Before a ball was bowled in the current Ashes series between England and Australia, I expressed reservations about widespread predictions of an England whitewash. My reservations were based on the rational view that the Australian bowling had been seriously underestimated and their batting line up featured at least two players of genuine class.
As the mid-point of the second match approaches, it seems as though all five tests will yield a positive result. I can't see a draw because neither side looks capable of batting for two days. I can't remember the last Ashes series which began with a worse display of batting from both sides. I will come to the bowling in due course. Ian Bell aside, no England batsman has convinced me of their desire or capability to bat for four sessions in a test match. As such, none of this summer's tests look likely to result in a draw because reaching the fifth day looks like a rare event even at this early stage of the series. Cook has looked uncharacteristically wobbly and Root looks like a fish out of water crying out to be returned to the shallower water of the middle order. Trott has been unfortunate in some of his dismissals but has lacked his customary solidity. Of late, he is the batsman who has executed the role for which Rahul Dravid became synonymous for India. Dravid batted like the proverbial brick wall whereas Trott has thus far looked more like rice paper. My feelings on the selection of Pieterson have been made clear before and I have been proved right. The Ashes is not a publicity competition. It is a long hard fight to which he appears woefully ill prepared. Bairstow rode his luck for his first innings half century but badly needs to put in a more convincing shift at the crease. It isn't a race - he has all the time in the world. Good fielders are not worth their place as a batsman if they can't deliver the runs with the bat. Paul Parker, Derek Randall, Alan Wells et al will all testify to this. Prior looks like a shadow of himself and doesn't seem to know where the next run is coming from. I don't count the tail end because their job is bowl sides out - runs are a bonus when they get them.
Given my assessment of the England batting, I barely know where to start with the Aussies. I have a theory though. I've heard all the old guff about dressing room fall outs and various players preferring the previous coach and all of that. I don't know if anyone has told them but this is a five match series of five day test matches. Too many of them are batting like its a 50 over a side match. My assertion is that the glut of one day cricket is producing too many players who are simply not good enough to play a five day test match.
The England bowling is good but, Anderson and Swann aside, it is hardly world beating. As a batsman, you wouldn't exactly be quaking in your boots facing Bresnan and Broad. Bresnan will always give you his all so you know what you'll get. Broad is a different story. In the first test, he was shocking. Led by the dependable Siddle, Australia look like a decent attack. They're clearly not the bowling side of 15 years ago, but you can see their potential.
When test cricket was in its early days, most matches were played over three days and based from what I've seen so far, I think it might be time to seriously reconsider this approach. Compton aside, I can't see who England can bring in to make their batting stronger. Put simply, they're not good enough to bat for two days and put a match out of reach. I hope Cook will come good but I am starting to wonder.
Whatever the outcome of the Ashes this summer, it will not go down as a classic. Bell has played well but you'd be hard pushed to describe him as world class. He seems content to have reached 100. World class batsmen are never content and always seek to convert the 100 into a really big score which will hurt the opposition. Anderson is bowling as well as he has ever bowled but only Swann looks capable of providing decent support at the other end. If the Australians don't get their heads together very quickly, they are in danger of reducing the Ashes to side show of little consequence. The need to fight back and do so quickly or risk the series running away from them. If their bowling gets in to top gear, there is a flimsy England batting line up waiting for them. Quis?
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