Sod it. I’m going to count my chickens. England have just enjoyed their best day‘s test cricket in living memory. Our sheer dominance even eclipsed Melbourne in 2010. We’ve surely won the Ashes.
Everything, absolutely everything, went our way. The toss was vital – at first I thought unfairly so – but the Aussies more than contributed to their own downfall. Their batting was naïve and ill judged.
You can’t thrust hard at the ball with stiff hands in English conditions. You’re asking for it.
England’s bowling was terrific. Mark Wood stormed in and bowled quickly with the new ball, and Steve Finn also bowled a good spell.
But the star of the show was obviously Stuart Broad. I could break open my vault of superlatives at this point but why bother? 8-15 tells the story on its own. He was irresistible.
Once a series Broad bowls a magic spell that wins a game. He’s done it so many times now. And today was the perfect time to do it. Jimmy who?
Today was the perfect day. To bowl out Australia in less than 19 overs, with half an hour to spare before lunch, is special beyond words.
Our catching was also top class. I cannot stress how important this was. Stokes’s catch in particular was out of this world.
Michael Clarke must think the cricketing Gods have deserted him. He got out playing a loose shot, and then the sun came out at the precise moment that his opposite number, Alastair Cook, strode to the wicket.
Many of us never thought we’d see this day. When I was a kid, I had more chance of Helena Christensen sleeping with me than England winning the Ashes. Guys like McDermott and Fleming, and then McGrath and Warne, routinely humiliated us.
The lethal Aussies would run through our batting – which usually consisted of no hopers like Kim Barnett, John Stephenson and Mark Lathwell – and then Steve or Mark Waugh would score a hundred by tea. The Aussies had more quality batsmen in one family than we had in the whole country back then.
But the experience that depressed me most was when Aussie openers Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh batted through the entire day without being dismissed. That was the first day of the Trent Bridge test in 1989.
Twenty six years later and the situation couldn’t be more different. I’d have choked on my custard creams if someone had told me we’d bowl out their entire team in less time than it takes to complete a football match.
Back then it was always England that made boneheaded selections. We’d pack the side with batting because our middle-order was wafer thin, and forget all about the bowling depth. Now it’s the Aussies’ turn to shoot themselves in the foot with an RPG.
The decision to drop one Marsh for another made no sense. Picking a four man attack is only a viable option if all your bowlers are capable of bowling long spells. Didn’t the Aussies realise that Mitchell Johnson is best used as a shock-bowler? A stock-bowler he is not.
As soon as our batsmen dug in, Clarke had nowhere to turn to. There was too much pressure on Lyon. Meanwhile while Hazlewood and Starc have both blown hot and cold this series. It was a daft strategy. Dafter, perhaps, than Ted Dexter talking up his secret weapons ‘Malcolm Devon’ and ‘Martin McCaddick’.
Before I sign off, I’d just like to show our batsmen some love. Although Jonny Bairstow got off to a shaky start, and I’m still not totally convinced by him (only 13 of his first 50 runs came through the off-side), he eventually settled down and played some lovely shots. Good on him.
Joe Root, meanwhile, is an absolute super-star. This might be the euphoria speaking, but he’s probably the best batsman we’ve had since I started watching cricket. He just makes batting look so easy.
Root is world class. Unlike Steve Smith, who has only really looked comfortable on that Lord’s featherbed, his technique looks absolutely watertight. I doubt there’s a better test batsman on the planet at the moment.
Root’s temperament is also special. He’s totally unflappable, plays situations well, scores all around the wicket, and there’s not the slightest hint of hubris. I’m struggling to find a weakness. I’m in cricketing love.
James Morgan
@DoctorCopy
Most incredible day and bizarre series I can remember. It’s really hard to understand or explain what is going on. Australia seem so flat – three journeyman in the top six, amasing batsmen as skipper who can’t buy a run and a new keeper. Doesn’t matter how good the bowlers are if you can’t score runs.
Agreed! It’s all very surreal.
Brilliant photo by the way. Whoever took it knew what he was doing :-)
Perhaps this series will finally help fans of the 1989-2003 vintage to get over their formative traumas and realise that Australia are not always some team of superhumans.
