Memories are short and the 5-0 drubbing the Poms took on their last Ashes Tour has been forgotten and consigned to history as the home nation devours the Australian Cricket team on the field, in the newspapers and on social media.
There is no doubt the performance by Australia in the first innings of the 4th Test was woeful;history is telling us it is one of the worst performances in the history of the game. In fact it is a national embarrassment of no short order. But let’s not get too carried away.
I have read and heard plenty of hysterical analysis of the performance and it has been dissected endlessly by former test captains and local drunks holding up the bars on every street corner from Land’s End to John O’Groats and beyond. But is Australian cricket on the edge of the abyss? I don’t think so.
This particular Australian team, despite their advanced average age, has a number of very inexperienced players at this level of the game. I think they got their game plan wrong. I think they panicked. A perfect storm enclosed them and there was no way out.
This team of Aussies is far from hopeless. Just four months ago it lifted the World Cup after a dominant performance after which no-one suggested they weren’t the best team in the world. England would be lambs to the slaughter. Oh, how a situation can be misread.
There are some serious structural problems in this Australian side which has caused this Ashes calamity but as always an Australian recovery is never far away. So, what happened at Trent Bridge?
Australia is probably not as good as they think they are and England is probably better than anyone imagined. The influence of their new Australian coach Trevor Bayliss cannot be underestimated.
Wickets were always going to fall on the first morning with a lot of seam in the pitch and movement in the air and a skillful English bowling attack which was capable of using the ball properly in the conditions. If Australia had reached lunch at 2 for 60 they would have been cock-a-hoop. However, the first three wickets fell quickly and Captain Michael Clark, who had just dropped himself to number five in the batting order, suddenly found himself facing the new ball. Clark has been out of form and under pressure and played a shot that was from a man out of form and under pressure. Slashing at a loose swinging ball, ostensibly to show some attacking intent, was a gross misjudgment of the situation under the circumstances. His only job was to see Australia through to lunch without losing another wicket. He failed his team in miserable fashion. There would be plenty of scope later in the day once the pitch had flattened out for expansive drives off loose balls. Unfortunately it was England’s batsmen who would be taking those opportunities.
Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh, despite both being first class veterans, showed their lack of experience and skill which is required at the higher level and were soon back in the pavilion along with wicketkeeper Peter Neville, an even newer inductee to Test cricket playing in only his third Test match. The bowlers capitulated easily. They are not payed to rescue the side from such calamities.
So, in short, Australia were in a position where they could not possibly win the match before lunch on the first day. England soon strengthened their grip through sensible batting and the only the coup d’grace remains to be delivered tonight when England will go to an unbeatable 3-1 series lead and the Ashes will be returned to the mother country.
It’s a worry that Australia’s batsmen could not dig in and find a way to haul themselves out of the hole they found themselves in. Training, discipline and judgement was all lacking and a top to bottom investigation into selection and planning should and no doubt will be conducted. Several players are either past their best or are not good enough, some surely being selected under the “good bloke” policy which seems to pervade Australian cricket.
Chris Rogers, although proving himself capable will probably retire as should Captain Michael Clark. No one wants to see truly great player like him make a fool of himself in the twilight of his career. Voges and Shaun Marsh should have their papers stamped “never to play for Australia again” and even Mitchell Johnson, the star of Australia’s home campaign 18 months ago must be heading for greener pastures soon.
There is currently a parallel cricket tour to India in progress with Australia A, basically the Australian Second XI, playing their Indian and South African counterparts in various first class and one day matches. Ironically, former Test player Usman Khawaja who is captaining the side, and Joe Burns who played Test cricket last year but was discarded for the Ashes tour, hit twin centuries on the night the senior team found themselves in so much trouble. Against the odds, Australia A have been undefeated in India, usually a graveyard for Australian teams. Good planning and determined cricket have seen some stars beginning to shine. With luck, it shouldn’t be too long before we see Khawaja and Burns back in the big time.
So, at the end of the day Australian cricket is healthy. It needs a few tweaks but I will wager the team which folded so meekly at Trent Bridge will be a different animal when the Ashes are again on the line in Australia in a couple of years.
Let the English have their day. But Australia remembers. And will be back.
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