Well I give up. How do you make sense of this test series? Time and again, expectations are confounded. At Cardiff, England were surprisingly good, and hammered Australia, who were surprisingly dismal. Then at Lord’s the script was torn up. England were dreadful and were pulverised by a brilliant Australia. But the visitors immediately surrendered every ounce of momentum, and then some. It was reasonable to expect the pendulum to swing back slightly, but not this. When England win...
Ashes diary: wig-gate
Every villain eventually returns to the scene of his crime. And in the case of cricket’s arch recidivist, so it has come to pass. David Warner today – while at the crease only briefly – made his re-appearance in Birmingham. Only two years have elapsed since the city bore witness to Ashes cricket’s most notorious bout of fisticuffs since Ian Botham and Ian Chappell exchanged punches in Adelaide in 1977 I need only scarcely reacquaint you with the bald facts. In June 2013...
Top Order Out of Order
It’s hardly rocket science is it. England lose test matches because our top order is as fragile as a toddler’s temperament. You can’t win test matches if you’re 40-3 all the time. Everyone knows that. However, one of the things that has been somewhat overlooked is the importance of Australia’s top three. They’re actually just as important as England’s top order – if not more so. When England’s front three are blown away i.e. when Lyth nicks...
Raking over the coals
We now know how England have responded to the Massacre of St John’s Wood. Ian Bell moves up to three, and Joe Root to four, with Jonny Bairstow recalled to the side – at the expense of Gary Ballance – to bat at five. More on that in a moment. Judging by your thoughtful comments on my report from the third day of the Lord’s test, I feared my analysis had been too tetchily negative. Looking back now, my words seem almost romantically naive – helplessly optimistic on...
Beaten, Bruised and Brutalised
Cricket is a drug – a nasty one. Cardiff was a high we so desperately needed after two years of crap. I was buzzing. But Lord’s has sent me crashing back to earth. My mouth is dry and I’ve got a headache. It’s the ultimate come down. I’m struggling to think of a more depressing, emphatic and humiliating defeat – or indeed, a worse England performance. Whereas the Aussies played superbly and looked more like their old selves, England were rubbish. In fact, rubbish is too kind. We were...
Day Four at Lord’s
Men against boys. Here was the day which demonstrated the true dynamic between these sides. Three sessions of play which held the Cardiff banknote up to the ultra-violet light, and revealed it to be counterfeit. Tellingly, Australia did not blow England away. Rather, the visitors slowly crushed the hosts in their merciless vice of authority and confidence. England did not play particularly badly, either today or on the first two days. And yet Australia are light years ahead. That tells you all...
