Tag Archives: australia

Australia Well Placed for World Record

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This is the reason why Australia is No. 1. Not South Africa. Not India. And not any of the rest. Most teams faced with a mammoth 500+ target in the last innings and two days to play would have simply folded up their tent and spent the fifth day on the beach. In contrast, the Australians have all the momentum with an unbeaten 185-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

When England declared, some Australians would have been praying for rain. At the end of the day, only the English are doing any rain dances. But there won’t be any rain tomorrow. Nor with just 2 runs per over required over the day to win the match, will defense (in bowling) save England.

It has been official for sometime now that the English bowling is garbage of the worst sort. They have exactly one injured bowler who is intimidating and even he gets wickets via umpiring errors. The rest of the bowling can neither take wickets nor restrict the scoring rate. Most of the first innings wickets came through unforced mistakes. Few through any strong bowling effort.

What surprises me is that apparently the English team management knows this and still makes the wrong choices. If your bowling needs 180 overs to bowl out an opposition, you are going to lose. Why not bat another 30 overs, pile up another 100 runs and give your bowlers 150 overs so that if they continue to bowl like they are used to, you don’t lose the match?

Perhaps the English captain and coach read the newspapers where the nothing-to-lose commentators advocate humiliating the Australians. But those who try to teach the Australians end up being the fools themselves. If England manages to squeak by with a win, they can consider themselves lucky. Mind games and strutting are for champions, not upstarts.

Should England Have Enforced the Follow-on?

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First of all, I am flabbergasted that England is even in a position that it could tell Australia to follow on. How many people would have bet on that before this game? Especially after they just managed to hang on to save the Cardiff Test.

There were good reasons for England to have enforced the follow-on. There is the possibility of rain. The pitch will remain playable on the last two days. A huge England target with less time (5 sessions) may get Australia playing for a draw on a dead pitch.

That is all true, but I think it misses the big picture. England are the underdogs in this contest and, regardless of all the PR talk, they probably never backed themselves to be in a winning position against the Australians. While the 2005 series was great, that team was coming off a high with several victories in hand, while the present team could not even beat the West Indies in their away tour.

So now, they find themselves dominant. The important thing is to preserve and protect the gains and ensure that there is no likelihood of a loss. If England manage to bat till lunch tomorrow, the chances of Australia winning are infinitesimal. Even if Australia manage to draw, that is okay.

It is different with a team like Australia, who are natural-born winners. When they are ahead, they have the confidence to back them. If Australia were in the same situation, they would have asked England to bat on, and then bowled them out in no time.

But England will always have Adelaide – the match they should never have lost. As long as those memories remain, they will never attempt any risk from a winning position. Safety first. Whether that is right or wrong is a different matter.

Good England Start with Hiccups

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At the beginning of the day, England would have been happy with 364/6 at stumps. But considering that they had a close-to-double-century opening partnership, they could have done much better. But most of the wickets were prised out, not thrown away. And Strauss is still there, hopefully to grab a few more runs with the tail to put England with something significant to defend.

There were quite a few surprises:

  1. Collingwood throwing away his wicket. I wouldn’t blame him. He probably spent his full annual quota of concentration in the Cardiff Test.
  2. And gifting it to Clarke. This kind of thing makes you wonder why Ponting did not try him against Anderson and Panesar. Remember his 3 wickets in the penultimate over against India. For some reason, Clarke has the knack of taking wickets when you least expect him to.
  3. England literally hitting Hauritz out of the attack (by hurting his finger). All the more reason why they shouldn’t have allowed another spinner to take a wicket. Apparently, nothing was broken, but I wonder if Hauritz will bowl tomorrow. And if he doesn’t bowl well, will Ponting think it is because of the finger and send him out to pasture.
  4. Broad in the team. He needs to stay with the captain tomorrow and hit something. Nobody expects him to take wickets.
  5. Pietersen. Curiouser and curiouser. No big scores against the enemy yet. What happened to him?
  6. Johnson. 19-2-107-2. Trash bowling except for the wicket-taking balls. Most responsible for England’s good strike rate.
  7. North bowling so many overs. Economical, but shouldn’t Australia be mixing it up a bit?

This is no surprise: Andrew Strauss making another century after reaching his fifty. He now has 14 fifties and 18 hundreds. It is his fourth century this year. Since his last fifty in August 2008, he has made six centuries without falling between 50 and 100. Surprisingly, his highest score is only 177. Now is as good a time to make a double-century as ever.

