The Ashes Blog

Preview: Australia is going with the same squad that dominated most of the Cardiff Test. England has made just one change, with quickie Graham Onions playing in place of Monty Panesar. England could have brought in Harmison, and frankly I think they’re nuts for not playing Harmy. The Aussies are a little scared of Harmison, and that’s a big thing. Don’t underestimate the relief this gives to the Australians.

So, this should be a fascinating Test. Australia seem to have the better squad, but that doesn’t always matter.  This game will be close.

As always, I hope you enjoy these exclusive Ashes photos.

Day 1: England 364 for 6 (Strauss 161*)

A big century from Captain Strauss was the highlight on day 1 at Lord’s, and it looked like England was going to post a massive total.  I made a prediction on Twitter that they would finish the day with over 300 runs on the board for the loss of about 3 wickets, but as so often happens after a big partnership the rest of the side crumbled.

Ravi Bopara showed he could score quickly, but I think the number 3 batting position isn’t right for him, at least not at Test level. Collingwood showed that England needs to be in a hole before he can do anything useful, and Kevin Pietersen can’t shake the “lone wolf” accusations.

Day 2: Australia 156 for 8 (Anderson 4-36) trail England 425 (Strauss 161, Cook 95, Hilfenhaus 4-103) by 269 runs

All I’ve got to say is this: Australia’s batting was woeful. For further information try these links:

“No sympathy for careless Australia” – Cricinfo

“Aussies as Rick as a parrot” – The Sun

“Jittery Mitchell Johnson tests Ricky Ponting’s patience” – Times Online

So, now what?  Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Australia’s final three batsmen will not, I repeat – not – add another 270 runs to the scorecard. So, if Australia is dismissed for under 225, should Andrew Strauss enforce the follow-0n?  As an Aussie fan, I hope it does, as I think that’s Australia’s only chance at getting back into the game. If England bats again, they’ll completely put Australia out of the match. Which way will Straussy go?

Update on Ponting’s wicket: No wonder Ponting was surprised when he was given out. It turns out that he knew the rules of the game better than the TV umpire did:

Ponting was given out caught at second slip off the bowling of Jimmy Anderson after a long-winded process that saw umpire Rudi Koertzen refer the matter to TV umpire Nigel Llong to check whether the ball had carried.

By the time Ponting had reached the dressing room it was clear the ball had come off his pad, but the assumption was that Llong did not have the authority to overturn the decision.

Australia’s captain and best batsman knew differently and the International Cricket Council has since explained that Llong should in fact have informed Koertzen that the television replays had revealed Ponting did not hit the ball.

Rule 3.2.3 governing clean catches reads, in part: “The third umpire has to determine whether the batsman has been caught. But when reviewing the television replay(s), if it is clear to the third umpire that the batsman did not hit the ball, he shall indicate that the batsman is not out.”
- “Umpires fluff Ponting wicket”: The Age

Day 3: England 425 and 311 for 6 (Prior 61, Collingwood 54) lead Australia 215 (Hussey 51, Anderson 4-55) by 521 runs

Things just keep going wrong for the Australians. On day three at Lord’s, Ponting missed a simple opportunity to run out Kevin Pietersen, Ponting also dropped a simple catch at second slip, Hauritz was ruled to have not taken a low catch at mid-on, and Mitchell Johnson continued to bowl all over the place. Johnson’s place is definitely in doubt for the next Test. I’d love to see him return to the form he showed in South Africa, but if that doesn’t happen then I think a change in the bowling lineup would be a positive step.

In other news, according to Dean Jones Kevin Pietersen will be unavailable for the rest of this Ashes series due to problems with his Achilles heel. Apparently KP’s only just hanging in there for this game, which might explain his placid scoring in the 2nd innings. Now Deano correctly called Flintoff’s retirement, so I reckon he could be right on this one too. That’s going to be a big loss for England. With Lee possibly coming back for Australia for the next Test, and KP, we could see Australia really come back well (if they do eventually lose this Test at Lord’s).

