Stuart Broad and James Anderson: 5-99. The rest of England’s frontline attack: 4-218. The extent to which England will rely on their two veteran quicks this series was exposed yesterday on Day 3 of the first Ashes Test.
Broad and Anderson were precise, clever and relentless, forcing the Australian batsmen to toil despite the lack of assistance from a sleepy surface.
While that pair was suffocating, the moment either of them left the attack the batsmen could breathe freely once more. Never was that more obvious than in the first hour after lunch yesterday when Steve Smith and Pat Cummins swung the Test in Australia’s favour.
Prior to lunch, Broad and Anderson had looked supreme with the new ball, dismissing wicketkeeper Tim Paine and late-order slugger Mitchell Starc in quick succession. At 7-213 at lunch and with the second new ball only eight overs old, Australia were at risk of handing England a significant lead.
After the break English skipper Joe Root made the odd decision of using Jake Ball, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali before Broad or Anderson. Ball’s pitch map during this spell looked like the face of a freckled child.
The tall right-armer, who has averaged a whopping 102 with the ball in his four Tests, has decent pace and the ability to get the ball to rear sharply at batsmen. But he can maintain neither that pace nor a testing line and length. On the evidence of his brief career, Ball looks a long way short of Test standard.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Woakes, at the other end, was accurate but toothless, as he so often is outside of England. History shows that when the ball doesn’t swing or seam, Woakes labours. His bowling record away from home is very poor – nine wickets from eight Tests at an average of 64.
So too is Moeen’s – an average of 45 from 17 Tests outside England. Australian spinner Nathan Lyon was easily his side’s best bowler in the first innings, maintaining an impeccable line and length while earning disconcerting turn and bounce.
Yet Moeen struggled despite being granted the most favourable conditions a spinner could ever hope for in Australia. He dismissed rank tail-ender Josh Hazlewood and the worst batsman against spin from either team, Usman Khawaja.
In between, however, Moeen was impotent. Australia’s number nine, Pat Cummins, looked immensely comfortable against Moeen, Ball and Woakes during this pivotal hour. By the end of that period, when Broad belatedly came back on, Cummins was entrenched on 28 not out from 77 balls, and he and Smith had put on 48 invaluable runs.
England’s reliance on Broad and Anderson when playing away from home is similar to the way Australia lean heavily on batting contributions from Smith and David Warner. Yesterday it was Smith who rescued Australia for the umpteenth time in his career.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Accustomed to flaying attacks in Australia, where he has a sprightly strike rate of 60, Smith shackled his ego and constructed a slow, bloody-minded knock. It was the kind of innings we rarely see in the modern Test era, when so many batsmen are preoccupied with acceleration.
Smith has many speeds to his batting and yesterday he sat in first gear for most of his innings. He was completely unflustered by some quirky tactics by England. Root set some truly bizarre fields. At times to Smith, Root had no mid-off, a leg-side ring field and three men out in the deep behind that ring as his quicks buffeted the Australian with short balls.
When that didn’t work he introduced a leg slip and asked his quicks to bowl fuller. Then the leg slip was replaced by a silly mid-off as England’s pacemen went short once more. While these tactics never looked like securing Smith’s wicket, they did reduce his scoring avenues.
England were hoping he would lose patience and, while many other Australian batsmen would have, Smith remained serene. He scored just 17 runs in the first session yet never appeared bothered. Smith gradually increased his scoring rate as he built one of the finest Ashes tons of the modern era.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Smith’s masterpiece of 141 not out handed Australia a crucial 26-run lead. Before England could wipe away that advantage they had already lost veteran opener Alastair Cook and newcomer James Vince. Cook skied a hook shot to fine leg from the bowling of Josh Hazlewood, continuing his wretched run in Ashes Tests.
Cook will long be remembered for his phenomenal series during England’s Ashes victory in Australia seven years ago, when he churned out 766 runs at 128. Yet the former English skipper has floundered in his six other Ashes campaigns, averaging a meagre 27 across those series.
Given their top five includes the inexperienced trio of Mark Stoneman, James Vince and Dawid Malan, England will be desperate for Cook to banish his Ashes demons and contribute in this series.
