The Ashes Blog

I thought I’d put up a couple of different angles on how things are shaping for The Ashes 2009. First up is a review from my father-in-law, a keen English cricket fan now living in Brisbane, Australia:

I think it will be close. Neither team looks a dominant force to me, though both are capable of playing winning cricket. If the wickets favour spin, I think England will probably win, though I rate Michael Clarke and Katich as good spinners, probably better than Hauritz. But it is unlikely that more than a couple of the pitches will help spinners much.

The weather is very good at the moment. It was hot for Wimbledon. But English weather ….

Here are my thoughts as an Australian fan:
Read the rest of this entry »

What a massive blow this is for Australia. Brett Lee has injured a side muscle, and could miss either one Test, or all five. With all of the talk about reverse swing being a factor at Cardiff, and Lee being about the only Aussie who showed mastery of it in the practise match against England Lions, this creates a huge problem for Australia. The balance of the team is now out, and it’s going to make it tough for them to win. A few months ago the Australian supporters wouldn’t have though twice about losing Lee, as he was well off his best. But now he’s looking really good again, and, well, with him out Australia’s in trouble.

I expect they’ll replace Lee with Ben Hilfenhaus rather than Nathan Hauritz, though that will depend on what they see the pitch doing when the Australian selectors take a look at it on Wednesday morning.

For England, this will give them a pretty big boost. They would have been concerned by Lee’s performance at Worcester, but now they’ll be thinking that they’ll have a much easier time of it. And they probably will.

Day 1: Australians 337 for 8 (Hussey 143*, Katich 95)

There were some concerns for the Australians with a few of their top batsmen failing, but Mike Hussey looks like he could be back to form and ready to terrorise the England bowlers.

Phillip Hughes was once again dismissed cheaply, and I just wonder if he might have used up too much energy in playing for Middlesex. He’s a terrific player, and I’m not going to discount him, but he needs to get this run of low scores out of him as soon as possible. He is the sort of guy that can just turn it on at anytime … a little bit like Adam Gilchrist, you just never want to write him off.

However, another shining light was Mitchell Johnson, who once again showed the more qualified batsmen the way to go. You England fans shouldn’t underestimate this guy – he is seriously good. And I mean, Flintoff ‘05 good. Look out. Read the rest of this entry »

Symonds is out, McDonald is in, and Brett Lee gets another chance at glory on English soil. Frankly, I think the selectors have done alright. I am surprised they went with Ronnie (McDonald) over Roy (Symonds), but I think they made the right decision. As for the rest, it’s all fairly predictable stuff. Only one specialist spinner is in the squad (Hauritz), but that’s not going to be a problem. If Cardiff is a turning pitch, then guys like Clarke, Katich, and North are all wicket takers who can combine to fill the extra spinner position.

As for the fast bowling “pack”, Johnson and Siddle are automatic selections, which leaves Lee, Clark, and Hilfenhaus fighting for the extra 1 or 2 spots.

Here’s the squad: Read the rest of this entry »

I thought I’d try and put together a playing list of recent Australian and English players who have struggled to play as much cricket as they would like because of various injuries. Some seem to spend half their life on the bench, whilst others have experienced occasional injuries but have nevertheless missed out on some big moments. Here’s my Injured Ashes XI:

1. Marcus Trescothick
2. Phil Jaques
3. Michael Vaughan (c)
4. Shane Watson
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Andrew Flintoff
7. James Foster (w)
8. Brett Lee
9. Simon Jones
10. Shaun Tait
11. Bryce McGain

Not a bad playing list, but do you think all eleven could be simultaneously fit for a game??! And how many of these guys will play a Test in the 2009 Ashes series?

Australia: 419
England: 161
Australia wins by an innings and 99 runs

It was yet another comfortable win for the Australians, with all of the bowlers contributing in another standout performance. Brett Lee’s 4 wickets were just reward for the way he bowled … he obviously had plenty of Weet-Bix for breakfast. Stuart Clark also bowled beautifully, and together with Lee’s bag of 4, there weren’t too many left for Messrs Warne and McGrath.

For the English, Chris Read did really well behind the stumps, taking 6 catches, and making 26no with the bat. It was to be expected, after all, for once again England has brought a capable player into the side too late for him to have any positive impact on the series.

