This has been a truly hectic week. But now we can settle down and watch England take a lead in the Ashes!
We hope.
Well, some of us do. However, as I’m getting tired of banging on about it, it has to be said that some people seem keen to take this potential win as vindication of their position. Those who have looked at the last year as a total farce are to be lampooned, excoriated, ostracised. It’s an absolute nonsense. To point out, as Arron did yesterday, that Alastair Cook has the worst average of any England opener who has played more than five matches in England, is not to find misery in victory, but it’s a statement of fact. It gets worse when you see him continually buffered up by many. I was saying to my friends yesterday that this appears to Joe Root’s team these days, but I’d hate to see him made captain….
Anyway, this is all by the by. We have a long time (the weather forecast isn’t that cataclysmic for the Sunday play) and we need to make serious inroads today to make it a more comfortable experience. I have a sense it won’t be smooth sailing, but I’ve been wrong about the test a lot so far!
Comments below….
Being Outside Cricket 
Really has been a surprise so far. I know full well that England are capable of playing like this – that’s why it’s been so frustrating to watch them play within themselves in a self-denying fashion.
But as well as England playing better than they have done of late, Australia have played worse that they have done of date.
And here we are with a 400 run lead. From what’s gone before in Test history, Australia should have no chance, but still nervous – it only takes a big 150 partnership or so and that total feels a lot smaller.
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Spot on about Joe Root, Dmitri. It’s the Michael Vaughan scenario all over again: do we want to sacrifice our best batsman to the captaincy? In Vaughan’s case it was clearly worthwhile but his batting did fall off a cliff. Bayliss inherited Cook and accepts him under sufferance.
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Worst since the end of WW1, to be fair. To recap, this started with me noticing that he had the worst record in my lifetime among those with two full series, then that he was second worst with minimum 5 matches (behind Brearley, ahead of only Butcher, who faced a fairly useful attack in 97). Then MildredPlotka extended it to WW1 and saw that he was *still* second worst. Now he’s below Butcher.
Meanwhile why is it that, every single time I switch on TMS, the first voice I hear is Lovejoy’s? Every time. It’s unbearable.
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Currently you have to reduce the minimum to 3 matches to find anyone with a worse record (Tim Curtis and Denis Amiss).
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Amiss was also facing an that was rather more dangerous than Bollinger/Hilfenhaus!
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Put it on while doing lawn. Gobshite on yet again.
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I said before the match I had a hunch that Moeen would have a major part to play in this game. I think he might be the man today. He’s already bowled well in the first innings and has made some good runs.
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Is this a new thing – Anderson running on the pitch? Happened against the Kiwis too I recall.
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Good pitch map analysis just shown on TV – 15 wickets that have fallen to seamers have fallen to ‘Full’ deliveries and just one to a ‘Short’ ball.
Are they finally forgetting everything Saker told them?
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Not sure about that. Your comment yesterday that the pitch may have helped England avoid that idiotic plan is spot on.
To get a short ball to bounce over the batsman on this pitch, you almost have to bowl it at your own feet. Short balls are probably going to be comfortable swatting practices, provided they don’t stay ridiculously low.
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As a cynical man I would also suggest that the new coach who is unencumbered with views about the bowling attack has forced our senior bowlers to bowl to plans set by the coach rather than their own plans.
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TV showed an interview they did earlier with Mark Wood. The amount of strapping he had on his left foot (mostly ankle and big toe) was a little worrying.
Australia 90/1. Little swing and no turn so far. Bit of uneven bounce and seam movement from first day indentations when the pitch was damp so any batsman could suddenly cop one with his name on it. Nicely poised – going to find out quite a bit about the new England attack here.
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Warner gone lbw to Moeen on the stroke of lunch. Umpire’s call with about 48% hitting leg stump. Fair enough.
But, where is the consistency?
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I have a feeling we are going to have a Stuart Broad 5 wicket Ashes special (Oval, Durham…)
Not the least obvious prediction, but he is bowling as well as I have seen him since Pakistan away (in the UAE, where his excellent bowling was thrown away by ordinary batting)
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Seriously, this is the least competitive Australian performance in an opening Ashes Test since at least 1997 (when they at least made a game of it in the second innings) and possibly 1986/87. A couple of regular Aussie posters at the Guardian are livid with their team, and rightly so.
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Geez, this is dreadful from Australia. To lose 4 specialist batsmen and a keeper for just 25 runs is criminal.
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It’s so pathetic, I’ve gone to clear the lawn of dog poo and decided to mow it.
I reckon the Aussies deserve the contents of my little black bag thrown at them.
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Bad cricket from Australia or good cricket from England?
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It is a combination of the two Escort. But you can’t really tell me that a better batting lineup than Australia would have inevitably slid from 97/1 to 122/6, no matter how well England bowled.
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It’s the 4th innings of a game. The batting collapse is not just an English phenomenon
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No, but even in the fourth innings, you may expect a better performance than this. It is not exactly the most challenging pitch out there. It was not a 300 all out pitch in the second innings (or third innings) either.
