The Oprah Winfrey farewell roadshow was playing out east in Sydney this week. With government funding of £2.5m the aim was to boost Australian tourism but it’s a moot point, in these austere times, whether the money would have been more prudently invested in restoring the fortune of the iconic baggy green.
Out west in Perth today it was the touring Englishman that dominated another three sessions of Ashes cricket on the first day of the 3rd Test. A display of insipid batting from the Australian top-order was compounded by the now customary display of inspired English fielding.
If everything that Andrew Strauss touches turns to gold then the opposite is true for Ricky Ponting. In came Steve Smith and the recalled Phil Hughes to bring some “humour” to the entrenched squad. It can be assumed that Ponting was also hoping for an improvement on a combined total of 9 runs. Mitchell Johnson, supposedly rested from the 2nd Test, did show fight with the bat to top score but it will be his bowling that determines whether he is worthy of a place in the team. Sledging Strauss at the end of the day was not done from a position of strength.
Chris Tremlett deputised for the injured Stuart Broad and was England’s standout performer marrying 3 wickets to a miserly economy rate. The jet-lagged Jimmy Anderson, fresh from attending the birth of his daughter in England, only required a stretch after taking a catch and 3 wickets. For all the pre-match fighting talk the Australian batting performance was again well below par. In these run-drunk days of Twenty20 and flat pitches the Australian batsmen have forgotten the discipline of making tough runs and putting a prize on their wicket. Ponting’s dismissal at least will again be attributed to a stunning piece of fielding at a time when the captain needed to post a score. This was not Gary Pratt or Andrew Flintoff with a run out but Paul Collingwood MBE leaping and twisting to take a one-handed catch when the ball was well past fielding mortals.
Not since the days of Allan Border will an Australian captain’s legacy be defined by the Ashes as much as Ponting’s will be. To lose three series to England would be considered worthy by many sages of deportation to Van Diemen’s Land. Fortunately for Ponting he already has his home there.
England have the upper hand in the series. For Duncan Fletcher though it seems that the memory of coaching England to defeat in 9 of the last 10 Tests that England played in Australia is no longer raw. “My feelings on the third Test are split. As an ex-coach of the team I want to see England retain the Ashes. But a draw would surely be the better result for the sport. It is crucial for the health of Test cricket that this series holds the interest of the public.” I’ve not been able to find any England cricket fans that invested their hard earned money following the tours of 2002 and 2006 hoping for a draw in this Test. With 24 years since the last English series success on Australian soil the public is very much aware of the story bubbling down under.
The host broadcaster, Channel 9, are running their traditional classic catch competition and whilst the producers scrape around for Australian catches to feature – just 8 after 2 Tests – it is more concerning for the state of the game that the prize is a year of free Kentucky Fried Chicken. Whilst Oprah gives with one hand Colonel Sanders takes with the other.
Summers you are a very sexy man.
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