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Opinion
Following on from last time’s article, we return to see who might surge ahead in our Alphabet Ashes.
For the concept and the methodology, please refer to Part 1. To remind you of where we stand as we head to into Part 2, we have England leading with four wins to Australia’s three. In terms of aggregate points, however, England has a significant advantage at 163.5 to 146.5.
So who will come out on top in this battle for the ages? Read on.
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | KS Duleepsinhji | John Dyson |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | JWHT Douglas (right arm fast-medium) | Joe Darling (captain) |
| 3 | Joe Denly | Michael Di Venuto |
| 4 | Ted Dexter (captain) | Reg Duff |
| 5 | Basil D’Oliveira | Len Darling |
| 6 | Mike Denness | Alan Davidson |
| 7 | George Duckworth (WK) | Tony Dodemaide |
| 8 | Liam Dawson (left arm orthodox) | Greg Dyer (WK) |
| 9 | Phil DeFreitas | Bruce Dooland |
| 10 | Jade Dernbach | Adam Dale |
| 11 | Graeme Dilley | Geoff Dymock |
| Score | 27 out of 50 | 28 out of 50 |
Verdict: Australia by a nose. The England batting here is very strong indeed. Dexter, D’Oliveira and Denness makes a formidable middle order, but Duleepsinhji is the surprise with an average over 58 from his 12 Tests. But the bowling does not hold up (Jade Dernbach!), being honest at best, with basically no all-rounder. Graeme Dilley deserved better. We are back on even terms!
England 4 Australia 4 (190.5 total points to 174.5)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Tom Killick | Robbie Kerr |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Walter Keeton | Charles Kelleway |
| 3 | Robert Key | Usman Khawaja |
| 4 | Sep Kinneir | Michael Klinger |
| 5 | Nick Knight | Simon Katich (captain) |
| 6 | Roy Kilner (left arm orthodox) | Alan Kippax |
| 7 | Alan Knott (WK) | Jason Krejza |
| 8 | John King (left arm medium) | James Kelly (WK) |
| 9 | Barry Knight (right arm fast-medium) | Michael Kasprowicz |
| 10 | James Kirtley (right arm fast-medium) | Lindsay Kline |
| 11 | Alex Kennedy (right arm medium) | Tom Kendall |
| Score | 26 out of 50 | 29 out of 50 |
Verdict: Australia hit the front! This is a very weird England team. Every single player has Test match experience, but most had one or two unsuccessful games and their first-class records are good but not great. The batting is quite weak compared to Australia and the bowling is satisfactory. The exception is obviously Alan Knott, England’s greatest ever keeper.
England 4 Australia 5 (216.5 total points to 203.5)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Graeme Fowler | Jack Fingleton |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | CB Fry | Peter Forrest |
| 3 | Tip Foster | Les Favell (captain) |
| 4 | Keith Fletcher (captain) | Callum Ferguson |
| 5 | Ben Foakes (WK) | Aaron Finch |
| 6 | Andrew Flintoff (right arm fast) | Alan Fairfax |
| 7 | James Foster (WK) | James Faulkner |
| 8 | Tich Freeman (leg spin) | Doug Ford (WK) |
| 9 | Frank Foster | Damien Fleming |
| 10 | Angus Fraser | John Ferris |
| 11 | Steven Finn | Chuck Fleetwood-Smith |
| Score | 32 out of 50 | 29.5 out of 50 |
Verdict: England hit back strongly with the F team. A very strong pace bowling attack of Flintoff, Fraser, Foster and Finn, backed up by Tich Freeman, dominates this team. However, the middle order is also good. Tip Foster averaged over 46 in eight Tests and the others are also solid.
England 5 Australia 5 (248.5 total points to 233)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Dominic Ostler | Leo O’Brien |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Edgar Oldroyd | Leo O’Connor |
| 3 | Buddy Oldfield | Norm O’Neill (Captain) |
| 4 | Alan Ormrod | Hec Oakley |
| 5 | Tim O’Brien | Simon O’Donnell |
| 6 | Jack O’Connor (leg spin) | Ron Oxenham |
| 7 | Thomas Oates (WK) | Bert Oldfield (WK) |
| 8 | Alan Oakman (off spin) | Kerry O’Keeffe |
| 9 | Craig Overton (right arm medium-fast) | Stephen O’Keefe |
| 10 | Graham Onions (right arm medium-fast) | Bill O’Reilly |
| 11 | Chris Old (captain) (right arm fast medium) | Jack O’Connor |
| Score | 18.5 out of 50 | 30.5 out of 50 |
Verdict: This was a real mismatch in favour of Australia, thanks to their Irish immigrants. Australia’s spinners will feast on this extremely weak batting line-up. Only Chris Old has played more than ten Tests and only Buddy Oldfield averages over 36 in first-class cricket. The spinners are batting all-rounders. There is no recognised captain.
