I can’t conceive what it may be like for the English and Australian teams as they anticipate the first match of the ‘Ashes’ series which begins in a few hours time: for the mere spectator the tension is quite enough, and quite different in degree and quality to any other cricketing encounter I can remember for a while.
To recap, for the first time in many years, and rather against many expectations, when the two teams previously met in the northern hemisphere in 2005, England came out narrow winners in an extraordinarily tight series, characterised by passionate yet friendly rivalry. The English fast bowling was the key to the win, master-minded by an Australian coach Troy Cooley who unlocked hitherto unsuspected guile and consistency. Two winters later the Australians exacted a terrible revenge, annihilating the English 5-0. England’s cricket was poor, and their team morale worse. Their bowling was shoddy and out of sorts. Cooley was now working for the opposition.
He still is, but this time, of the two bowling attacks, at this point it seems as if the English may have the edge. This is for two reasons. One is that Brett Lee, the super-fast glamourboy of the Australian team, is crocked for at least this match and possibly the second one as well. Lee can leak runs, but in tandem with the talented Mitchell Johnson he could have been a mighty, even overwhelming, shock force. Both of them can bat too, and the Australian lower order will be weaker for Lee’s absence.
The second reason is that of the alternatives and supplements to the Australian fast-bowling, only one of the three possibles is experienced in English conditions. That’s Stuart Clark, a big-boned, rather ungainly bowler of no express pace, who nevertheless has patience and nagging accuracy, allied to good variation in cut and swing. The other two, Siddle and Hilfenhaus are known to be good performers but we have yet to see how they’ll go here. My bet is that of the two we may find Hilfenhaus is the danger-man, though the press and pundits don’t agree. Possibly all three may play alongside the formidable Johnson because the one regular spinner in the Australian side, the off-break bowler Nathan Hauritz, hasn’t looked the part so far on the tour, and his previous Test Match record isn’t great anyway. The irony is that the pitch in Cardiff may take spin, and the English may for the first time in many years pick two spin bowlers for the initial match of a series. If it happens, and I say ‘if’, this will be a throwback to the nineteen-fifties when a balanced attack was more-or-less defined as two quick bowlers plus an all-rounder who bowled medium pace and two spinners, one right, one left-armed.
A Test Match has never been played in Cardiff before, although it’s been a long-cherished dream that one day one might. What’s puzzling is that the ECB should choose to hold the first, crucial match of a showcase series there – other grounds have generally been allowed less pressurised circumstances to bed themselves in. There’s much discussion about how the pitch will play: in county matches there this year the ball has turned from the first day – not the norm in English Test Match cricket – but it’s also said that the pitch for this match will have been prepared differently. As Donald Rumsfeld would have said, at the present time this is a known unknown.
The weather is in the same category. Cardiff is slightly more vulnerable to wetness than other parts of the UK, because of its proximity to the Irish Sea and the mountains. Will this counteract any tendency to spin? Will we have sufficient play for a result? The forecast is initially positive, less good towards the weekend.
Two things are known about the respective batting line-ups. One is the resilience of the Australians. Very frequently – and it’s already happened at least twice on this tour – they’ll be five wickets down for not many, only for the last few batsmen, in theory less accomplished, to take them to a very good score. The wicketkeeper Haddin, and Johnson are the two keys to this. They need as close attention and analysis by the English coaches as any of the higher order. The English batting on the other hand can be very good, or it can be horrid, and notoriously they’re vulnerable early in a series. In theory they bat long down the order too with Graeme Swann coming in at number nine, but on a pitch where hard work is required no one after Collingwood at 5 has the aptitude or ability for a long patient innings.
I see no reason to change my earlier forecast for the series – a likely 2-1 or 3-1 to the Australians – although much of the British press believes we can win by a similar margin. But along the way there’ll be unknown unknowns – injuries, outstanding pieces of individual play, maybe even political events – and these will have an effect on the result too. Let battle commence.
To recap, for the first time in many years, and rather against many expectations, when the two teams previously met in the northern hemisphere in 2005, England came out narrow winners in an extraordinarily tight series, characterised by passionate yet friendly rivalry. The English fast bowling was the key to the win, master-minded by an Australian coach Troy Cooley who unlocked hitherto unsuspected guile and consistency. Two winters later the Australians exacted a terrible revenge, annihilating the English 5-0. England’s cricket was poor, and their team morale worse. Their bowling was shoddy and out of sorts. Cooley was now working for the opposition.
He still is, but this time, of the two bowling attacks, at this point it seems as if the English may have the edge. This is for two reasons. One is that Brett Lee, the super-fast glamourboy of the Australian team, is crocked for at least this match and possibly the second one as well. Lee can leak runs, but in tandem with the talented Mitchell Johnson he could have been a mighty, even overwhelming, shock force. Both of them can bat too, and the Australian lower order will be weaker for Lee’s absence.
The second reason is that of the alternatives and supplements to the Australian fast-bowling, only one of the three possibles is experienced in English conditions. That’s Stuart Clark, a big-boned, rather ungainly bowler of no express pace, who nevertheless has patience and nagging accuracy, allied to good variation in cut and swing. The other two, Siddle and Hilfenhaus are known to be good performers but we have yet to see how they’ll go here. My bet is that of the two we may find Hilfenhaus is the danger-man, though the press and pundits don’t agree. Possibly all three may play alongside the formidable Johnson because the one regular spinner in the Australian side, the off-break bowler Nathan Hauritz, hasn’t looked the part so far on the tour, and his previous Test Match record isn’t great anyway. The irony is that the pitch in Cardiff may take spin, and the English may for the first time in many years pick two spin bowlers for the initial match of a series. If it happens, and I say ‘if’, this will be a throwback to the nineteen-fifties when a balanced attack was more-or-less defined as two quick bowlers plus an all-rounder who bowled medium pace and two spinners, one right, one left-armed.
A Test Match has never been played in Cardiff before, although it’s been a long-cherished dream that one day one might. What’s puzzling is that the ECB should choose to hold the first, crucial match of a showcase series there – other grounds have generally been allowed less pressurised circumstances to bed themselves in. There’s much discussion about how the pitch will play: in county matches there this year the ball has turned from the first day – not the norm in English Test Match cricket – but it’s also said that the pitch for this match will have been prepared differently. As Donald Rumsfeld would have said, at the present time this is a known unknown.
The weather is in the same category. Cardiff is slightly more vulnerable to wetness than other parts of the UK, because of its proximity to the Irish Sea and the mountains. Will this counteract any tendency to spin? Will we have sufficient play for a result? The forecast is initially positive, less good towards the weekend.
Two things are known about the respective batting line-ups. One is the resilience of the Australians. Very frequently – and it’s already happened at least twice on this tour – they’ll be five wickets down for not many, only for the last few batsmen, in theory less accomplished, to take them to a very good score. The wicketkeeper Haddin, and Johnson are the two keys to this. They need as close attention and analysis by the English coaches as any of the higher order. The English batting on the other hand can be very good, or it can be horrid, and notoriously they’re vulnerable early in a series. In theory they bat long down the order too with Graeme Swann coming in at number nine, but on a pitch where hard work is required no one after Collingwood at 5 has the aptitude or ability for a long patient innings.
I see no reason to change my earlier forecast for the series – a likely 2-1 or 3-1 to the Australians – although much of the British press believes we can win by a similar margin. But along the way there’ll be unknown unknowns – injuries, outstanding pieces of individual play, maybe even political events – and these will have an effect on the result too. Let battle commence.
