tea, he didn't get wickets but he got everything back on track, and it's not like he wasn't creating chances. He can only be so effective if the guy at the other end is spraying them, what helped him in the last Ashes was the partnerships he bowled in. It's funny, it was only as I was sitting down in front of the TV and watching them walk onto the field that I started to get very nervous about this bowling attack all of a sudden - when it came down to it, as good as they all should be, there was really no telling what they were going to serve up. I had previously been quite content with the possibility Mitch Marsh's selection, but I was suddenly very glad they picked Watto. At least you know exactly what you're going to get from him. As for tonight, I think there is an inner Steve Waugh in every Aussie. I'll be damned before I ever give up on a Test match, especially against England. Go on, Watto!
Nudge
Guest
"When your team was anchored by a Saffa" hahaha that's hilarious
JoM
Roar Rookie
Cook until now has never had any tactics and this one is right out of the Bayliss handbook. He knows exactly how these Aussie players do and don't like to play. Lehmann also has a massive say in the game plans, more than Clarke does.
Andrew
Guest
Funny that Cook gets criticized for not doing enough and Clarke now is doing too much. Not everyone is going to get it right all the time. Think we must watch the whole game before we pick out too much from it. England have the honours for day 1 & 2 now lets see if the Aussies can fight back firstly to get at least another 100 runs, then regroup for their bowling hopefully by tea or beyond.
Dan Collins
Roar Rookie
I sat in Sophia Gardens yesterday with Aussies to the left and right of me and the first thing to say is what an excellent bunch of blokes they were, to a man (speaking as an Englishman). Good chat all round. I don't feel we're on top - I can quite easily see you guys getting level and going ahead, taking wickets on this wicket is not easy. I think an Aussie win is still the most likely outcome, based on you getting level or ahead, and our batting capitulating second time round. We've an odd mix of players who currently don't look Test batsmen (Bell and Ballance) and aggressive stroke makers who could go at any time on an up-and-down wicket (a la Voges). I'd personally have dropped Ballance for Morgan, but that's by the by. That said, you guys have to bat last; if we can set you 300 and then take a couple of quickish wickets it will be interesting. Also interesting is Lord's next week. Back to back Tests may not suit some of your older players - and 'Tony' Starc looks to be carrying some sort of injury. It's a thin straw to cling to, but I'm clinging.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Fair enough, Ronan. I just think one of the best bowlers in the world deserves more than one bad Test (and I reiterate that I don't think he was even that bad in the first innings) before we drop him.
Birdy
Guest
Have to say, Jake, I'm asking myself some serious questions but struggling to find these lingering strands of 'humiliation' and inferiority for Aussie sport I'm supposed to feel. I wonder why? I suppose it could be that England have won 3 out of the last 4 ashes; beaten the Wallabies 4 out of the last 5 at rugby; got more Gold medals at the last two Olympics (over 4 times as many in the last one when the only Gold medal your men's team won that required some athletic ability [I don't count bobbing around in little sailing dinghies] was in the rowing when your team was anchored by a Saffa). Britain currently has the World Formula 1 champion (although you do have the mouthiest driver - wonder what he'll be like if he ever wins one); I can't remember the last Aussie boxer that didn't have a glass jaw (I suppose it was that well-known 'cobber' Kostys Tszyu that Oz tried to claim as their own until a little fat English bloke knocked him around the ring all night); and you're a third world country in the global game of football. However, fair's, fair. Your brilliant at sports no-one else plays. Superb at 'Aussie Rules' played entirely only by Aussies and excellent at that other one, what's it called, 'League' or something played only by Aussies; Kiwis not good enough to be All Blacks and a few dozen fat blokes in the north of England. What a nation of champs!! Seeing, also, that cricket is an increasingly minority sport in England, played in virtually no state schools, and with rapidly diminishing participation and viewing figures, I'd suggest you'd better win this series or your 'humiliation' should be complete.
CW
Guest
Regardless of who suggested it. The point is it was implemented to perfection. Clarke has always over attacked in my view. Sometimes when the pitch is slow and the conditions suit batting.. compromise should be used.