The Return of the Urn

Australia celebrate the 150 run win in the 3rd Test at the WACA to regain the Ashes. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/Action Images

Three tests or 14 days of cricket. That was all it took for Australia to win their first series against England since 2006/07 and regain the Ashes. It was fully deserved as Australia outplayed England in all facets of the game both on and off the pitch except in the production of an 82-page cookbook.

Malaise: a vague feeling of discomfort or unease. When England recorded a seemingly comprehensive 3-0 series win in the English summer there were many that sensed a malaise within the England team. Results did not justify this feeling but performances did. With the Ashes now lost the condition of this English patient can be upgraded to chronic: usually applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months.

A batting line up that last passed 400 runs against New Zealand in Wellington, 23 innings ago, has displayed such a sustained drop in form that you wouldn’t back them to get the runs after a dodgy kebab on the Edgware Road. If bowlers win Test matches then they can only do so if the batsmen have put enough runs on the board to defend. For too long the England bowlers have dug the top order out of a hole either through inspired bowling despite defending low totals or by adding valuable lower order runs themselves. There is also a case to be made that their cumulative efforts have caught up with them. Broad, Swann and Anderson have bowled the most Test match overs in 2013 and now complimented by a lack of support from the batsmen, fielding errors, intelligently devised and executed plans from the Australian batsmen and a sudden inability to extract any lateral movement from the Kookaburra they too have run out of steam.

The one bright spot for England has been the arrival of Ben Stokes. A surprise choice for the tour, let alone the side, he produced a high quality century in Perth in only his fourth Test innings. Batting with technique and discipline missing from his more celebrated colleagues Stokes has recorded England’s only century. It was arguably the best innings of the series to date and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his rapid ascent. A long-term position in the side is his for the cementing.

With the urn lost, immediate attention turns to team selection for the remaining two Tests. Will Andy Flower stick by the star names who have now slumped or, with an eye on the future, re-employ Jonny Bairstow and Steven Finn or promote new blood in the shape of Gary Ballance or even Tymal Mills? The case could be made for all four but Flower’s track record suggests that he is unlikely to make wholesale changes. It is most likely that Broad’s injury will give an opportunity to Finn who should be allowed to follow the example of Jimmy Anderson and forget the recent coaching that he’s received and revert back to the wicket taking threat he used to be.

England’s recent track record of blooding new players is poor. The last unqualified success was Jonathan Trott who debuted in the last Ashes test of 2009 – early in Flower’s reign. Since then another 13 players have been handed caps. Many of these will never play Test cricket for England again (see Shahzad, Tredwell, Patel, Compton, Woakes, Morgan) and the jury is out on the remainder.

There are 14 Tests until the 2015 Ashes series in England but a 5-0 hiding is staring England in the face. For Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Anderson and Monty this would be for the second time in their career. The baggy greens of 2006/07 contained bona fide greats that would walk in to teams from any country in any era; Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath. Of the current Australian team only Michael Clarke and potentially Mitchell Johnson would make the 2006/07 side. After Clarke’s Australia lost to England by 347 runs at Lord’s in July to go 2-0 down they were derided in their own press as the worst Australian team since that of 1978/79. Allan Border recognised the strength of Cook’s England, “Australia is up against a quality England team – there’s no questioning it. For us to win we need everyone playing to their full potential plus a little luck. At the moment, neither is happening.” In the intervening four months Australia have not suddenly become a great team. Seven of their starting lineup at Perth played at Lord’s while England fielded nine of the same XI. These are the only Tests that Australia have won all year. Australia have gone back to basics – much credit is due to Darren Lehmann – executed core skills and made themselves hard to beat. These were the same basics that had previously been hallmarks of head coach Andy Flower’s England teams. The difference is that almost all of the Australian team is now playing at their full potential compared to only one of the England team.

Thousands of England supporters are joining the tour for the final two Tests and this will be the third time in the last four away series that England have arrived in Melbourne three nil down. In 2002/03 and 2006/07 it was not a major surprise but the most loyal cricket supporters in the world expected and deserved better from this group of players. It is to be hoped that England can give them something to cheer about at the MCG and SCG but the odds do not look good. At least the exchange rate is moving in the favour of the Barmy Army.

Tel Aviv Thriller

1^st Test, Trent Bridge, England won by 14 runs. England 215 and 375, Australia 280 and 296

A cloudless blue sky with the sun beating down, mercury touching 35C, warm sea water and a sandy beach teeming with people modelling the latest in beach ware and apparel; welcome to Bograshov Beach, Tel Aviv. A perfect setting for a summer holiday but a less than convenient place from which to follow the action from Trent Bridge in the First Test.