For those of us slightly older, my first three home Ashes’ series were 1977, 1981 and 1985. Three straight home series wins and some truly dire Australian displays. Nothing quite as bad as today mind you.
Chicken counting is a fairly safe exercise tonight. No team has won since WW2 from where Australia are now. I can only find one example in the same time-frame of a team drawing from a vaguely similar position – India made 500+ in their second innings after being bowled out by NZ for 80 in 1999/2000 in Mohali and it seems pretty safe to say that Australia don’t have a Dravid and a Tendulkar to pull off a replay.
Terrific day cant still believe it! broad is certainly worth being in the team for these spells they outright win you the match. Also what a day to pick for it, just when Jimmy is out and people thought Aussies got it easier.
“Joe Root, meanwhile, is an absolute super-star. This might be the euphoria speaking, but he’s probably the best batsman we’ve had since I started watching cricket. He just makes batting look so easy.
Root is world class. Unlike Steve Smith, who has only really looked comfortable on that Lord’s featherbed, his technique looks absolutely watertight. I doubt there’s a better test batsman on the planet at the moment.”
Hmmmm certainly euphoria speaking :D Of the top of my head Amla, sanga , williamson, ABD, rahanae, clarke looks shot, smith n kohli[both need cred against swing], [the list is short though compared to the long ones we used to get the past decade].
I would still wait for root to do well in aus and smith here before calling them all rounded. What i would agree is root is the most pleasing on the eye of all.
add to that one guy lying on the beach and being silly on twitter :p
I meant on current form really. Saying ‘there’s nobody better’ isn’t quite the same as saying ‘he’s the best and better than everyone else’. Sanga is obviously a legend and I’m a huge admirer of Amla and AB. But I think Root is playing at their level at the moment, and he’s very much the coming man. I think his claim to being the world’s no1 is certainly better than Smith’s imho.
yup smith certainly is going to find it tough in moving conditions with that technique, he will have to develop a cook type approach on these conditions to succeed with his technique.
Slip catching is easy when you’re getting an edge every 12 balls. When you’re expecting a catch to come, you see it early and its the easiest game in the world.
Taking a tough slip catch after a 100 run partnership and you’re hot and tired and frustrated and no-one is edging anything is a different matter altogether.
Australia have been ripped apart by the Haddin thing in my view. Root certainly looks a better player than Smith at present. When Smith was out today you could see middle and leg stumps behind his legs. I can’t believe that bowlers aren’t going to find a way to exploit this soon. Fast and full from right-arm round the wicket, perhaps…
he is too strong on legside to be exploited that way, he is making off stump his leg stump, the best way to get him out will still be making him to edge especially attack him on 5th and 6th stump like broad did today.
I’m thinking more about once he’s in on better wickets than today’s. He’s developed this technique because he was so vulnerable outside off early in his career and it’s worked brilliantly on flatter surfaces. But he’s now moving so early that I still think he’ll be vulnerable behind his legs, with a leg-side field to restrict his scoring. International bowlers usually work batsmen out – that’s why most go through rough patches in their careers.
I think the Haddin thing is big. Watson must have an impact too. Two senior players skulking around the dressing room. Clarke was very critical of the selectors too today. Morale and spirit look shot.
These are undoubtedly factors. As I’ve said previously, hard calls should have been made on these guys earlier.
But I think the real issue here has been a systemic failure of Australia’s batsmen in English conditions – in the same way that England suffered systemic failure against high-quality fast bowling in Australia. I think there’s still a bit of an issue for England there but it has been cancelled out and ultimately superceded by Australia’s complete capitulation at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. Those performances were uncompetitive.
The reality is that Australia will lick their wounds after this series and then probably enjoy a measure of success in Test cricket over the next 12 months before hosting South Africa, who they could very well beat.
This is not a terrible Australian side – it’s also a long way from being top-drawer. But the takeaway is that Australian batsmen, even good ones, simply can no longer adapt to the moving ball in English conditions. And this kind of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ scenario depending on the conditions is troubling. It didn’t used to be like this and I can’t help but think it is another symptom of the diminished status of Test cricket.
After the first two Tests, played in benign conditions, it was 1-1 and Australia probably had their noses in front. Sure, Australia batted poorly and bowled without control in Cardiff. But they hit back impressively at Lord’s. People who thought Australia were marginally stronger on paper (myself included) would have looked at those first two Tests and seen confirmation.
