GOOD on you mate! So, the Aussies have struck back. Just when alchemist Shane Warne was criticising the Aussies under Punter Ponting for being too soft and gentlemanly in their approach on the field, the Aussies have come roaring back in the Ashes series. Good old fashioned fast bowling, good team selection and a little bit of in your face Aussie aggro has shown everyone including the pumped up Brits that the Aussies are certainly not going to roll over and die.
Yeah, some of them aren’t getting any younger and in another season or two, a few more will have to be benched including the skipper himself, but they can still give as good as they get it. The Aussies, as they have shown over the years, are tough in the mind, except when they begin to disintegrate against the Indians. After the South Africans gave them a hiding in Australia, they returned the favour aggressively in South Africa on their pitches stunning one and all who were writing epitaphs on Aussie cricket. They managed to pull it back and seem in
the process of reclaiming their suzerainty.
Agreed that the Aussies aren’t getting younger, but Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle have been a revelation on this tour. The Poms thought they had this won after the great rearguard at Dunkirk, sorry Cardiff in the first Test. But they didn’t do themselves a favour by being bowled out for 102 on the first day of the Test match with overs and overs to spare. And the Aussies did so without Brett Lee. Disciplined batting followed with the next generation of Aussie batters – Michael Clarke and Marcus North performing yet again.
The Ashes levelled at 1-1, the stuff of dreams. All to play in the final Test. What more can the ECB expect. When Mitchell Johnson castled Graeme Onions on the third day, it was clear that the Aussies were back. All the hype and hoopla about English batting was exposed at Headingley. At the end of the day, it was a mentally tougher Australian outfit which won. Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell proved that they had feet of clay when it came to the crunch situation. That is where England will always struggle against any quality bowling attack. No Kevin Pietersen and over reliability on Andrew Strauss will always show them up for what they are – an ordinary side. In the same column I have argued that the Aussies are vulnerable against reverse swing and off spin bowling.
England managed to humiliate Australia with a combination of the two, but after Headingley, it doesn’t seem that England can cope with them. The absence of the talismanic Andrew Flintoff also didn’t help. The Aussies will be in India for a seven match one day series. Watch out. While India always seems to get under Aussie skin, it should be one helluva contest. With five fit fast bowlers – Lee, Hilfenhaus, Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle, England’s task is cut out at the Oval.
Atherton’s second car Freddie Flintoff makes such a difference to the England make up. He gives them that aggressive edge. Is it time for Rob Key to reappear for England. Time for Bopara and Bell to be dropped. Time for Steve Harmison to say goodbye. Batters 3, 4 and 5 scored 16 runs between them in 6 innings. England didn’t turn up for the Headingley game which ended in a shocking two and a half days.
But more than anything else, it is the British media which needs to do some soul searching. After going ga ga over the Flintoff inspired win, they need to examine closely the strengths and weaknesses of their own side. Is this a team which aspires to be world number one. Not after the evidence shown at Leeds and the side’s last tour to India. The problem with the Brits now is that they are fragile mentally. They don’t have the tough, no nonsense resilient mindset required at the highest level. Flintoff brings that jagged edge. A tough cookie – Freddie Flintoff – is an uncompromising sort of cricketer that England need to rejuvenate their fortunes. But that can only be for one more Test, since he has retired. Can he bring his weak knees and heels to join the joust one last time? Can he motivate himself one last time?
Otherwise England is doomed.
