Tuesday 10 December 2013

Surprised by Australia?

The recent success of Australia in the opening two Tests of the current Ashes series has been entirely predictable. During the summer series in England, Australia lost 3-0 and I said at the time that this margin of victory flattered the England team. The summer series was much closer than that. The recent batting performances of the England team have been brewing for some time now so nobody should be overly surprised.

For the past few seasons they have become dangerously dependent on the performances of Cook and Trott. This is alright when they are batting well and making big scores but it becomes a real problem when they aren't. Bell is head and shoulders the best technical batsman in the side. I fail to understand why he has remained at number five in the batting order when everyone saw that he needed to replace Trott at number three. Joe Root is a highly promising young batsman but was not ready to open for England in the summer and is not ready to bat at number three now. I'm aware of his 87 in the last match but that aside he has done little in the series so far.

The England selectors have got a real job on their hands for Perth and I suggest that dropping Swann ceased to become optional the minute the last wicket fell in Adelaide. In effect, the only strategy left to England now is to try and fight fire with fire and go all out for pace in Perth. Bresnan needs to return urgently because we need his sort of attitude on the pitch. He will be ready for a scrap and will not give his wicket away. Of the top six in the batting, only Carberry has achieved any level of consistency so far and he is very much the new kid on the block - even at his age. As often happens, Pieterson has flattered to deceive and continued to play millionaire shots at inappropriate times. Alistair Cook should go on the next series of Strictly Come Dancing in an effort to get his feet moving again. He looks bereft of confidence and needs to get some runs under his belt quickly.

It is the margin of victory in the first two tests which should give England the most cause for concern. If they continue to bat as they have been, they can expect more of the same at the WACA. Australia have taken a fair bit of baiting over the past few years and have never been shy at giving it back. The expected backlash against Stuart Broad has barely been needed because his contribution has been disaapointing and you don't really need to have a go at the opposition when you are thrashing them so convincingly.

Mitchell Johnson has bowled well with passion and aggression. But England have made him look considerably better than he is. The father of Broad toured Australia in 1986 and how England must wish they had someone of his calibre now to deal with a bit of pace bowling. The likes of Broad, Gooch and Lamb would have torn Johnson apart but the current crop doesn't appear to have a batsman capable of playing genuine pace.

I don't know what the odds of an Australian whitewash are but it's beginning to look like a fait accompli.

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