Day 4: Australia 215 and 313 for 5 (Clarke 125*, Haddin 80*) need another 209 runs to beat England 425 and 311 for 6 dec

Five Australian wickets fell today, and three of them were not out. Now, I understand umpires can make mistakes – I spent a season working as a cricket umpire when I was younger and it’s hard work. But three big whoppers in one day is terrible. Here they are:

• Simon Katich caught in the gully, but it was a no-ball from Andrew Flintoff
• Phil Hughes caught at slip by Andrew Strauss, but it may have hit the ground as Strauss grabbed it, and the benefit of the doubt should go to the batsman
• Mike Hussey caught at slip but he didn’t actually hit the ball – there was daylight between his bat and the ball

However, Australia’s still fighting hard, and I reckon they still have a chance to pull off a remarkable victory against the odds. I for one hope they have some better luck on day five.

So, what are their chances?  Here’s my odds:

• A 50% chance that Australia will fall short by 50 to 100 runs, and England win
• A 30% chance that Australia will be 1 to 49 runs short, and England win
• A 19% chance that Australia wins
• And finally, a 1% chance of a tie.

It really is set up to be a fantastic final day at Lord’s, which is exactly what we want. Good quality cricket, with both sides in with a chance at victory. I just hope that the side that plays the better cricket actually wins, rather than the side that is the recipient of fewer mistakes by umpires Koertzen and Doctrove.

Day 5: England 425 and 311 for 6 dec beat Australia 215 and 406 (Clarke 136, Haddin 80, Johnson 63, Flintoff 5-92, Swann 4-87) by 115 runs

Congratulations to the England cricket team, who were the better side in this game. Australia lost this Test due to their poor first innings effort in the face of some brilliant James Anderson bowling, and some wayward bowling by the Australians over the first couple of days. Did those poor umpiring efforts on day 4 have an impact? Australia lost this Test by 115 runs, and three batsmen were given out when they shouldn’t have been. If Hughes, Katich and Hussey had been able to add another 39 runs each then Australia would have won. Ok, so that’s a bit of a stretch, because you don’t know what else might have happened (they could have been bowled the very next ball, after all), but it does show that Australia wasn’t all that far behind. A bit of luck, some better decision making, and this Test would have been much closer.

To sum it up, I think there are some positive signs for Australia. I think Johnson – if he gets another chance – could be about to discover his lost form.  He has been woeful at times, but with a break, a practice game, and some confidence from his 63 run innings on day 5 at Lord’s I think things might start to come together for him. He’ll need to perform well in the game against Northants to ensure his spot at Edgbaston. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Brett Lee or possibly Stuart Clark come back into the side, possibly as a replacement for Peter Siddle.

So, I expect Australia to improve significantly at Edgbaston, and to win the 3rd Test. I know, it’s a big call, but I sense a change in fortune for the tourists.

Australia: 393
England: 5/114

Earlier in this Test the Aussie press were praising England for finally giving Australia a challenge. That challenge ended on day three at the SCG.

The tourists started off the day pretty well, reducing Australia to 6 for 260. This was on par with England’s 6 for 258, but the final 5 English batsmen could add just 4 runs to the total, whereas Australia’s final 5 added 173. Australia’s success was in large part due to the batting of Shane Warne, who top scored with 71. If Warnie ever wins an Academy Award – and who’s to say he won’t – he will surely be thanking Paul Collingwood for giving him the inspiration to go on. Whilst Warne was batting, Collingwood started to give him a bit of his best sledging, and typically, the Aussie responded in kind:

“You got an MBE, right? For scoring seven at the Oval? It’s an embarrassment.”
- Shane Warne to Paul Collingwood

Warnie was smashing the ball to the fence, and Collingwood was giving him lip from the slips. The legspinner was loving it:

“It was making me concentrate. It was making me more determined. It was all a bit of fun.
That’s the way he wanted to play it and I was happy to play that game. It suits me fine.”
- Shane Warne

Trailing by 102 runs on the first innings, England’s top order batsmen needed to play well. They didn’t, and with a lead of just 12 runs and only 5 wickets in hand, they are looking down the barrell at yet another loss. They’ll need Pietersen to play through to the end, adding at least another 150 to the total. This would seem unlikely, but anything less than that should be too easy for the Australians to overhaul.