After struggling for rhythm in England’s first innings Australia’s quicks were rapid and intimidating before stumps yesterday. Root was struck a fearful blow by a searing Starc bouncer which dislodged part of his helmet and forced a long break in the play as the batsman received medical attention.
Then Cummins roughed up Stoneman with a succession of vicious short balls. By stumps the whole mood of the series had shifted dramatically. England, so comfortable for the first two and a half days of this Ashes, were suddenly rattled.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
What a silly comment. I expect you must also believe that Sehwag is the greatest Indian test batsman of all time. He has two more test 300's than Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid or Kohli. Sorry, but your lack of logic just doesn't hold up. no of triple centuries by players Sehwag = 2 combined (Gavaskar+Tendulkar+Dravid+Kohli))= 0 so Sehwag > (Gavaskar+Tendulkar+Dravid+Kohli) Surely even you can see how flawed that is
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
That extra pace on our bouncier pitches make tail-enders considerably less assured.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
No,I wouldn't say clueless. Root tried several different strategies but Smith's patience and discipline brought them all to naught. Root had plenty of clues. What he didn't have was an answer.
Don Freo
Guest
They didn't though. At 0/112 with only 58 needed, do you think England could have kept Australia to under 158 in a day's play?
ozinsa
Guest
Are you OK to quote some odds on this inevitable 5-0 result? I’m an Oz fan but would love to give you some of my money. We had the best player in the world at the peak of his powers. They’re missing the best all rounder. If the U.K. cops let Stokes go and he arrives for the last three tests; or Cook finds form; or they get the best of conditions in adelaide, there’s no telling where this series could go
ozinsa
Guest
Number of double centuries as the only measure of quality. Interesting concept. I wonder why nobody has thought of this before. All those years thinking average was a good measure. You do realise this brilliant new measure places Jason Gillespie ahead of most batsmen who have played test cricket?
Savage
Roar Rookie
Actually you can argue about it. no of double century by players: kohli = 5 combined(root+KW+Smith)= 4 So KOHLI > (KW+root+Smith)
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
Great piece from Greg Baum, I really like it!
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
In hindsight, a very good call, Rob!
Paul D
Roar Guru
I reckon Smith's knock deserves to be right up there in contention with Ponting's 156 against England at Edgbaston. Just an incredible innings, and a wonderful experience of watching a tremendously talented human at the peak of his powers. Innings like that are what test cricket is all about, it is a chance to demonstrate the patience, and mental discipline, concentration, physical fitness - this incredible cocktail of human achievement that writes stirring displays. Of course it's nothing without backup from the bowlers, and on cue Australia's pace attack has delivered - not saying it's going to be 2013/14 again, but unless England can find wickets from their second stringers and stem runs they will certainly find it tough going. You suspect Australia would have to bat very badly to lose the series from here.
Brainstrust
Guest
I actually found the Steve Smith innings strange with the tail, Steve Waugh got criticised when he was batting with the tail for taking singles when he always scored at a good rate, the tail hung around for so long you would have though Steve Smith after so many balls would have done some more damage. England could have drawn the match with another 100 runs if they scored at 2.5 an over,
Mitcher
Guest
In fairness, it did appear your comment was suggesting Ronan overlooked the extreme reliance on Smith for runs. If that wasn’t it, then far play. Maybe just a bit more clarity next time and we won’t find ourselves here.
Bee bee
Guest
Yer. 150 yrs old. Sell out crowds. Poms getting barbecued literally and metaphorically. Test cricket looks good to me.
Bee bee
Guest
Not following was that sarcasm or applause. Liebke is hilarious. PIO you are a dingo.
