Well, the man with the Lion tattoo took this Test, and possibly the Ashes, by the scruff of the neck by turning in a superb performance of fast, swing bowling. No one English ever believes me, but when he gets it right, he is the best bowler in the world, he really is (he is also the cleanest hitter of a ball since Gilchrist). The trouble is, he has a heart the size of a pea and rarely performs like he did on this day. Let's see if he can make it permanent this time.
There has been more written about Johnson's technique than War and Peace but for me, and probably everyone else, the key is the height of his arm at the moment of release. In his top form, South Africa in early 2009 when he really was close to unplayable for example, his arm isn't completely upright but it is sure higher than it was in Brisbane or was for the past 12 months. Today, it was back to about as high as it has ever been. Let's hope his intensive net sessions during the Adelaide Test included a heart transplant as well. If it did, we might have a tiny bit of hope for the rest of the series.
Whilst our bowling looked better, our batting remains the same. The performance during the first 40 minutes of the first day was insipid. Hughes looked out of his depth, again, but that is not surprising for a bloke averaging 16 in first class cricket this year. I am not picking and sticking with him. Ponting really looks a bit past it now, playing some very loose shots and Clarke was similar. Watson, Hussey and Haddin again looked good but Smith appeared a long way short of a Test number 6 to me but at least he showed some application. Credit to England though, their bowling was again top class; good partnerships and lots of pressure.
The second Australian innings, so far, has been exactly the same. Effortless from Watson and Hussey and loose from Hughes, Ponting and Clarke. Ponting really is a worry. If you are gone at this level, it is pretty close to impossible to come back, no matter no determined you are. Your eyes and reflexes just don't regenerate. I believe that his only hope is to tighten up a little at the start of his innings. It worked for Tendulkar.
Mitchell Johnson's unconventional approach in the 3rd Test in Perth paid dividends
Regardless of the failures of some of the newer players, as I said previously, I think enough is enough and we need to pick and stick now. Constant chopping and changing is just going to make everyone feel like they are always playing for their places and that will only exacerbate our current problems. One person who appears to agree is former Test cricketer and current father of hidden love child, Dean Jones.
In a remarkably thoughtful think piece, Jones is another voice behind the case for a bit of good old fashioned, mid 80s pick and stick.
Says the man who almost killed himself scoring a double hundred in the 1986 tied Indian Test:
"Test cricketers aren't born overnight. It can take 20 years of hard work in the game for a cricketer to realise his potential as a Test player. It took Steve Waugh 27 Tests to score his first Test century. It is very frustrating at times dealing with young players, but you must show faith, remain positive and be patient"
He is right of course. We pulled ourselves out of horror in the mid 80s by doing this and England fought back from some terrible times in the 90s with the same method. It indeed can be frustrating (ask anyone that watched Mark Waugh scratch around for the last couple of years of his Test career or endured Collingwood being unable to get one off the square for months on the trot) but in the end it works.
But first you need to acknowledge that you are in trouble (no more mad pronouncements about rotating people out of the team in the middle of an Ashes series, no more public contradictory announcements by different selectors). Let's just admit we are in disarray and do something about it. Then, you need to pick and stick with intelligence. As Roebuck reminded us, being young is not enough. Youth must be couple with a strong mind (as you as going to fail for quite a long time before you succeed and you must come through it) and a good technique; Test cricket finds things out that first class cricket often doesn't. The last thing you want is to be sticking with someone who just isn't going to make it or is trying to adjust their technique in the middle of a Test match. By this yardstick, Hughes and Smith probably struggle to make the side on technique grounds and Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson come in (with Mike Hussey taking one for the team by opening).
While we are taking about Deano, he also mentioned my original cricketing hero, Rod Marsh who he met when making his debut:
"I was greeted at the door by Marsh, who proceeded to put his hands around my throat and slam me against the wall, yelling, ''If you don't get us past 200, then don't walk back into these rooms!'' Nice to play cricket with your mates, I thought. With the help of Rod Hogg we got past the total and won the match pretty easily. Marsh handed beers out to everyone and then motioned to me to ''get in the corner and don't say a word''. Nice bloke … not"
If I didn't already know it after meeting Steve Waugh in 1997, it is probably best to avoid meeting your heroes.
On the topic of Rod Marsh, he mentioned The Man with the Lion Tattoo, at a pre-Ashes breakfast the other day when the subject of tattoos came up:
"I would have told Mitchell Johnson to take 'em off – and Michael Clarke as well, how can we have a bloke captain Australia with tattoos? It's just not on. We'd have pulled 'em out, I reckon"
After learning a little more about Rod through Deano, it seems Rod might have thumped them both as well; probably justified in this instance though of course. At least someone is standing up for good, common sense 1970s Australian values.
Back in 1985, Dean Jones (pictured left) proved that it was indeed "very frustrating at times dealing with young players"
Final Point: Interesting comment on the already forgotten lucky number 62, Michael Beer from Adam Gilchrist as reported on the cricinfo live commentary.
"Adam Gilchrist is on Channel Nine, telling of his experience with Michael Beer, who until recently worked at the Puma factory in Melbourne. Gilly used to go in and sign a few hundred bats every year; Beer's job was to unpack them all and get them ready for Gilchrist"
Lucky number 62 indeed.
Whichever team ends up winning this Test, at least we have a really interesting contest now. Sure, I used to say that about England putting up a fight in previous Ashes but I will ignore the irony and take what I can get at the moment.
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