The Australian and English media have been calling for Kevin Pietersen’s elevation to number 4, and finally the England management gave in, though one wonders whether the timing was appropriate. England were struggling at 2 for 48 when ‘The Ego’ surprisingly came out to bat one spot higher than he has all summer. The experiment was allegedly KP’s suggestion, though it didn’t work out with the former South African adding just 1 run to the England total before being bowled by a delicious Stuart Clark off cutter.

Aside from that the only other real talking point was the poor umpiring from Rudi Koertzen, who seemed intent on not giving any LBW decisions for the entire match. I remember when I did a season as a professional umpire. In one game I was far too generous with my LBW dismissals, raising the finger for just about anything. The day after the game I received a call from the cricket association’s umpiring chief, who, in a very kind way, reminded me that I should be a little more judicious in my decision making. I’d reckon Rudi Koertzen might be receiving a similar phone call.

So now we head off to Sydney for the fifth Test. The Australians are red hot favourites to win the final Test in the harbour city, with England looking about as demoralised as they have all tour. We all scoffed at Glenn McGrath’s predictions that Australia would win 5-0, and now he gets the chance to prove us all wrong in his final Test.

England: 3/266

So, England do know how to play this game after all. Flintoff won the toss, and England enjoyed the luxury of batting on a belter of a pitch. Things started slowly, and with Strauss and Cook gone cheaply, I thought they might have been in a bit of trouble. But with Bell, Collingwood, and finally Pietersen putting some big runs on the board, they were able to take control.

We can never tell quite how well England has done until the Australians get out there and have a bat, which I would expect would be some time late on day two. Whether that’s a result of an England declaration (they would need to score quickly if that’s the case … needing at least 500 on the board), or being knocked over, if the Aussies don’t commence their innings until day three then I doubt there will be enough time for a result and England would have wasted this perfect start.

Collingwood and Pietersen once again played the kind of smart, determined cricket that they showed on day four in Brisbane. They started extremely slowly, but were eventually able to get a few boundaries, whilst the man the Aussies call The Ego (Pietersen) had an intriguing battle with Warne. The ascendency moved back and forth between the two friends, although one wonders if that friendship might have been put on hold for now.

Meanwhile, Collingwood, who would have been 12th man if Marcus Trescothick had not gone home, is within sight of his first Ashes century, after scoring 96 in the first Test. If Trescothick’s depression is their heavy cloud, then Collingwood is the silver lining. He’s the gritty, determined player that England needs in their middle order, and so far, the Australians haven’t quite figured him out.

The big talking point at the start of the innings was the England lineup. For the second Test in a row, Duncan Fletcher has surprised us all by leaving Monty Panesar out of the side. That may yet prove to be a monumentous mistake:

“Monty Panesar, on the other hand, is just the kind of attacking bowler England needs at present. With the Adelaide Oval wicket turning sharply, even on day one, Panesar’s more aggressive approach to finger spin seemed far more likely to unsettle Australia’s batsmen, especially on the evidence of his net sessions this week, when he appeared to have regained the flight absent in recent tour matches.”
- The Age

The next few days may yet prove Fletcher’s decision to be the right one, though I very much doubt it. It’s possible that Fletcher is obsessed with maintaining the same XI, which he did with much success in the 2005 series. But things are different now, and Fletcher has to recognise that.

During the New South Wales v England game a week ago, Andrew Flintoff had a benefit night and Brett Lee – good mate that he is – was invited along. Lee sat down at the same table as Freddie and Paul Collingwood, and when the England captain got up to make his speech, he noted the weirdness of it all:

“It’s funny . . . Brett and I have been having a steak and a glass of wine together and talking about family and kids and tomorrow morning he’ll be trying to knock my head off.”
- Andrew Flintoff

This is one of the great things about cricket, and sport generally. As Lee notes in this article, there’s been a lot said about the friendships that have developed between various players in the Australian and English camps. Some have questioned whether friendship and competition can co-exist:

“My feeling is there is room for both. I hope that when people see me playing they can’t deny I am giving it 100 per cent.
I try my best until 6pm but after that I switch off. It’s part of sport.”
- Brett Lee

I absolutely agree. Cricket is the greatest game in the world, and the competition experienced on the field is amazing, but there is more to life than cricket. Friendships, family, and the bigger picture … these are the things that really matter.