It meant that, as the two teams effectively entered a three-Test series, Australia had the momentum and reason to believe they were the better side. That’s what has made the subsequent capitulations so bad.
No much to say really. Australia played the worst I’ve ever seen in 25 years of committed watching (and likely much longer) and on a surface that looked easier than Edgbaston. Broad bowled spectacularly well and everything went right for England I can’t remember any of the top 6 play and missing, only one miss hit not taken was clarke’s pull.
Starc bowled better than he has for the rest of the series is the only positive that I could take away for Australia. I imagine a massive team rebuilding is on the way and Clarke, Lehman will be gone after the Oval – perhaps before presuming they lose here? Might as well give Smith the Oval test as Captain.
“I imagine a massive team rebuilding is on the way and Clarke, Lehman will be gone after the Oval – perhaps before presuming they lose here? Might as well give Smith the Oval test as Captain.”
Wholesale changes were guaranteed after this series regardless of the result and three have already been made ie. Watson, Haddin, Harris all gone.
Rogers and Voges will follow immediately after this series.
But I actually expect Clarke to play on, although the captaincy is up in the air.
The reality is that he will probably go OK in Australian conditions this summer and when you consider the players outside the team, there aren’t that many demanding selection.
Joe Burns will likely replace Rogers as opener. Voges will be discarded and Shaun Marsh will likely get an extended run in the middle order. Who does that leave as a theoretical replacement for Clarke? In light of that, I expect him to play on.
Yes its true that there is a dearth of obvious replacements for Clarke, Khawaja is a possibility perhaps although he hasn’t exactly shone in his 9 tests so far. Chris Lynn? Cameron Bancroft?
How long do you give Clarke if he fails in Bangladesh what then? Do you think having him sulking in the background is constructive for the team rather than having some new candidates tried out.
“Yes its true that there is a dearth of obvious replacements for Clarke, Khawaja is a possibility perhaps although he hasn’t exactly shone in his 9 tests so far. Chris Lynn? Cameron Bancroft?”
That’s why I think Clarke plays on.
The alternative is that they pluck Bancroft out of thin air and let him open the batting, with Marsh and Burns replacing Voges and Clarke in the middle order. But that would be a huge gamble on Bancroft. Khawaja and Lynn could be in the mix at some point, but both need some FC runs before being seriously considered.
“How long do you give Clarke if he fails in Bangladesh what then?”
I think he probably plays the Australian summer.
“Do you think having him sulking in the background is constructive for the team rather than having some new candidates tried out.”
But you’re going to have some ‘new candidates’ in the team anyway because Rogers, Voges, Watson and Haddin are all gone. And, as discussed, there aren’t enough guys justifying selection to force more changes beyond that.
I think there’s a good chance that Clarke retires or gets pushed. He obviously has a very tense relationship with the selectors, and we all know from the KP affair that authorities love a good scapegoat to deflect attention from their own mistakes. All is not well in the Australian dressing room and Clarke gave an ill advised interview with Jim Maxwell yesterday in which he was clearly unhappy with those in charge. That’s a dangerous game to play.
Re: the next generation of Aussie talent, I think the selection of Voges for the Windies and this Ashes series tells us a lot. There isn’t a lot of good talent coming through.
However, Australia aren’t the only ones in a difficult position. When Bell reties (and that might not be too far away) we’ll only have Root and Cook as established test batsmen. The others guys (Lyth, Ballance and Barstow have not convinced me). England might need to find 3 new specialist batsmen before the next Ashes. That’s a tall order, and our cupboard of fresh young batting talent isn’t exactly bulging either.
We have a few good young players around – Taylor, Vince, Lees etc – but they’re not the finished article in my opinion and haven’t quite scored the weight of runs expected this year. Lees is the only one I definitely think has a long test future ahead of him, one day.
There’s also young chap called W Rhodes who has been know to open the batting, and can bowl a bit, who might come into the frame in a year or two…
“He obviously has a very tense relationship with the selectors, and we all know from the KP affair that authorities love a good scapegoat to deflect attention from their own mistakes.”
That’s what happens in England.