If Paul Collingwood’s MBE is an embarrassment, then 5-0 would be even worse.

England: 129
Australia: 4/168

Australia wins by 6 wickets

How did this happen??!!

This would have to go down as one of the most remarkable wins ever … up there with India’s wins over Australia in 2001 and 2005. At the start of the day we were all expecting a bland draw. Maybe England would try and go for quick runs, declare, and set Australia a total to chase, but that seemed unlikely. But after seeing both sides cruise past 500 in their first dig, I can not understand how England could be strangled to the point that they are all out for 129 from 73 overs.

Shane Warne was the chief destroyer with 4 for 49, but the Aussie quicks were brilliant as well, cutting England’s run supply and causing the tourists to make careless errors with the bat. Although the wickets were useful, I think it was the uber-slow scoring rate that really ended England. It was “active euthanasia” in so much as they brought on their own death by doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. If they had added another 50 runs, or batted for another hour, they would have been safe. If I were an England cricket fan I would be demanding a Royal Commission.

Paul Collingwood was the hero in the first innings with a brilliantly created double century. In the second innings, post-Aussie victory, he is the villain who faced 119 balls, made just 22 runs, and exposed the fragile English lower order to the wily deception of Messrs Warne and McGrath. I think he’ll have a bit on his mind tonight.

Then there was the England bowling. Lacking in venom, bite, and a decent spinner, Flintoff had no-one to turn to but himself. Harmison was offering nothing, and Giles never looked like giving the ball the magic it had when in the hands of Shane Warne.

So, where to now for England? What do they have to do to get themselves back into this series?

Australia 513
England: 1/59

It was a tough day for the English bowlers, and a day of redemption for Australia’s batsmen. Michael Clarke showed that his place in the team is warranted with a well crafted 124, his improved batting apparently the result of a chat over dinner with Shane Warne on Sunday night. Adam Gilchrist also showed that he’s not quite finished yet with 64.

This Test has been spoken of as being a repeat of the Edgbaston Test, so on day two I made a few predictions. As per Edgbaston 2005, I said that Australia would finish up roughly 100 runs behind England … they did better than that, and were only 38 behind. I also said that Ponting would top score for the Aussies (as he did at Edgbaston), and that Adam Gilchrist would finally make a few runs, which he did. Although one wonders if Gilly would have had the same success if Flintoff had been bowling, as the big Lancastrian was unable to bowl for much of the day.

Shane Warne continues to show his all-round ability, as he became only the sixth man to have taken 300 Test wickets and score 3000 runs. That puts him in the same category as Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev (although Warne’s batting average is far lower than the other players in this exclusive group). But at least he got there, so good on ya, Warnie!

For the English, Matthew Hoggard was the hero, as he bagged 7 wickets for the innings. Given that only 17 wickets have been taken across 4 days of Test match cricket, I’d say that’s a fantastic effort from the English swinger. Amongst the other bowlers, Harmison went wicketless, though his much improved line and length will give him some confidence for the next 3 games. Giles and Anderson were also made to look pretty ordinary on this pitch, but then so did most of Australia’s bowlers, so it’s difficult to learn too much from this effort.

What can we look forward to on day five? Well, in my view there’s a 98% chance that this game will head for a draw, a 1% chance that England will win and a 1% chance that Australia will win. If England wants to level the series they will have to make 200 runs in the first session (I reckon that would be a little over 6 runs an over), declare, and then take 10 Aussie wickets in just 2 sessions. I can’t see that happening. If Australia wants to win then they would need to take another 9 scalps before lunch, whilst restricting England’s scoring, and then try and get the runs in the final 2 sessions. (Cue the Mission Impossible soundtrack) The only other option is that England offers a sporting declaration with, say, a 200 run lead, and then give Australia 40 overs to get them. The Australians would be tempted by the offer, risky chances would be taken, and just maybe England could grab the wickets they need. Or perhaps Australia would get the runs. Frankly, I just don’t think Flintoff and the England management would have the courage to do that, so it looks like we’ve got a draw coming up.