Cynical Play
Roar Rookie
This from Greg Baum in SMH just now Brilliant take on the test... "... Australia will win the first Test despite the thwarting of most of their plans. England executed most of their plans and will lose anyway, and by a wide margin. It doesn't leave this Ashes series with much place to go. Australia were grumpy throughout about the pitch, which lacked pace, swing or seam. The Gabba might yet be had up for false advertising. Mitch Starc was out of sorts for most of the match, Josh Hazlewood took a long time to work his way into it. Australia's vulnerability, a minimum of bowlers, seemed to be exposed. They could not have reckoned on the way Nathan Lyon's off-spin would mesmerise England's plenitude of left-handers, because they cannot have reckoned on so much spin for Lyon. It was not in the blueprint. He had a good record here, but because of bounce, not spin. Except for the exceptional Steve Smith, and with a caveat about Shaun Marsh, the first innings batting was worth a C-plus. A composed debut half-century for Cameron Bancroft and another energetic one for David Warner on Sunday evening at least were fillips, but the science is far from settled. And Australia won anyway. England were calm to an almost Zen-like degree in the build-up, were pleasantly surprised by the pitch and the way it looked to play into their hands, were patient in their approach, had the better of the first two days and were prepared to engage Smith in a long staring match, figuring him to be only one player. The pitch has shaped the match: the modest pace and scale of the scoring and the tactics. Resigning themselves to its docility, Australia backed off with ball, then bat. It made them look unusually conservative, but it might also have meant that they trusted themselves to come through in any case. This was the sub-text of Smith's epic innings. England's default position was backed off. Patience with bat and ball was one thing, failure to take or hold the initiative in crucial moments another. Against Smith, for instance, they began with plans B, C and D. It made them look well-prepared, but it might also have signalled that they did not trust Plan A, their best cricket against his. That's how Smith took it. These sensibilities were evident on Sunday, the last of the match except for the shouting. Australia began as if sitting down with a cup of coffee and the paper before work. Forged in Fire, a vivid film history of the Ashes, had debuted here on Sunday night, but this was forged over a camp stove. None the less, it worked. Lyon changed it down. He has become the most highly estimated underestimated in the team, if not all teams. In an admirably sustained spell, he winkled out three left-handers, two to Smith catches at slip, the third to Tim Paine's slick stumping of Moeen Ali. There can only have been a coat of paint in third umpire Chris Gaffney's deliberations, but there needs only to be a coat of paint. But the Fleet Street headlines will be fun. Otherwise, Paine was noticeable for the fact that he was barely noticed. Forget all the talk about talk; this is a wicketkeeper's true hallmark. Joe Root made a classy half-century, then was out next ball, lbw playing across his pad for the second time in the match. it is the merest chink, but you can be sure Australia will worry away at it. Moeen and Jonny Bairstow made attractive 40s, but no-one rose to the need for a dogged 140. None were Smith. England's conviction ebbed away. The last five wickets collapsed for 40, to follow 6/57 at the end of the first innings. Starc, though irritable, still has the faculty for taking wickets in bursts. One, Stuart Broad's, he did not even know he had taken, the edge detectable only to Paine and Smith behind the stumps, and duly DRS. Only an early Australian wicket could have kept the match alive now. Thanks to the vigilance of Warner and Bancroft, none came. In the last hour, they made batting look easy, but it was a featherbed of their own making. Midway through this match, England might have thought they were putting up a respectable show, for England, at the Gabba. As late as the end of day three, they were talking as if on level terms. That illusion lies shattered. England must know they are not a great side. The trouble is that they also know that about Australia, and yet Australia have overrun them anyway. Defeatism is England's biggest threat now, momentum Australia's friend. Australia will win despite not giving it their best shot. England did give it their best shot, but it has not been enough. It bodes ominously for the rest of the series...."
Jameswm
Guest
And Smith demolished Kohli when we went to India.
Mick_Lions
Roar Pro
At stumps on day 4, Smith's innings becomes even more significant. As a damp and double paced Gabba wicket dried out, the pace of the Australian attack took advantage over the Poms batting line up. Lyon found more purchase and Starc skittled the rest. Learning from their Captain, Warner and Bancroft patiently saw off the new ball and the skill of Anderson and Broad until they were comfortable with a now even deck, and put the Poms to the sword. But it all comes back to Smith, his patience, commonsense and perseverance. His 141* wasn't just a leading score, it allowed the Queensland sky time to turn the wicket in to what the Aussies were used to and confident in winning on. Masterpiece Steve. Masterpiece
AFL man
Guest
.England’s batting is pathetic Journalists trying to talk up England are just insulting the public’s intelligence Sad, this inevitably 5 nil result will be a giant nail in Test Match cricket’s coffin
doogs
Guest
One man team. What a load. You continuosly embarrass yourself, and yet never give up
Adsa
Guest
Yes Cadfael reading these comments with benefit of hindsight does unleash a chuckle. Poms are going down the gurgler.