Well, the Australian Hs put up a reasonable show with Haddin making a fluent 56 and Hussey a stylish 93 and unlucky not to get his hundred. The problem was though, if you remove their scores and the fine 51 from Watson, the rest of the players, and sundries combined, made 45 to bring our first innings total on the best batting track / road in Australia to 245; around about 450 runs below par by my calculation. Captain and vice Captain made a combined 2 runs from 7 balls. We simply won't win the Ashes unless one, or probably both, of these two fire.
Despite all the problems, Hussey remained upbeat.
Hussey tried very hard with his comment of: "It's only two innings, It doesn't really make a summer or win us the Ashes". I guess in other times, with other players, I could agree with this but sadly not now. It isn't what's happened in the last few days of Test cricket but how it has happened. We have looked in disarray and England have been clearly a class above. To see it otherwise, really is living in a bubble of Australian cricket glory circa 2003 or so. I wish it was true too but it just isn't.
Most interesting of Hussey's comments was:
"Katto was just disappointed that we got off to such a poor start. He was in shock really, more than anything." Almost two hours after his dismissal Katich was still sitting alone outside the dressing room.
I mentioned yesterday that Simon would be plotting something very dark to occur to Shane Watson in retaliation for running him out and it seems it might be a doozy as it took him at least two hours of sitting alone, in the dark with his pads, helmet, box and thigh pad to come up with something. I am telling you now that the Police Detective industry could do much, much worse than to simply conduct an exhaustive search of Katich's basement immediately. I don't know what they might find, but I guarantee they will find something. Leave it too long, and I fear they might find, among other things, bits and pieces of Watto.
As for England's batting, well, did the Brisbane Test ever finish? Cook and Trott were grinding us into the dirt there and nothing seems to have changed now with Trott making another strong 78 and Cook wracking up another ton. The tale of the tape makes for very, very sobering reading for Australian fans indeed.
England have scored 834 runs for the loss of three wickets in about 3 days of Test match batting now. This is roughly 278 runs per day of Test cricket for the loss of one wicket. Think of this 3 days in a row and you get the picture: Australian disaster. Cook, who OK, I now admit is quite reasonable at Test level, rather than the decent I accepted that he might be after the last Test, has now surpassed Wally Hammond's all time England record for most runs between dismissals with Alastair having stacked on over 400 runs since he last accepted one of our polite requests to cease batting and leave the field forthwith. I said we might see a little more of Cook after the past Test and alas I am right. The most shocking thing is how fresh he seems at the end of each session and day. He is starting to remind me of the guy that holds my personal record for the most hated English player of all time: Chris Broad.
Chris was another left handed English opening batsman with a "bat in the air" style who completely dominated us over the summer of 1986/87, when England last won a series here. Over that period I grew to dislike, then hate, then respect and then back to a sort of weird combination of all three as he put us to the sword in the Tests and then the one dayers. We just couldn't get him out and he played a big part in the England series victory. To this day, I still get a bit riled whenever he appears as an ICC match referee and I am sure it is why I dislike Stuart Broad so much. Come on Alastair, you don't want me still cranky with you in 25 years do you ? The fix is easy, just stop with this incessant run scoring against us. You are embarrassing us a little now.
Anyway, back to today and we have played KP back into form as well. Just what we need, England's top 4 scoring tons against us in the next Test.
I have spent some time thinking about why we are where we are and the fact is there isn't anything that is easily fixed. England are just playing better cricket than us: batting and bowling in partnerships better than us and clearly have a much, much better team spirit than us. Former Australia leg spinner, and personal friend of Stanford's Lap, Kerry O'Keeffe, said on the radio today that he saw only individuals out there today for Australia. Very true and a huge concern. Not a great comment on Ponting's leadership ability either I wouldn't have thought.
They are also fielding and catching better than us and we seem to be getting run out much more than England. Dropped catches and run outs are a sign of a cluttered mind and judging by the series so far, ours are full of old bric-a-brac that Australian coach Tim Nielsen dragged back from his latest visit to a car boot sale.
Despite mistaking me for English, Kerry O'Keeffe was very good to Dave and I in the early years of Stanford's Lap
So where to from here ? Most worryingly of all, there isn't really much else for us to go. This really is basically our best side now. Maybe you could make a case for Usman Khawaja instead of North (well I know I could) but aside from that, this is our best top 7. It is also probably our best bowling attack. Well, aside from The Bowler Formerly Known As Xavier. Our experiment with The Bowler has without question failed. England attack him like a school kid and he has no answer. Amazingly, it seems have a First Class bowling average of 48 really doesn't equip you for Test cricket. Who would have known?
Again though, what do we do instead of The Bowler? There isn't much else out there. Jason Krejza maybe ? Probably not, not really excelling in Shield cricket. Back to Hauritz might be the only answer if he has run himself back into form. One thing is certain though, The Bowler is not Test standard and is never going to be.
Ponting is going to have to go as Skipper after this series. He has improved as a captain but is still not great and anyone that tells me he isn't struggling to hold the team together is bonkers. Katich is his replacement in my book, as well as anyone that has ever gone to a bookshop. Despite his occasional madness, Katich is a superb leader and tactician. Clarke is a vain little boy, I will march in the street if they give it to him.
England will go on and at an absolute minimum hold the Ashes by drawing the series. In truth, I see them with a huge chance of winning the series now. I just don't see where we are going to win one, let alone the two or three we need to take the Ashes back.
Two England players demonstrate the newest dance sensation to sweep the country: The CookTrott
1 comment:
Australia are now in the same situation England have been in many times before. You can't build teams and win series with just a sprinkling of good or very good players. If about half your team is made up of moderate players you are bound to lose in the long run.
England now have a solid unit and, importantly, the players who were lacking form are now firing again. The team is not a brilliant one - just solid and professional. This Australia team is not good enough to beat England. Only England can lose by themselves, which has happened way too often in the past. Most England fans are praying that the team holds itself togather and gets the victory that the better team deserves. That remains to be seen, but the series is there for the taking.
The West Indies were untouchable, but lost their way and have never recovered. Australia were untouchable, but have lost their way, and don't have sufficient good players at the moment. They'll be back, though.
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