England 5 Australia 6 (267 total points to 263.5)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Keaton Jennings | Phil Jaques |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Harry Jupp | Nick Jewell |
| 3 | John Jameson | Archie Jackson |
| 4 | FS Jackson | Dean Jones |
| 5 | Douglas Jardine (captain) | Ron James |
| 6 | Gilbert Jessop (right arm fast) | Sammy Jones |
| 7 | Geraint Jones (WK) | Barry Jarman (WK) |
| 8 | Vallance Jupp (off spin) | Mitchell Johnson |
| 9 | Les Jackson | Ian Johnson (captain) |
| 10 | Robin Jackman | Bill Johnston |
| 11 | Simon Jones (right arm fast-medium) | Ernie Jones |
| Score | 27 out of 50 | 31 out of 50 |
Verdict: Another win to Australia and they also are just ahead on aggregate for the first time. For England, a very strong middle order including the great Stanley Jackson and Douglas Jardine is let down by a very poor opening combination. Apart from the reverse swing of Simon Jones, the bowling is honest with little all-rounder back-up. But their captain may have a few tricks up his sleeve.
England 5 Australia 7 (294 total points to 294.5)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Wilfred Rhodes (left arm orthodox) | Chris Rogers |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Jack Russell | Owen Rock |
| 3 | Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji | Ian Redpath |
| 4 | Joe Root (captain) | Jack Ryder (captain) |
| 5 | Derek Randall | Greg Ritchie |
| 6 | Jack Robertson | Vernon Ransford |
| 7 | Jack Russell (WK) | Steve Rixon (WK) |
| 8 | Walter Robins (leg spin) | Paul Reiffel |
| 9 | Adil Rashid (leg spin) | Doug Ring |
| 10 | Toby Roland-Jones (right arm medium-fast) | Bruce Reid |
| 11 | Tom Richardson (right arm fast) | Carl Rackemann |
| Score | 33.5 out of 50 | 33 out of 50 |
Verdict: This was the closest contest so far. England’s batting line-up is very good. Ranji was their answer to Victor Trumper, Derek Randall was another mercurial player and we all know how good Joe Root is. But it’s the lesser known players that round out the batting. Jack Russell averaged over 56 from ten Tests. Jack Robertson over 46 from 11 Tests. The wicketkeeper was a quirky player of high quality. In fact, this side is littered with unique talents. The spin bowling is strong with Rhodes a front-line spinner, backed up by two leggies. However the pace bowling is poor, which almost but not quite let this one slip away.
England 6 Australia 7 (327.5 total points to 327.5)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Eddie Paynter | Bill Ponsford |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Geoff Pullar | Wayne Phillips |
| 3 | Kevin Pietersen (captain) | Ricky Ponting (captain) |
| 4 | Peter Parfitt | Kurtis Patterson |
| 5 | Ollie Pope | Jack Potter |
| 6 | Matt Prior (WK) | Ellyse Perry |
| 7 | Jim Parks (WK) | Tim Paine (WK) |
| 8 | Derek Pringle | Peter Philpott |
| 9 | Liam Plunkett (right arm fast) | James Pattinson |
| 10 | Bobby Peel (left arm orthodox) | Joey Palmer |
| 11 | Monty Panesar (left arm orthodox) | Len Pascoe |
| Score | 33.5 out of 50 | 34 out of 50 |
Verdict: Another desperately close contest. Paynter and Ponsford cancel each other out, giving England the edge for the opening batting. Ponting just edges Pietersen but England have three more 40-plus Test averages in the middle order. The keeping is England by a nose. The England spin twins of Panesar and Peel are an advantage, offset by a weak pace bowling duo – they have no answer to Pattinson and Pascoe. This is very, very tight but in the end, believe it or not, Australia get up due to half points in captaincy and lower-order batting.
England 6 Australia 8 (361 total points to 361.5)
| England | Australia | |
| 1 | Nick Compton | Ed Cowan |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Alistair Cook (captain) | Herb Collins |
| 3 | Colin Cowdrey | Ian Chappell (captain) |
| 4 | Dennis Compton | Greg Chappell |
| 5 | Brian Close | Bob Cowper |
| 6 | Paul Collingwood | Michael Clarke |
| 7 | Tich Cornford (WK) | Sammy Carter (WK) |
| 8 | Sam Curran | Pat Cummins |
| 9 | Robert Croft | Albert ‘Tibby’ Cotter |
| 10 | Dominic Cork | Stuart Clark |
| 11 | Andy Caddick | William Cooper |
| Score | 32.5 out of 50 | 35.5 out of 50 |
Verdict: Australia are really starting to take a stranglehold on this series now. England threw some punches here with Cook, Compton and Cowdrey in the same line-up. But even if we allow that to gain a half point against the two Chappells plus Collins, we then have Nick Compton – a poor man’s Cowan – and Close and Collingwood, who don’t come close to Cowper and Clarke. And then the Australian bowling attack destroys England despite the presence of the underrated Andy Caddick. Cummins, Cotter and Clark would ask too many questions. And England’s spinner is not a wicket-taker. But the batting of both sides would be an absolute treat to watch (once Cook and Cowan are out!).
England 6 Australia 9 (393.5 total points to 397)
Australia have taken a real stranglehold after Round 2, with nine wins to six. England will have to win five out of the last eight to draw level, and given we are heading into the strongest eight teams, that might be a bridge too far. Australia has also snuck ahead on aggregate points.
Can the Aussies bring it home? Come back next time to find out.
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