England: 6/551 dec.
Australia: 1/28

In the Australian Football League, the Collingwood Football Club has a theme song – “Good old Collingwood forever … we know how to play the game.” If he knows that song, I reckon Paul Collingwood, England’s emergency fill-in, will be singing that number well into the night.

It certainly was Collingwood’s day, as he scored only the fifth double century by an Englishman in Australia. He was finally dismissed with a lazy swing outside off, but it didn’t matter by then as he and Kevin Pietersen had shared in a record 314 run fourth wicket stand. Pietersen himself was dismissed for the third time on 158 (he made exactly the same score in the final Test of 2005’s epic series against Australia).

Flintoff and Giles came together at the end to slowly take the score along to 6 for 551, at which point Freddie made a smart declaration. This gave the Australians 9 overs to survive, and Langer didn’t make it, as he was dismissed by a brute of a delivery from the England captain. However, Ponting and Hayden were able to knock up a few boundaries, and despite the pressure being mounted by the tourists, took the total to 28 without further loss.

So what will tomorrow hold? Well, if Adelaide really is a repeat of the Edgbaston 2005 Test, then I would expect the Aussies to be dismissed for a hundred or so runs short of the Poms. Ponting will top score, and Adam Gilchrist will actually get a few runs on the board. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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.

I was at the Gabba myself today, and although it wasn’t a terribly memorable day’s play, it was an interesting one. Australia declared early … the only thing holding them back was Justin Langer’s century. With that milestone knocked over, it was back into the sheds with the score at 1/202. That gave them a total for the match of 10 wickets for 804 runs. Not too shabby, really.

Andrew Strauss was once again the first to go, as Stuart Clark got him out hooking, caught by super-sub Ryan Broad. Cook played well for his 43, but the big partnership of the day was between Collingwood and Pietersen. Australia didn’t quite know how to pin them down, and the runs flowed. The crowd were fairly quiet, though the England fans slowly upped the volume as their two stoic batsmen showed a bit of grit. Unfortunately for Mr Collingwood the pressure was too much for him, as he had a brain explosion on 96 and was stumped by Gilchrist off the bowling of Warne. However, he was still happy with how it all went:

“We wanted to fight today because we haven’t played as well as we can. It was about fighting and pride and a bit of passion, and not just talking about it but going out there and showing it.”

That’s the one thing that really came out of day four – England’s recovery. Some people had written England off for the entire tour, but I’ve known all along that they would eventually fight back. Day four at the Gabba was the beginning of that epic climb back up the hill of competitiveness.

What do others say?

The Age: England become Lions

The Corridor: England fight back, and some thoughts on coaches

The Guardian: Odd couple lift English spirits

I thought it would be interesting to do a statistical comparison of the two sides to see how they will fare against each other, statistically speaking. What I’ve done is add up the batting averages for all 11 players in each side to give a team batting average. I’ve then added up the bowling averages for Australia and England, and this gives us a team bowling average. To the Australian batting averages I added the England team bowling average to give a final total (and vice versa for England). So if a side has a very good, and therefore low, bowling average then they won’t be adding too many runs to the oppositions total team average, so it seems to me like a fair comparison: Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a brief overview of England’s recognised batsmen. Most of the input is from Mike Atherton, with a little bit of help from his good mate Steve Waugh:

Andrew Strauss: Loves to cut and pull off the back foot, so get him playing forward and force him to hit down the ground – Mike Atherton

Alastair Cook: Tends to fall across his crease, so pitch it up and look to trap him LBW – Mike Atherton

Ian Bell: Doesn’t play the horizontal bat shots too well, so may struggle to score – Mike Atherton

Paul Collingwood: Likes to drive, but isn’t good with the cut or pull, and tends to hook in the air – Mike Atherton

Kevin Pietersen: Loves to drive off the front foot, but doesn’t always get hold of the hook, so look to have him caught in the deep. – Mike Atherton. Don’t talk to him, block off his boundaries with an in-out field setting, and bring Warne on as he may find the leg spinner’s extra bounce on Australian pitches difficult – Steve Waugh.

Andrew Flintoff: Stop his boundary hitting by starving him of the strike and having in-out field placements – Steve Waugh.
Tends to hook in the air, so bounce him and place a couple of fielders in the deep – Mike Atherton