Unsurprisingly The Ashes is neither front nor back page news in the Israeli press. If you asked a local for their opinion on Hot Spot they might direct you to the Clara on a Monday night and DRS sounds suspiciously like a new tax. It’s safe to say that Australia’s retreat back in to the pack from cricketing superpower will have gone unnoticed in the trendy restaurants of Neve Tzedek.

Israel’s national sport is not cricket but matkot which involves two people using carbon fibre rackets to smash a squash ball at each other as hard as possible without it touching the ground. Perversely, in an ultra-competitive society, it’s a sport which doesn’t result in a winner or loser as no points are scored but, in a lesson that no global sport has heeded apart from volleyball, it is frequently played on the beach. Whilst not threatening the status of matkot, cricket does have a presence in Israel which has grown in popularity since the departure of the British in 1948. Israel obtained ICC Associate Membership in 1974 and, with teams populated by a combination of Israelis, expatriates and migrants, has a thriving league where for Middlesex and Yorkshire read Sri Lanka Tel Aviv and Lions Lod.

Disappointingly, by the time of my holiday, cricket was not sufficiently ingrained in the public consciousness to the extent that a large screen had to be erected on the beach to keep the Israeli cricket supporters abreast of the Ashes. Instead it was a case of rationing the use of mobile phone battery so Cricinfo score updates, BBC text commentary and the occasional burst of TMS could all be accessed to keep us on the edge of our deckchairs. It’s doubtful that Aggers, Blowers, Maxwell and Boycott have held the attention of many beachgoers in Tel Aviv before. Snatches of Anderson brilliance, Bell resistance and Agar precociousness disturbed our relaxation pleasingly. The match seemed England’s to lose and lose it they so nearly did.

With the benefit of hindsight, scheduling a meeting for the climax of the Australian fightback was a foolish move. I’d expected the game to be over well before this point. When I was having lunch and receiving ball-by-ball updates from a friend in Paris it was Pattinson that joined Haddin at the crease and Australia needed 79 runs from their last wicket partnership. An Australian win looked a long shot but the target was whittled down. With my phone vibrating with score updates I kept the meeting as short as possible.

Renting a flat in Tel Aviv with an Australian could have backfired. It was about to pay dividends. Exiting the meeting I discovered to my horror that, resuming after lunch, Australia needed 20 runs to win. I was a 15 minute walk from home or, as it turned out, a 7 minute run in flip flops in 35C heat. My flatmate (did I mention he was Australian?) had the TV coverage on his tablet which was streaming several seconds behind TMS running on the laptop. With the commentary being relayed to me over the phone I ran up Ben Yehuda, turned right on to Sderot Ben Gurion. Trying not to lose my flip-flops I crossed over Dizengoff and scuttled past the fruit juice stand. Five runs came off Swann’s over. Fifteen runs or one wicket. I was in the home straight, running up Hakalir. Anderson bowling. An appeal for caught behind and a review from Cook! I ran up the two flights of stairs and put my key in the lock, opening the door to hear Haddin given out. My flatmate sat in silence. A 14 run win for England. There was little more to do other than record the moment of mixed emotions. Thanks to Tuffers for the retweet.

Super Mitch

One of the finest sights in world sport is that of a fast bowler charging in to hurl a 5.5 ounce missile of leather, cork and string at speeds of more than 90mph towards a batsman standing 22 yards away. No area is off limit. The batsman has to scramble for his life, ducking, swaying and defending not knowing whether the ball will be directed at his head, chest or toes. The batsman hopes the bowler will tire quickly and lose pace and accuracy. It is about survival rather than run-scoring. The atmosphere can be akin to a bear-pit.

England fans will remember the duel between Allan Donald, South Africa’s White Lightening, and captain Michael Atherton in the Trent Bridge Test of 1998 that has attained legendary status. Atherton repelled Donald’s high speed advances with skill and no small amount of luck and courage to see England through to a famous victory. Similarly, in Ashes competition, Andrew Flintoff was cast in the role of aggressor in 2005 as he ripped out Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting to the delight of a roaring Edgbaston crowd.

For Australia the nation’s fast-bowling hopes now rest on the shoulders of Mitchell Johnson. A fast, left-arm bowler he was named the International Cricket Council’s ‘Cricketer of the Year’ in 2009. If Australia were to regain the Ashes then Johnson would have to fire.

Sadly, from an Australian perspective, Super Mitch’s performance has been abject. A total loss of control has seen deliveries sprayed either side of the England batsmen who have pounced in the manner of King Henry VIII at an all you can eat buffet. Dropped for the second Test in Adelaide Johnson rebounded in Perth to produce a game-changing spell of rapid inswing but doubts remained as to whether he actually knew how he had rediscovered his ability to bowl accurately.