Last week Pakistan chased down 377 against Sri Lanka for the loss of three wickets, and that pitch was not a road either.
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Perhaps it’s “scoreboard or match pressure”?
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Interesting exercise: ponder what the commentary would be if the team that did that kind of slide were West Indies? Take Jason Holder for Mitchell Johnson here.
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Another Watson lbw. How much was it hitting this time?
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Sky sport – not too clear
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That looks (on the eye) close to 40%. Fair enough then. And thanks for the screen grab.
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The worst aspect of the collapse this afternoon is the pending weather forecast tomorrow. Surely the Aussie first objective was not to get bowled out today? Tomorrow may be just fine but who knows? It might rain for 2 sessions.
However, if they do go on and lose, for my money their 1st innings score was to blame. They needed to get up to 400 to put any pressure on England. If you can silence their bowling attack their batting is just average. Certainly no where near the 2005 vintage.
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England may win the game, inspiring the jingoistic amnesiacs, but still go on to lose or draw the series. It happened against the West Indies and New Zealand. Get ready for nauseating ‘I told you so’s’ from the usual suspects/Pietersen/Flower/Moores/Cook deniers.
On a more positive note, I think we are witnessing a low key (and isn’t that refreshing) revolution at international level. The players seem liberated; it’s a joy to behold. I may yet be able to get behind this Farbrace/Bayliss/Root inspired England team. Still loathe the ECB though.
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Stark out. Dropped by Cook , but Lyth caught the rebound (watch for the media to claim Cook knocked it up to him on purpose)
Those two were making the rest of the Aussie batting look rather pathetic. 232/8
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L*****y on the radio: “Great reactions from Cook”.
This is why I can’t take any pleasure in New England. Can’t get past Cook, those who believe he personifies English cricket and the absurd amount of credit he gets as a result.
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Here you go. Didn’t take long.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/11733521/The-Ashes-2015-England-captain-Alastair-Cook-shows-his-class-against-Australia.html
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To be clear, it seems he deserves a lot of credit for improved captaincy. That I am fine with. But “he was never as clueless as some opined” is revisionist bollocks.
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England win by 169 runs.
Aussies 0 Welsh pitch 1
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Did England play on a different pitch? Gideon haigh noted in the Times today that Australia cannot deal with slow pitches and predicted today’s collapse. It is the same for both teams, we just bowled with discipline and the right lengths for the pitch. Saying this is just the pitch absolves Aus for a terrible first innings batting performance and an ordinary bowling performance
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I would like to point out that a certain KP had been calling for years for a. more joy, b. more aggression, c. more freedom and d. less bullying. The team seems to have embraced all of the above. Could he have his job back or maybe an apology?
They played well. It was fun.
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You heretic.
And never mind the 250k he forfeited courtesy of ECB intransigence.
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Only saw a bit of the first session, and came here first for confirmation of what I was fearing/expecting.
From what I’ve seen so far, I will be happy if Aust get out of this series without getting whitewashed. Watto & Voges out and the Marshes in. Unhappy about Saun Marsh, but it seems Aust has forgotten how to produce batters. Broken system.
Without blaming the pitch for Aust’s loss, I will say this — four of the best fast bowlers in the world and two young blokes who look like they belong to the top rank as well, and they have to play on a wicket that was deliberately doctored to make it not up to test standard.
How about we change the rules of football too, so the home team can turn the field into a mud pit if they’re playing against Messi. The home crowd will love to come out and laugh at him sliding about.
Imagine how much better this game would have been if played on as fast a wicket as reasonably possible, with with true bounce. (And with KP in the team!)
Lord’s will be a road, suited to the batting of Prince Charmless.
Anyway, England look like they have a far more sensible future ahead of them, on the field at least. Those outside cricket can, I think, take some pride in these changes!!!!!
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Rereading that, I notice it might have come across as having a dig at English fans laughing at MJ. That wasn’t what I meant, rather that a particular type of fan doesn’t care about fairness or the standard of play, and only wants to see their team win by any means possible.
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Sorry the pitch wasn’t doctored, it was just a typically slow Glamorgan pitch, just as the Gabba is fast and bouncy, some wickets are slow and low.
I am a bit annoyed with some Australian fans who claim pitches are doctored when they lose a test away from home, this happened in 2013 when a hot summer combined with improved drainage left some pitches slower and dryer than before (still an issue at Trent bridge) and the Australian media ignored Old Trafford and the Oval and claimed all the pitches were doctored for Swann. This ignores the abject batting at Trent Bridge that a 99 from a number 11 glossed over, Lords which was also dreadful batting and the collapse at Durham on day 4 when like today Australia had time to get a result (it will probably rain all day tomorrow in Cardiff). No apparently all wickets should be fast and bouncy so your batsman are comfortable.
This isn’t a rant at you DVYK I am just a bit fed up of hearing the ‘doctored’ nonsense when Australias batting collapses or their bowlers fail to take wickets. A bit like James Anderson away from home, perhaps the Mitches need to learn new techniques when sheer pace isn’t an option?
