You’ll be pleased to know that The Leg Glance will be giving his insight into the first test in the next couple of days. So I’m not going to do too much, except for a couple of observations.
I’m not some all-seeing, believe my own place is the only place type of person, and you lot, I think, know that. But I find myself repeating the same old mesaages again and again. We’ve been here before…. Grenada and Lord’s in the very recent past. Now this is a totally different scale against a totally different kind of foe. But it is crucial that the players and the support in this country keep their feet on the ground. I used to nickname the Australians as the cockroaches. I don’t mean it in a horrible way…. when I used to live in a council flat in my early days, the flat was infested with cockroaches. The council regularly came in to clean them out, but one would always survive, and they would always come back. So when this country got so up its own arse after three successive series wins, by taunting and goading them, by laughing at them, and in some pathetic banter, dismissing them by people who should know better, we all knew they would come back. Didn’t we? I know I did.
I want England to be successful, believe it or not. I know some don’t believe e – jeez, I’m borderline obsessed by it that people actually think that I don’t – but the way to do so is to act like we’ve been there before. The thing is, we have been. In 2009 we won a brilliant game at Lord’s and two games later played an shocker. The 2013 series we won despite not playing our best and I think absolutely fair and square, but we allowed the fact we did so despite playing attritional cricket to dismiss the opposition. No-one expected 5-0.
I don’t think this Australia team will lose 5-0. Not a bloody chance. Come back and tell me I’m wrong if we do, but there is no way they’ll play this badly again. At least, I’d be shocked if they did. England hit them hard. Very, very hard. That was impressive. Now it’s refocus, re-position and get the heads down for the next game. Act like we’ve been there before.
Sadly, I don’t think we will. I think there will be too much gloating, and instead we should push out the negative factors in the Aussie team. I actually think the Dad’s Army thing is eating away. We’ve got the Aussie press and media already having a right go at Watson and Haddin. I’m not sure how much it hits home, but it’s more effective to question them, then it is to take the piss. I respect this team we are playing against, a lot. I’ve always admired the performances of the Australian test cricket team, and while yes, I’ve not been a fan of some of their antics, I stayed up all hours to watch them. The Waugh teams dominated you, played aggressive, attacking cricket. The sort of cricket I’d love to see us play. The sort of cricket we could never sustain. We aren’t in the position to take the mickey.
We need to take a leaf out of their book. Grind the opposition into the dirt. Don’t let them off the leash. Keep them down.
Oh, and of course, Alastair Cook is now a great captain. He had a very good game as a captain. It would be ridiculous, churlish even to question that. But hey. Let’s act like we’ve been there before eh?
Finally, there’s a lot of debate on here about the pitch. I have zero problem with it. I know. People disagree. But that’s life. To me it looked like a typical test match wicket in the UK. Don’t fall for that nonsense. Losers find comfort in excuses. I know, because we are damn good at it.
Have a great evening.
Being Outside Cricket 
I think everyone knows I don’t really support this England side. But I do feel slightly smug about all the fecking eejits who were writing off Stuart Broad. And, at the Guardian at least, there were *plenty*.
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I certainly did.
He does seem to enjoy the big occasion
Still annoying at times though
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It’s a great pleasure to see him finally fit and firing. I was worried watching him in the WI that we were breaking him with bad management.
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It was a good performance by England. But we have seen that before, and in the last two series England struggled to maintain their momentum. Barring Root, the batting lineup does not inspire too much confidence in me. I’d be surprised if England last the series without at least one serious collapse, when it actually matters.
It might be the case that Bayliss read the riot act to the bowlers, and as a consequence Cook looks better because of that. That being said, he has looked better than he has in a long time, but whether that is because he has finally seen the light, or because of some interventions by Bayliss remains to be seen..
The injury to Harris is a massive blow, because Australia were missing someone to exert control in the first innings in particular. Siddle can do a similar job, but he is less threatening. Cummins is an unknown quantity at this point, since he has hardly played FC cricket in the past couple of years. If he is fully recovered, he could well prove to be a tough proposition.
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Certainly if Bayliss has read the riot act to the bowlers and they are going to keep bowling the right length England will be a lot more competitive before. However, as you say, I can imagine dry weather giving us pitches that help Johnson do his worst. The top order is particularly brittle and the middle can’t bail them out every time.