Johnson’s fragile confidence and natural shyness off the field has been further eroded by the verbal shellacking he has received at the hands of the Barmy Army. With Sydney to come it will be seen whether Melbourne represented a nadir. For hours on end England’s loyal band of supporters subjected Johnson to a repetitive ear-bashing that they would have never risked dishing out to Glenn McGrath – and nor did his performances give them ammunition to.

A less than complimentary ditty sung to the tune of the Addams Family played a bit part in the Barmy Army repertoire but it was dominated by the description of Johnson’s bowling sung to the tune of Sloop John B, “He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that man Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is shite”. Complete with hand movements thousands of Englishmen made their point to Johnson again and again. Even Kevin Pietersen, fielding in front of the Barmy Army, felt inclined to agree (see video).

For a man struggling to find any form, with the sun beating down and his team stuck behind the eight ball, it was the last thing that Mitchell Johnson wanted to hear. Every leg-side delivery or four was cheered mercilessly. Johnson needs to rediscover his form and fast if Australia are to re-emerge as a cricketing powerhouse.

Sprinkle Sprinkle

It wasn’t meant to be like this. It was my third trip to the MCG and on the two previous occasions I’d arrived with England already three nil down and would leave for Sydney a few days later with us down by four. But yesterday I saw England retain the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years with victory by an innings and 157 runs to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series.

If Carlsberg made a perfect day of cricket then for the English cricket fan Boxing Day was it. Over 84,000 people were left stunned as Australia were routed for 98 only to see England surge to lead by 59 at stumps, with all ten wickets intact. The Australian fans were silenced whilst the long-suffering but eternally optimistic Barmy Army were pinching themselves in disbelief not just at the cost of the watered down mid-strength Victoria Bitter that passed for refreshment, but at the scoreboard. That England rammed home their advantage without taking their foot off the Australian throat indicates a team that is learning to seize the moment – there are still relapses and remember that the best two Test teams in the world are currently playing elsewhere in the southern hemisphere.

Australia avoided the ignominy of losing the Boxing Day Test before the conclusion of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race but it was a close race for line honours. When Ben Hilfenhaus edged Tim Bresnan to Matt Prior before lunch on Day 4 the celebrations could start. Rarely did an England team play with such verve and focus but it is becoming an increasingly common sight. To do it against Australia in their own backyard is as rewarding as it gets. 

It has been curious to observe the reaction of Australian cricket fans from the old Bay 13. Volubly critical of their own team, especially the performance and leadership of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, yet there is a lack of consensus of how the team should proceed. It is clearly time for change but to what? There are few obvious contenders waiting in the wings. No batsman, other than Michael Hussey, was up to the mark and he was on the verge of being dropped before the Ashes started. Despite fielding more bowling options than England there has been an absence of control and lack of penetration. The attack leader, Mitchell Johnson, was missing in action for three of the four tests and he was marmalised by both the English batsmen and the Barmy Army for hours on end at the MCG.

England have embodied a squad united by a sense of purpose, discipline and a common goal. Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan, who were not in the starting line-up in Brisbane emerged as game changing bowlers in their own right. The Australian replacements were not up to the mark: Philip Hughes and Steve Smith will go back to finishing school. The much vaunted Australian Cricket Academy that produced a seemingly endless conveyor belt of talent, for so long the envy of English cricket, has evidently been left unattended for too long. The Sheffield Shield, the toughest of first class finishing schools, has been reduced to a beauty pageant where any glimpse of promising talent is fast-tracked through to the national side after a handful of games.

There is much to enjoy in England’s cricket. They bowl with guile and discipline, in tandem to build pressure on batsmen by denying them width. In 2009 Justin Langer attached the label of “pussy” to James Anderson. Little did we know that Anderson would return to haunt the now current Australian batting coach in his guise as the premiere swing bowler in the world. Runs have been scored by batsmen prepared to see off the new ball and build an innings. Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott have prized their wickets in a fashion that the great accumulator, Sir Geoffrey of Boycott, would be proud to call his own. It has been the grafters rather than the dashers who have battered the Australian attack in to submission. Andrew Strauss’ captaincy has become more astute as he has grown in to the role since his appointment in January 2009. Great credit too must go to Andy Flower, a coach who has instilled a work ethic previously unseen in an England team.

For England, whilst the celebratory sprinkler dance was performed to the delight of the Barmy Army there is still work to be done. When the hangovers subside this England team will get back to work in Sydney. The management and players wouldn’t have it any other way. There is still a series to win.

Game On

Prior to Perth there was talk of England going unbeaten through the Ashes tour for the first time in 40 years. Some of this came from the England wicketkeeper. There is nothing like a 267 run pummelling to refocus the mind. Enough of this touring squad experienced regular beatings on this scale four years ago to realise that there would be a fightback from Ponting’s men following Adelaide.