Again forgive me if this appears to be a personal attack, it isn’t, it just that your use of ‘doctored’ reminded me of similar nonsense bandied about in 2013.
I do agree that Lords will be a road, but it has been the same for the past 10 years.
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Dvyk, the pitch seems to have been entirely predictable for anyone who knows Cardiff well. The tactical bit was scheduling Cardiff as the first Test venue, thereby giving England the best chance of a good start to the series. This seems to have worked.
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An interesting debate. A point worth considering. In the 2013 whitewash, Johnson bowled one of the most devastating spells I have watched. Where was this? Adelaide, which according to all the pundits, pitch reports and Sky, was a docile featherbed, not dissimilar to Cardiff. The reason for this? They were using a drop in pitch.
Johnson was above 90 clicks the whole time, regularly touching 96 clicks and castling England batsmen left right and centre.
The point is, genuine pace negates a ‘pudding’. Bowl at 93 clicks plus and you will get wickets. In this match Johnson was not at that pace, he was regularly in the mid to high 80s. That makes a huge difference. Perhaps the pitch was not the issue, more that Johnson is down a yard of pace since we last faced him.
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Oscar, Zeph & Rohan,
Thanks for responses, and not taken personally! It was provocatively worded from me too, so I expect a bit of blow back, if it comes.
I was partly going on what the commentators said. Atherton said the ground staff deliberately removed as much grass as they could, and a first day pitch shouldn’t be bouncing twice before the keeper like that. I can accept producing a favourable pitch for the home side — I don’t see any way of preventing it — but I draw the line where if comes to preparing a wicket specifically to neutralize members of the opposition — IF that is what happened. (And I emphasise IF.)
Aust clearly lost because they played badly, and the bowlers didn’t use the conditions as well as England. Good point about MJ in Adelaide. Yep, they should be able to adjust better.
Anyway, thanks for dealing so sensibly with my intemperate ranting.
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Dvyk. My comment was not meant as a dig at you, apologies. I just wanted to add a fact to the debate. You are right of course. The commentators did mention the ground staff down on their hands and knees, scraping and brushing the pitch. So to some extent it was definitely prepared to suit Eng, which I am not sure how I feel about it.
If it was the other way round, I would probably be annoyed by it……..
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As someone who likes pitches to be quick and bouncy, I didn’t actually think the pitch played *that* poorly – yes at the start those balls bouncing twice through to Haddin looked ominous, but at the same time there were 1200+ runs and 40 wickets across just less than 4 days of cricket. That’s not a shoddy return.
The biggest difference was Australia batsmen’s tendency to get out when they got starts in the first innings. They massively underscored in that knock, and England had enough about them to take advantage. That second day, it never felt like Australia were in trouble, yet by the end of it England had managed to take 5 wickets. At the ground it felt like they were on for comfortably surpassing England’s total – Clarke and Smith getting out to Moeen were together pretty stupid, and Voges was stupid too.
It’ll be interesting to see the changes for Lords. I assume England will pick the same XI – Australia could drop 4 or 5, though. I’d definitely bring in Siddle for that pressure he builds up and experience. Marsh has to come in for Watson, surely. I actually like Watson, but his batting isn’t strong enough to be in the top 6, and the balance of the Australian side means he probably won’t drop down to 7 or 8 (although Nevill has a good FC record with the bat?). You’d assume that Voges will get another chance.
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How long will they stay with Haddin?
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I know nothing about Nevill, but he’s got to be a better option? Having said that, in spite of his chronic poor form, with bat, and his usual hoof handedness with the gloves, I’d be very surprised if they drop Haddin for the next Test.
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I always figured Haddin was good with the gloves compared to Wade, though…
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A fine all round performance where all bar Cook actually made a contribution of sorts in their chosen field. Ironically Cook had by far his best as captain with far more ideas about using his bowlers, field placings and a feel for the game. Perhaps the end of the regimented Flower/Moores way of doing things has helped him think for himself a little more? It can only be hoped. I do like what Stokes and Wood bring to the team in the field and with the ball. Indeed Stokes may not have taken a wicket this innings, but his discipline with the ball looked a lot better to me. England can keep the pressure on the Australian batsmen this series. There are enough weakish links there, although I think there will be a change that can only strengthen them with Mitchell Marsh coming in for Watson.
What I do think though, is that England’s upper order does look highly vulnerable so it is merely a start. The 1 series win in the last 5 sticks in my mind a bit too much for it not too. What may not help the Aussies is that Starc may well not play next game and that an undercooked Siddle may come into the side. So I guess a lot of “unknown, unknowns”!
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Both teams play on the same wicket don’t they? Australia are not above preparing home team wickets.
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Couldn’t Australia have bowled like England? Same lengths, same lines? Same pitch for both sides. England 40-summat for 3 and Haddin goes Teflon. D’oh!
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Maybe Saker is advising the Aussies
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