As for the Australians, I am sure that Johnson will make a strong comeback with his bowling, but if he doesn’t, Australia has a dilemma on its hands. Johnson brings significant strength to the lower batting order, but Australia’s top order is already strong and they are stuck at seeing the England batsmen hang around for too long. England survived 105 overs in both innings and Australia probably lost a chance to win the match when Swann and Anderson made 68 for the ninth wicket. Someone like Stuart Clark would be more than useful.

Surprise! Broad is Still Playing

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Stuart Broad, to me, seemed the person most likely to be dropped from the team. He has been very ineffective with his bowling and England really need wicket-taking bowlers. I thought Harmison would replace him. But it seems that he will be playing at Lord’s. This is probably his last chance, because when England loses, he will be the one to go.

And how tragic for Panesar! He is the only person dropped from the England team that played at Cardiff, despite having played his part in a brave partnership that saved England from losing. Still, it was to be expected as his bowling was pretty average and England’s plans for this match did not involve two spinners.

England once again bat first. If this was a match between two equal teams, they would have had the last shot at the Australians on the pitch. But if the Australians continue to make monumental scores, England will be the one trying to save the match once again on the last day.

The Lord’s Test

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England are on a temporary high after saving the Cardiff Test against the Australians. But make no mistake – they start as overwhelming favorites to lose the Test. The Australians proved that their batting was as strong as ever and their bowling was good enough to win if rain had not intervened. History is also against the English as they have not won a Lord’s Test since 1934, or, rather more pertinent, Australia have only lost ONE Test ever at Lords in the last and this century.

I am not sure why England has never won for so many decades despite it being a home venue and Australians having had their downs during some of those years. Sports has its crazy streaks (like the Boston Red Sox for so many years) and this is one of them. Can the English reverse the curse? If they do, the Australians will have nowhere to run?

I also wonder how the Cardiff Test draw will pan out. Will it be like the previous Ashes tour by Australia where the last Australian pair saved the Old Trafford Test only for them at Trent Bridge? Or will it be like the last India’s tour where Dhoni and rain combined to deny England a victory and then the Indians won the series?

A few things that we don’t know how it will affect the Test:

  1. Ponting is ticked off. Will he will respond with another century? Or start making petty points while Australia is fielding?
  2. How much will England’s relief translate into momentum for a resurgent performance?
  3. Will Freddie play? Or will Bell take his place?
  4. England is very likely to drop Panesar. It is too bad that he just saved a Test for them. Or will they keep him in out of gratitude?!
  5. Broad is the person most likely to be dropped. Harmison? Onions?
  6. Australia don’t look like changing their team. Will there be any last-minute surprises?

In any case, the Ashes starts from 0-0 once again. Has England re-booted enough to trouble Australia?

Collingwood Buries Adelaide Memories

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The most memorable (and heart-wrenching) moment of the last day of this Ashes Test for me was Paul Collingwood’s walk back to the pavilion after he was dismissed. As the crowd cheered him for the most fighting knock of the innings, he raised his bat a few times, but he kept his head down, knowing that his day-long effort had been in vain. Just like in the Adelaide Test of the previous Ashes where he made a double-century and then watched from the other side as England lost a match they never should have.

But Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar ensured that there was no repeat of that match by surviving for an incredible 69 balls. And the effort by Collingwood would not go wasted. Australia did almost everything right after they bowled out England in the first innings, but, incredibly for an Australian team, they could not press their advantage to win the match.

Like all of you who watched the final moments of the match, it was one of the most nerve-wracking Tests I have experienced. The recent Sydney Test between India and Australia was much more intense, but that was a match that was more likely to end in a draw until Michael Clarke happened. This one was supposed to be an innings loss much earlier in the day, but England proved to be tougher than anyone expected.

The score stays 0-0 with four more to play. England were outplayed, but they now have the luxury of re-booting without having to come from behind. It is likely that Broad and Panesar will make way for Harmison and Onions. Of the batsmen, Bopara is the one with the biggest question mark, but he is sure to be there for the next Test. I wonder if the selectors may use the result to keep the same team – that would be one strong statement of intent, if unlikely to happen.