The ‘psychological edge’ was meant to be with England as Australia had been hammered by an innings. Australian cricket was in disarray. The captain and vice-captain couldn’t score a run, the meter had been running for 4 years as the nation searched for a spinner and the bowling attack could only locate the middle of English willow.

It was the return though of pace, power and swing in attack that did for England. Skittled twice for a total of 310 runs it was a confrontation with a rejuvenated Mitchell Johnson, the fastest bowler on either side, and a receptive pitch that the haymakers of Brisbane and Adelaide couldn’t cope with. Johnson showed what English players and fans alike had only heard about in dispatches. When he clicks, even if he doesn’t know how he does it, Johnson is a game changing cricketer.

The only batsman that showed the requisite skill was Mr Cricket or Mr Bloody Cricket as Michael Hussey is probably referred to in English team meetings. Andy Flower’s thinktank will unveil plan G in Melbourne following Hussey’s sixth consecutive score of more than 50. He batted like a champion, well supported by a disciplined Shane Watson.

At 69-5 on the first day an English win looked on the cards. The Ashes were there for the taking but from that point on Australia bossed the game. England’s bowlers, with the noteworthy exception of Tremlett, pitched short too often allowing runs to flow. Wickets don’t need to come only from outstanding deliveries but can be taken by two bowlers working in tandem to apply pressure. Swann was attacked from the off and unable to settle on an unhelpful pitch for him and Finn was profligate despite continuing to take wickets. Australia got away. All of Australia’s pace attack kept at the English batsmen and didn’t let up.

It is a novelty for England to head to Melbourne with anything other than pride to play for. 90,000 people will roar their support at the MCG on Boxing Day. The pitch traditionally offers assistance to spin but after the demolition job that Johnson and Ryan Harris completed it is to be expected that the groundsman will leave grass on the pitch negating Swann and playing in to the hands of Johnson. There will be tough selectorial issues for England to discuss; will the out of form Collingwood be replaced by a fourth seamer? Will Swann lose his place if the pitch is tailored radically or, most likely, will Finn pay the price for a lack of control in a team reliant on each bowler exerting control?

Lest the doom-mongers get too carried away with the Australian rebirth: Ponting and Clarke are still woefully out of form, their search for a spinner continues, Hussey will surely fail at some point and the series is level at one win apiece. Touring teams always struggle in Perth with Melbourne and Sydney historically proving far happier hunting grounds. In contrast to their predecessors this England team has good spirit and can move on with optimism having achieved much so far on this tour. It is now time for England to show that they deserve to take the Ashes home by bouncing back as winners. Happy Christmas. I’ll see you on Boxing Day.

Stop press

Hold the back page. The kangaroo still boxes. With hostile fast-bowling, sledging and stumps flying Australia did what they used to do best and turned around the course of the 3rd Test inside two sessions of the second day.

Written off by all and sundry following his dismal showing in Brisbane and no-show at Adelaide it was Mitchell Johnson with 6 wickets that strong-armed the recovery. England collapsed to lose all their batsmen in 39 overs for 109 runs and slump to 187 all out with a deficit of 81 on first innings. On a day where Ricky Ponting woke to read the Australian press hanging his ‘rudderless rabble’ out to dry it was his fastest bowler with most to prove who stepped up to the mark. Johnson was too hot to handle, pitching the ball up, swinging it at pace and ripping out the immovable England top order. The scramble for padding in the away dressing room echoed the fortunes of their predecessors.

Johnson’s record at the WACA is an impressive 27 wickets at an average of 18. He is a bowler that likes a wicket with some grass on it. If he didn’t come good here then Andrew Hilditch’s predictably irrational selection committee would have had justifiable grounds for putting Johnson out to pasture with his less favoured venues in Melbourne and Sydney on the agenda. It was outstanding fast bowling at a time when he and the team needed it most.

Turmoil, fat ladies singing, Shane Watson as captain and tattooed players were all themes in the Australian press today. An online bookmaker has already committed to paying out on England returning home with the urn. Steve Waugh, the last Australian captain, cast doubt on the future of his successor in the team let alone continuing his run as the most successful Test captain of all time.

Whether this galvanised the Australian team or maybe they couldn’t play any worse but there was fire in their performance in the field. Verbal sparring climaxed with Siddle’s dismissal of Prior eliciting dialogue from the protagonists with Ponting also taking the chance to vent. Today Johnson supplied the actions to support his words. It made for a captivating contest between bat and ball.

Despite the predictable failures for Hughes, Ponting and Clarke some cafeteria bowling from England augmented the Australian lead to 200 by stumps. The talismanic Hussey remains in situ and can put the game beyond England in the morning. Ponting’s series total from six innings is just north of 100 runs but he will have a more comfortable ride tomorrow from his former peers who now reside as fully lunched up members of the Fourth Estate.

Grand Ole Oprah

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 3^rd 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 2^nd 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.