I doubt Clarke is going to be forced to retire aged 34 when there really aren’t that many obvious replacements and a shitload of changes have already been made.
“Re: the next generation of Aussie talent, I think the selection of Voges for the Windies and this Ashes series tells us a lot. There isn’t a lot of good talent coming through.”
There’s talent. But they haven’t as yet done enough at FC level to demand selection.
Voges was picked because he had one of the best ever FC seasons (1358 runs at an average of 104). He wasn’t just plucked out of obscurity for no reason. There could have been plenty of talented kids and Voges’ selection would still probably have been justified.
Both technically and aesthetically, Root was sublime today. He played one cover drive which was barely more than a block, but still whistled to the boundary. I was particularly impressed with the way he can choose exactly where to hit the cut shot, from in front of point to the fine third man boundary. In terms of sheer range of strokes only Pietersen of recent England batsmen is his superior, and I think Root is easier on the eye (and has the more classic technique). As batsmen mature they often start to limit their repertoire, cutting out any shots they deem high risk (Tendulkar and Ponting being two good examples) – so we must enjoy Root’s youthful joie de vivre while we can. I agree with you, James, I think he’s the most exciting batsman we’ve had in many years. And today’s innings was one of the finest I’ve ever seen by an Englishman – I’d rate it even higher than Broad’s bowling.
Difficult to know how highly to rate Broad’s bowling, so abject was the Australian batting.
For once Boycott was probably not engaging in hyperbole when he called it the worst he had seen by Australia in England in 50 years.
Australia will surely bat better in their 2nd innings, as was the case at Edgbaston. The wicket could well be a bit flat by then. Clarke’s innings today was full of mishits, the batting of a man totally out of form and shot mentally. He is not leading from the front at all. His flail outside off stump to a wide ball he should have left alone was appalling, the worst dismissal of them all.
Before this series started I thought Australia might win 3-1, something like that, and I am delighted to be proved wrong. England have come back well after being humiliated and trounced at Lord’s, Bayliss and Farbrace must be doing something right. The slip catching is much better than it was a few months ago for starters. I blame Andrew Strauss for the featherbed wicket at Lord’s which played into Australia’s hands.
Great to see Broad leading the attack so well in Jimmy Anderson’s absence, he will need to do that regularly once Jimmy has retired.
Delighted to see Jonny Bairstow make a good score, he really deserves a good run in the side in my view. Looked as if he was playing the bouncers a bit better today and was playing some good drives later on too.Root looked a class apart, already England’s premier batsman at the age of just 24. He has a lovely range of shots and seems to have a great temperament, his test average in the mid-fifties does not lie. Would love to see him get a huge double hundred tomorrow, though he’ll need to play himself in again tomorrow morning.
Don’t count those chickens yet! The way this series has twisted and turned (like a twisty-turny thing…) it’ll either now rain solidly for the next four days or else the Australians will stiffen the sinews, post 600 in their second innings and then bowl a demoralised England out for 30 to set up a sensational decider at the Oval. Simples!
In Australian fantasy land Warner scores 150 in 120 balls, Rogers 54, Steve Smith a sparkling double century alongside clarke who also makes a century scratchy in places with some luck but he looks to be in good form, Marsh makes a pair but Voges, Nevill, Starc and Johnson score some quick runs to set England 400 off 5 session and then Starc and Hazelwood and Johnson crack open the England top order while Lyon cleans up the tail.
In reality, Warner makes a dashing 50 off 40 balls, Australia cobbles together enough scratchy runs so that Cook gets to go out on the field chasing 50, scores the winning runs for the Ashes series inside 3 days and makes a speech about the importance of team cohesiveness and attacking brands of cricket.
Brilliant Steve!
Yesterday for me was a mirror image of that first day at Lord’s when McGrath took 8 and a decent England batting line up was bowled out for 77 (only the weather at Lord’s was miserable!). After about an hour I was thinking why can’t the captain’s get together and agree to start again and have a proper match.
Great England bowling and fielding (all credit to the coach for his work on the slip cordon) but anyone who now doubts that (Rogers excepted) this is a white ball Australian batting line up who can’t play Test cricket on other than a flat track with neither lateral or vertical movement, is failing to believe the evidence of their own eyes.