In general, I thought England’s problems arose not from any strategy problems, but from execution. It was a good idea to pack two spinners and bat first. Hauritz’s success showed that Panesar and Swann could have posed problems if Australia had been batting last. But the English bowling’s inability to break the Australian defences in the middle days coupled with a less-than-great first innings score lead to their downfall.

On the Australian side, it was a case of “close, but no cigar”. The Australian bowling was good, but they let the English tail wag twice in the match. They have to come up with a game plan to handle that. Mike Hussey is the only weakness in a strong batting lineup.

Next up, the Lord’s Test where Australia have not lost for a few decades now apparently. Australia remain the overwhelming favorites. Can Strauss and Flower turn the England team around in time to create a stunning upset? England, by saving the Test in a show of determination, should build upon it instead of celebrating an escape.

Australia Hold All the Chips

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The first hour of the morning session was exhilarating. Swann and Anderson made the Australians look silly. I didn’t expect England to cross 400, but they did in stunning fashion. Too bad Swann missed his half-century and Panesar missed double-digits.

The rest of the day was a grind. Australia moving ever surely towards an imposing lead. I suppose if Australia is still there by the end of Day 3, England is down and out. There is a lot of batting to come yet.

I am a little disappointed. It would have been nice to see a tighter contest between bat and ball, like what we did in the England innings. But so far, the England bowlers have shown many glimpses of that.

Homer and others have suggested a defensive strategy by England: pack one side and bowl to it, or bowl fewer overs throughout the day. I am not so sure. I don’t think England can execute it well, nor do I think that the England mangement would think of doing it. They may be forced into it if things don’t improve during the day, but I cannot see them use it to nail the Australians.

The good news is that England can hold their own against the Australian bowlers. So if things don’t turn out well, they can always try to bat out a draw. We will know if England have a hope by lunch tomorrow.

Great Start to the Ashes

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There was a lot of hype before this year’s Ashes. I am glad that at least the first day has lived up to it. Most of the day was Test cricket at its best. Every time one team gained an advantage, the opposition pressed harder to regain it. And so the see-saw went all day.

I am cheering on England and so I hope this won’t sound biased. I think 336/7 for England is a pretty good score considering that they were able to play as equals against Australia. Of course, Australia may go on to make 600 and win by an innings, but so far, England have not surrendered in the fashion that they are used to.

I suppose England could have made more and many will point to Pietersen’s moment of madness as a turning point, but they generally did well. Most of the English batsmen made runs and there were good partnerships. During the Flintoff-Prior partnership, Australia were on the backfoot. Pity it didn’t last.

Now, the lower order has to press for a score around 400 and strike early. Broad, Swann and, to a lesser extent, Anderson can hang in there. Australia will want to get them out cheaply. If England are still there by lunch, Australia will have to bat well to avoid a fourth innings chase. The Test is taking place at a new venue (Cardiff) for the first time and England have two spinners which could make things very tricky.

The Ashes is On

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And England is batting after winning the toss.

So here’s the funny thing: Strauss and Bopara were batting well and I just wrote, “England are in an okay position at 64/1. I hope I haven’t jinxed it.” Immediately, Strauss fell to Johnson. Terrible.

Moral of the story: Do not write anything even remotely favorable to England unless/until they win the series.

Australian Performance Against Sussex

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When Ponting was out for 8 against Sussex, there was some gloating in the “Internets” today. But at the end of the day, we saw what could become a nightmare for the English team in the Ashes. And that is the long wagging of the Australian tail, which was partly responsible for the away victory against South Africa this year. And remember, they reached 349/7 without Mitchell Johnson playing.

The top order of the Australians has not inspired a lot of confidence lately. Ponting and Hussey are obviously not in the form that they were a couple of years ago. Symonds is missing. Clarke and Katich are maybes depending on the position of the stars. And while Hughes had a great start to his career, he is going to be playing only his 4th Test in a few days.

So it looks likely the Australians may lose 5 wickets or so before they reach 200. But if their lower order can stick around longer, they could post a 400+ score which could post a few difficulties to the English team. At this moment, England should be preparing a clear plan to get out every tailender, especially the dangerous Johnson.

I will end with one fact. Johnson hit his two highest first class scores against South Africa, with the century coming off at more than a run a ball. Allow Australian tailenders to repeat that will be an unforgivable sin for England, who just don’t have the strength to match Australia if they let them get away.