IT was akin to a headbanger’s ball. While the first Ashes Test in its 2009 avatar had to live up to the billing and hype of the gladiatorial 2005 joust, England seemed to have called it right by playing two spinners – Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. Simply because the two of them saved England the blushes. Not with the ball, but with the bat. It was ironical that in a battle between the game’s two oldest rivals – England and Australia, a number 11 of Indian extraction, a Sikh batted in copy book style to frustrate the getting angrier by the minute in your face Aussies. When 12th man Bilal Shafayat and physio Steve McCaig used dilatory tactics to ensure that England got home and dry, the look on Ricky Ponting’s face said it all. There was verbal too from Ponting himself and close catcher Simon Katich as the Aussies realised that they had been pipped at the gate.
I watched the game in rapt attention on telly and as the overs began to run out, typical English doggedness and indomitable spirit had managed to ensure that the Aussies stared at a drawn result. First Paul Collingwood and Swann and then Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson thwarted the Aussies who were scenting a win after getting that crucial bit between their teeth as England’s top order succumbed to hostile bowling. But it is creditable on the part of Swann who was peppered with short balls and abuse by Peter Siddle to hang in there with Collignwood. It was fascinating and the largish partisan English crowd at Cardiff did all it could to support the home team in its collective endeavour.
The moot point however, is that the English may well celebrate their great escape, but they were comprehensively outwitted on four and three quarters of the playing time in the game. While the English attacked and piled up a score in excess of 400 in the first essay, the way the Aussies ran riot with the bat is a cause for worry in this Ashes series. If England had the better of exchanges in the epic 2005 series, it was primarily because of the four pronged pace attack which was one of the most lethal in recent memory. Freddie Flintoff, Mathew Hoggard, Steve Harmison and Simon Jones reversed the ball at will in that series. They proved to be destructive and damaging. The full strength Aussies were found wanting against this sustained four pronged swing and pace attack. The susceptibility of the Aussies against quality off spin has been thrown into stark relief time and again – Erapalli Prasanna and Harbhajan Singh are two cases in point. The Aussies aren’t comfortable against the turning ball, but in circa 2005, they were left breathless and stunned by the reverse swing generated by English bowlers. The same reverse was used effectively by RP Singh and Ishant Sharma when India traveled to Australia last and then when they visited India last year, it was the combination of Zaheer and Ishant again which found the Aussies groping.
For the first Ashes Test which concluded on Sunday, the English got their team all wrong. Two spinners – Swann and Panesar who saved them with the bat were supposed to play a defining role in hastening the Aussies to their doom on a wearing wicket. Unfortunately the Aussies batted only once, lost six wickets and four batsmen smashed centuries. The English pace attack, toothless without Steve Harmison who bowled well in the tour game looked out of sorts. Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Flintoff held no terrors for the Aussies. Strangely all five frontline bowlers gave away hundred runs and more. You simply cannot win a Test match if your bowling combine takes only six wickets in a Test match lasting five days. And most importantly, there was no hint of reverse from the English nor did the tweakers show turn, bounce and spin. All in all the English attack was pedestrian.
Which means that the Ashes match up needs to be recalibrated. The Aussies have shown after the aberration against the South Africans at home, that they have rediscovered their old ruthless ways. The team has the necessary bowling and batting to stay at the top. Moreover, it is still hungry which is all important. If you lose the intensity, you lose the edge. The Aussies want to win everytime they step onto the cricket field. They are not overawed by the big ocassion. You could see it in Punter Ponting’s eyes when the English tried to subvert the game by sending in their 12th man and physio. Ponting was furious and resorted to verbal, Siddle’s reaction everytime he knocked over an Englishman was equally stark. When Mike Hussey caught Collingwood, they thought they had the game in the bag.
England needs to be inventive. It has to redraw the goalposts. I will be surprised if they manage to beat the Aussies with the present rabble. They have to change their personnel. It is important that the Ashes stay relevant. It is important that the quality of cricket displayed by both sides rises above the ordinary. In the end, one can argue that the Cardiff result was good for the Ashes, even if the Aussies feel cheated. I will tell you why I am saying this. The Ashes over the years have turned into a no contest with the Aussies easily vanquishing the Poms. The 2005 series was a saviour for cricket in England already under the cosh due to the insanity that prevails over EPL and other football tourneys. The 2005 series was like an elixir of hope, faith, revival. Call it what you want, it managed to revitalise and adrenalise the game in England like never before. In an age where cricket administrators want to abbrevaite the game, an Ashes, like any full blooded contest, still gives you goose pimples.
For that England need to stand up and fight, take it on the chin and then be able to counter punch. The way they did in 2005. It is a baggage that the English will carry every time they step on to the field in this series. We all know what happened when the English toured Australia for the last Ashes grudge match. They were annihilated. England need a bowling hero. It could be Flintoff who will keep charging in till he breaks down again, who knows? But they need two or three bowlers who can test the Aussies, reverse it and get them to hop around. Ninety miles an hour is now commonplace in modern cricket. Just about everyone bowls at that pace. So, it can’t be raw pace alone, it needs a skillset like reverse or a leg spinner who can give the ball more revolutions and draw the batsman forward and commit him into making an error. An error that is fatal. Cricket needs the Ashes, replete with jangling nerves and reduced nails.
The Cardiff game provided all that but by default. If the contest is to be gripping and riveting, then England need to bat and bowl out of their skins. A couple of big dominating hundreds, good bowling, outstanding catching, something that lifts the hopes of a team and a nation. The Ashes contest has to succeed, otherwise vacuous men like David Morgan will reduce the length of a Test match by a day. The ECB needs to prepare pitches which are conducive for lateral movement. Maybe Graeme Onions can be given a go, or even an Adil Rashid. England has to make the ball swing to be able to vanquish the Aussies. Remember that Brett Lee will be fit soon enough and be back in the side to tease, torment and test England.
The problem with English cricket is that it has never known to be flamboyant and with flair. You need somethign edgy in your side to win the Ashes. The English at the moment look flat and without fizz. Yes, they saved the Test, but they need to to show some derring do and bravado to save cricket, the game from going under. Cricket needs the Ashes. And the Ashes need a performing England team, not county pros masquerading as Test stars.