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Agree completely Dmitri. A friend said to me this morning, before day 4 had even started, ‘your ashes prediction has gone wrong hasn’t it’. I explained that it was far too early to make that call. I said lets win this one first and then see what happens.
At some point Aus will have chances to win matches in this series, let’s see how that pans out before coronating all and sundry.
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Technically my 3-1 to Aus prediction is still intact… And we were crap in the 2nd game against NZ.
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Meanwhile the ECB are appointing a Labour Peer and a former Cricket Australia bloke to new Directorships – one responsible for the British Asian community and one for, wait for it, participation and growth – sounds like something you do in a greenhouse!. Cook is being lauded for his match winning captaincy and the media roll continues in all its glory. No doubt everyone will be ‘back in the fold’ with this greatest Ashes victory of all time, ever – me, it leaves me cold and even more disinterested than ever.
Appointments made that keep the boys club sustained, totally over-egging the cricket and nothing has changed – the ECB can go fuck itself and the cricket just doesn’t mean anything anymore – if you have to go along with these antics then my time is up – I am not interested anymore and will not be watching for the next ‘developments’ – the country has far more problems than worrying about cricket even though cricket perfectly exemplifies the problems we face as a nation – we are all still outsiders.
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oh, and for those who think you can support the ‘team’ without supporting the ECB – you can’t, at least I can’t – because they are one and the same.
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I think when Giles Clarke, rather than Colin Graves, presents the players to the Queen at Lord’s next week, and ECB TV show repeated crowd shots of people from the right kind of family, some may return to our fold…
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MS has had a pop at Watson in the Guardian/Observer. While superficially funny (if obvious), the surfeit of references to the press box do rather betray his insular mentality. Fred66 in particular has seized on this and – quelle surprise – his first comment has been modded (others survive for now, BlueEarthCitizen’s direct response probably won’t last). Does anyone know whether Fred66 is the Fred who comments here from time to time?
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One and the same.
I forgot the first rule of commenting on the Guardian: do not criticise Selvey.
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Hello and welcome!
Amazing, isn’t it, how some people (like “playingdominoes” in their response to you) appear to remain oblivious to “fringe idiots”, “bilious inadequates”, “carefully orchestrated hate campaigns (against Cook)” and three years of FoxNews style reporting about the major off-field issues in English cricket?
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Hello! I’m glad you stick your toe in the water at the G sometimes, otherwise the lunatics will take over the asylum.
I don’t bother too much about the responses I get, life is too short. I simply don’t read anything from westcork anymore, just skip on to the next comment. Same for this dollop character that’s popped up, and a few others.
I’m not a great fan of Selvey overall, but I thought his Watson article was really scrapping the bottom of the barrel, plumbing new depths. To see a second tier cricketer and a second rate journalist mocking Watson, who for all his faults has had a career many people would envy, is just beyond the pale. It betrays a mean spirit, and probably personal insecurity.
I know what gets modded, and I was careful not to be abusive or rude, but that wasn’t good enough apparently.
Yes, the press coverage has been poor, which is why I value this site, and the intervention of you and simonh and all the others on the G, to challenge the mainstream narrative. Otherwise cricket will turn into Worldwide Wrestling, with a script carefully prepared by Giles Clarke and friends.
Congratulations on the win by the way, despite all the other stuff, England did play well, and maintained the pressure. Lets hope Australia decides to come to the party soon!
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Didn’t read the bit about Shane Watson, but just caught either Hayter or Wilde say he has never done it against England here. I mean, really?
How many did he score in the last test he played in England? The thing is, we may laugh at the LBWs but I know that I’d be pleased to see him out of the team.
As for Guardian BTL, I use it for post filling. I don’t take much seriously any more.
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I am confused, according to the MSM we have won the Ashes (the remaining matches will be a procession), and Haddin, Watson, Johnson and Clarke are finished.
