Ashes Poetry

No two ways about, if you’re an Australian Fanatic, Lord’s was a dreadful result, nearly as bad, perhaps worse than drawing at Cardiff. Never mind the seventy-four year old Lord’s voodoo going down the clacker – historical records for Australian test teams are only there to be beaten. What’ll hurt is the failure to nail a dead-cert win at Cardiff. Instead of going to Lord’s with six straight thrashings of the poms under your belt, enter the home of cricket level-pegging, the 5-0 last series Strinewash counting for zip. As I said after the first test “If England win the series and the Ashes, Cardiff 2009 may resonate as Headingley 1981.”

Having said that, Australians probably won’t take heart from the half-arsed scragged-out draw at Cardiff at least precluding a 5-0 Blighty-Wash in answer to the 2006-7 drubbing. For all their deodorant ads, Team England just don’t have enough soap to clean up the Baggies completely. 

Only one thing went wrong for Australia at Lord’s outside their control. Losing the toss. This was followed by a truly horrendous bowling performance on the first morning which put England into the driving seat at 196-0. As Kevin Fewster, the Australian Director of the National Maritime Museum put it, meat-pie in hand, ‘This is the Mitchell Johnson.’ Credit the Aussies attack for recovering some measure of control to dismiss England for less than 450 when 600 was on the cards.

Bat well, and the game was drawn. (Remember this is the Green Baggies’ base-line strategy: bat longer than they do.) Here the Australian top-order went bonkers. Perhaps their first innings thrashing of the England attack at Cardiff was still in their minds, but it wasn’t Cardiff at Lord’s. Overcast, the ball moved around a frac, not best conditions for cross-batted shots. Six were out to pulls or hooks. After that the result was pretty well inevitable.

Okay, Strauss could’ve enforced the follow-on, which would have left England needing to make around two-hundred in the last knock, had Australia batted as well in a third innings as they did in the fourth. Strauss could’ve declared later than he did, but five-hundred’s plenty enough in the bank, even if someone sooner or later will chase down five-hundred last innings to win a test. As it happened it allowed both for poor weather and better Aussie batting – a two sessions hundred run plus margin of victory plenty enough when a win is a win. Neither captain is – yet – a Vaughan, Taylor or Brearley, but Strauss must be gaining in confidence, while Ponting seems to be losing his. Ricky’s a decent skipper. Anyone who, after losing at home to South Africa, goes to their patch and thrashes them is a leader. However he may be missing a Gilchrist, Warne and the other senior pros to help with ideas when they are needed to turn things round.

Individually Australia have more worries. Not in their batting where Hughes is the only serious doubt, a left-handed Dougie Walters in the making - but bowling, particularly Mitchell Johnson who in two tests has gone from hero to zero. Haddin’s batting is a plus, though his keeping seems to make the Green Baggies look altogether less than unusually excellent in the field. I like Horitz as an offie. He’s learning to flight the ball – he did Strauss again at Lord’s, and offers a measure of control. Hilfenhaus bends it both ways, and is the most difficult if the slowest of the quicks. Siddle seems to like the short-stuff a bit too much for English conditions, although it may set up victims at the other end. They miss Warne, big-time. At present only Flintoff is a bowler to be feared on either side.

For England, victory may be papering over cracks. Bopara’s yet to reassure still less be secure at No.3. Pietersen on one leg isn’t good enough to merit a place, while Prior looks a murderous test number seven yet a dodgy number six: at least he kept fairly competently, and England were good in the field, hardly spilling a chance, even if they took some which some would say weren’t. Bowling? Jury still out. The attack relies on Flintoff, who from a tired Sisyphus at Cardiff is a hero reborn now he has a mission with an end – win back the Ashes and retire – the ODIs and IPL offering him a life-line to end his test career on a high-note (see http://www.ashespoetry.net/2009/07/21/lords-reflections-beyond-boundaries/) His final day performance at Lord’s was an unstoppable force; fast, ferocious and smart – close to the stumps angling it away, setting up his victims for the one that jags back. On current form he and Ponting are the two world class performers in both teams. Anderson gets better, but still looks hittable once the ball stops doing anything. Broad bowled better than at Cardiff too, his ardour for the short-stuff cooling – too far down the wicket and too easily spotted too early to hurry a decent batman into error. He doesn’t yet have the guile to go with his height, and doesn’t seem to have a clear strategy – either to blast or bore a batsman out. Onions crooked his elbow and knee so a tad hard to judge; more accurate, less quick – England need someone like him to contain if Flintoff is to remain fit as the strike bowler. Swan had a mare at Cardiff, and Clarke  during the second innings at Lord’s drove and drove to which Swan dropped it down and pushed it through, precisely what the batsmen wanted. However on that final day he did the Pup with a wonderfully flighted off-break, which had it not bowled Australia’s putative saviour would have offered Prior the opportunity to demonstrate just how good – or bad – a stumper, rather than keeper, he is. (Because I couldn’t see the wicket itself I did him a disservice at the time seeing the ball evade his grasp, its evil done, ‘Stump ‘im!’ still on my lips.)

Set up nicely for Edgbaston. English and Australian fanatics calculate chances.