They are clearly all smoking something as their short term memory appears to be affected and they have forgotten that we haven’t won a test series in a year whilst managing to win test matches. The guardian write ups are appallingly smug
I do think if we play like this and our bowlers don’t return to their shorter lengths on faster pitches we have a better chance than I thought, however Broads interview with award last night suggests that they will go back to bowling too short as soon as they can 😢
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Ian Ward not award – bloody autocorrect
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This test match has only amplified how shit England have bowled over the last 18 months. The fact the media does not aknowledge this just reinforces their bankrupcy as honest reporters , and how poor their judgement has been. If your priority is to fluff up the ECB, and the captain , your judgement and reputation is going to end up in the garbage can.
The English cricket media have resisted all the changes that’ve now been brought in when us amateurs saw clearly what the problems were, and called for them.
The removal of the chief executive (opposed by the cricket media)
The removal of the flakey coach (opposed by the cricket media)
The bowling of a fuller length, and not obsessing about stats (opposed by the cricket media)
The removal of the Captain and a change in the ODI team (opposed by most of the cricket media)
The removal of the bowling coach( opposed by the cricket media for being his mate?)
The removal or change in attitude by the captain (opposed by the cricket media)
I could go on and on but the point is we outside amateurs could see this and the so called professionals in the media either could not or would not for the sake of keeping in with their ECB chums. It just shows what duplicitous ECB stenographers they are.
They have tried to claim credit for Cook for all the things they/he once dismissed. It is the actions of dishonest and moral bankrupts. No wonder they fit so well into the ECB machine.
The English cricket media and the ECB are interchangeable. They are cut from the same dishonest cloth. They have not apologised for being wrong, and they won’t appologise for being wrong. It takes integrity and character . Traits not required to work in the English cricket media.
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Response to Mark:
Mike Selvey’s obsession with Jimmy’s acton marks him down as chief fluffer…..
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Even Vic’s caught the disease, celebrating Cook’s ‘parry’ as predicted here.
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As I mentioned yesterday, Swann praised Cook’s “great reactions” on the radio. Just as everyone praised Andrew Strauss when Geraint Jones saved his ass in the fourth innings at Old Trafford in 2005. Except they didn’t, did they, because they weren’t in love with one man above all others…
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Have you notice that when England win its referred to ” Alastiar Cooks England? ”
Yet when they lose its just plain “England.”
That would piss me off intensely if I was in that team.
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Yes, I’ve noticed it, and also joked about it a couple of times on here!
I also noticed this from Cook–
“Sitting here before the Test match and everyone was talking about what happened the previous series and I was getting frustrated.”
Which raises the still unanswered question — if you knew that series was not representative of “your” team’s strength (and I agree it wasn’t!) why on earth did “your” team perform so badly? What did you do wrong?
His massive personal failures there are still like water off a duck’s back to him. The only time they are mentioned is to emphasise his heroic stubborn come back.
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Or Chris Tavaré over Geoff Miller for those of a certain vintage
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Where I would be cautious with England is that the top 4 look rather ropey as D’arthez above seems to suggest. Australia have a fair few problems of their own though with Starc likely to be out of the side and Watson needing to be replaced by one of the Marsh brothers (probably Mitchell).
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I’ve read the Aussie physio claiming Starc had improved considerably in the last 24 hours so, unless that’s psy-ops’ bs, he may not be out of the Second Test.
Australia have the usual losing team options of getting the same team to play better or making changes. Mitch Marsh for Watson seems very likely. Marsh offers more with the bat and has in good form – but has only one wicket in four Tests (albeit played on some real roads). I’m very curious why Watson bowled so little in Cardiff.
Some have mentioned Shaun Marsh coming in at No.3 – presumably for Voges although he could replace Watson and Australia rely on fiddling a few overs from Warner, Smith and Voges for the fifth bowler. Smith and Clarke could then bat at Nos. 4 and 5. However Marsh (S) looked poor in the West Indies and after the trouble Jerome Taylor caused him I wouldn’t fancy him against Anderson.
I haven’t seen Australia’s back-up keeper and I suspect they’ll stick with Haddin but the evidence of his long-term batting decline is stacking up. His second innings’ dismissal was a real shocker – if certain other players had played that shot we’d be hearing no end of it.
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I heard that Simon, re Starc. If he is fit to play then their bowling line-up will still exert a serious threat to England’s batting as they did.
The only change they should make should be Mitch Marsh for Watson. If Watson isn’t bowling much anymore and getting hit into the bargain, then he is a luxury player, especially for one who is far from a large run getter. Many Aussie fans have banged on about Mitch Marsh for years and I was wary, as he seemed only to do that much in short form cricket. However his batting has clearly improved in the longer form of the game and he was one of their only batsmen to show any serious gumption in the UAE when they flopped big time. In that sense I’m surprised he didn’t keep his place.
I doubt the Aussies will change elsewhere just yet, as it is only one game but a couple of poor performances and they might be more proactive.
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@PK
Marsh would have kept his place after Pakistan – it was pretty clear Watson was going to be dropped – but Marsh was injured and Watson put in a good performance in his absence to delay Madame Guillotine.
He *should* be toast but, the two things which may save him are:
– Without Watson (assuming Starc plays over Siddle), Johnson would be the only Australian bowler to have played at Lord’s, and he was rubbish. The slope is harder for foreign bowlers to acclimatize to than is sometimes recognized – Watson took five-fer last time he played a Test there
– Lehmann’s sentimentality/fear of change. For one reason or another, contrary to his image, he seems quite soft about dropping senior players for risk-averse. Either way, he seems to stick with the safe option.
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Cook seems to have finally discovered what captaincy is about and this is all good, but I’m reluctant to start cheering him when his contribution with the bat was pathetic and England’s position of strength was created by Joe Root.
A convincing win but early days. Australia were curiously off the boil in this match and the question will be how they regroup. I find I don’t feel quite as detached as Boz (above) but it still isn’t my team – the ODI side is, much more, partly because it’s obvious the likes of Giles Clarke aren’t so interested in it.
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Not to go all Yorkist, but I can well imagine that if we lose the next game with similar batting performances, all the pressure will go on Lyth, despite Cook being the under-performer.
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Talking of Yorkists, I did like this piece:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/12/yorkshire-pride-renewed-as-countys-boys-of-summer-lead-cricket-revival
especially the little girl saying “We play every day, rain or shine. Except on Wednesday.”
I’d love to hear from one of Cook’s ex-batting partners exactly what it’s like. He does seem to have been the kiss of death in the last year or so.
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His five partners since Compton was dropped *still* have more centuries than he does in the same period, by the way. (1 Root, 1 Robson, 1 Lyth versus 2 Cook).
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Arron, Arron you must not talk of his batting today. It’s all about his genius leadership.
When he had failed over and over again an innings of 60 odd would be held up as Bradman like. No such luxury for Ian Bell.
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So, was this Edgbaston 2005 – or Edgbaston 1997? The establishment of a period of supremacy – or a brilliant one-off against undercooked opposition? One could make a case either way.
The England’s brave new era stuff might all be true. The batting line-up could be one of depth, quality and eternal attacking intent. The bowling might have, as Sky’s post-match analysis claimed, “all the bases covered”. The captain might finally have learnt. And Australia might not be as good as many thought. The middle order looks flaky. The bowling looks inexperienced, inflexible and one serious injury away from decidedly unimpressive. They look poor abroad except on fast SA pitches which are more Australian than Australia’s. They were thrashed in India, thrashed in UAE, lost on the one SA pitch without pace they played on in Port Elizabeth (D’Arthez was right to point to similarities with that match) and even lost their one WC match abroad. Perhaps also this generation of players are more scarred by three successive series defeats in England than has been acknowledged.
On the other hand…… England have followed Grenada and Lord’s with Bridgetown and Headingley. There the batting crumbled when Root failed, the bowling wasn’t covering any bases, the fielding disintegrated and the strategies were sometimes horrific. Australia won’t be so bad again – the batsmen won’t get themselves out when set, the bowlers won’t bowl so many ‘release balls’ and Australia’s strategies will start to emerge against the newer England players. Conditions at Lord’s with more pace and bounce may favour Australia more.
It could go either way.
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I’m definitely suspicious of the idea that this England bowling attack has all the bases covered. As soon as it dries up and swing goes away they are going to look as toothless as usual.
Batting: Ballance and Bell are both fighting their way back to form, but so much depends on Lyth because it’s clear that Cook is going to continue to average 20. You can only win from bad starts every now and then…
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