The Urn: No more a problem for Australia, 3rd Ashes Test Match Preview.

Australia is 2-0 down in the 5 match Investec Ashes test series and you must be wondering as to why The Urn would no more be concerning them. Well it’s just a part of my perception. The Aussies might still be fancying their chances in the ongoing Ashes series which will mean that they have a daunting task of winning the rest of the 3 matches starting tomorrow. Given that their batsmen don’t even last a day even on batting friendly pitches, I must say their chances of regaining the urn are almost “BLEAK”. Ah! the word bleak, certainly reminds me of a statement given by David Warner where he said “Future of Indian Cricket is bleak” on the backdrop of India’s 3^rd test match defeat in Australia where India was trailing 3-0. May I remind you that India had already been whitewashed in England in 2011 and the New Year was no different for the Indians. Yes, India was whitewashed again in Australia. And then our legends VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid retired. India lost 2-1 to England at home. For a moment David Warner must have thought that he certainly possessed the skills of an astrologer. Immediately after that Australia came to India and it led to dramatic turnaround of events. Young Cheteshwar Pujara had stepped into the shoes of Rahul pretty well, Shikhar Dhawan went berserk and created havoc in the Australian camp. As a result Australia was whitewashed by India in India. Now you must be wondering why bring India into an ashes match preview? Well, I will make my point here. And what I am trying to speak about is bench strength.  There is no denying in the fact that presently India has the best bench strength when it comes to cricket. That’s the reason India has done well recently on foreign turfs. The culture in Indian Cricket is going through a structural change, thanks to those two whitewashes that acted as eye openers. Since then BCCI has ensured measures to develop young cricketers and remove the concept of so called “senior cricketers”. Those who performed stayed in the team and the rest were discarded. India went through a transition period, the caterpillars have turned into butterflies, we have a lot of cricketing talent and proper measures have strengthened the bench. But can the same be said for Australia also going through a transition? I guess no. Probably Warner’s comment backfired at his team. Poetic Justice probably! Australians had spent a long time savouring their past conquests. The laurels which their legends earned are all the stories of the past. The fairytale is all over. No batsman in the Australian squad has shown any sort of urgency in his game, no one has stepped up to resurrect the team in grave situations like Joe Root or Ian Bell did for England. The Australians have to be blamed for this, this is what conceit does to you. Once the sole rulers in the world of cricked have been knocked off the perch and that’s why I said The Urn is no more a concern for them. The concern is to prepare for the future, their present challenge is to groom their youngsters and not go after The Urn as they have already lost the battle per se.

But it’s a human’s job to live in the present. The first objective for the Aussies is to salvage some pride out of this series and they can only do this by defying any more victories to the rampant English side, defeat them or hold a tie, the Aussies can do as they please. But for this to happen the whole of the Australian side will have to jump into action, the batsmen need to work on their basics and keep a cool head. Darren Lehmann will be well aware of the fact that had his batsmen been prudent enough in Trentbridge a 14 run defeat could have been avoided, actually Aussies could have won the match. Similarly, his batsmen could have avoided a massacre at Lords which could have at least earned them a draw and they could still be 1-0 up in the series. Yes, the Australian batting line up is to blamed majorly for their failures and adding extra pressure on their bowler’s heads thus reducing their effectiveness as well. Let’s take a look at what both the teams need to do ahead of the 3^rd Ashes Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.

1)      Australia: With Pattinson out of the tour because of injury, the first challenge would be to find a replacement. With Mitchell Starc most likely to comeback after being dropped in the second test to make way for Ryan Harris, James Faulkner could also get into the playing 11 looking at the fact that he is an all-rounder.

Shane Watson will have to clear his head and rework on his strategies. Hos front leg was definitely creating a problem and he has to overcome that problem. If he can get his basics right and come out with more determination, he could definitely become a cause of worry.

Next job would be to drop Rogers and I think he will most probably make way for David Warner. Rogers, the 35 year old batsman nor has used his experience whatsoever and neither has age on his side to portray him as a future of Australian cricket. As such, it would be wise to let Warner open for Australia though he has disciplinary issues. The rest of the challenge is not to lose heart and find a way to handle the English pace battery which has continuously managed to obliterate the Aussies even on a belter like Lords.

Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris will be the guys to watch out for in the 3^rd test. Peter Siddle managed to scalp 11 wickets in 2 matches while Harris has taken 7 wickets in the only test match he has played.

Probable Squad: Shane Watson, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Michael Clarke(C), Phil Hughes, Brad Haddin(WK), Steve Smith, Aston Agar, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Ryan Harris.

2)      England: The English have been flamboyant in this series so far. While Ian Bell, Trott and Anderson have been phenomenal, young Joe Root has been sizzling enough to keep cricket enthusiasts interested. Alistair Cook continues his good run as a captain but unfortunately his batting efforts have not been up to the mark. Generally, known for setting impeccable standards with his bat, Cook has just managed 83 runs in the 2 matches with just 1 half century to his name. Clearly, he would be looking to push himself to make that number look better.

Ian Bell has already scored 317 runs in this series so far with the help of 2 centuries and a half century. His presence in the side has been highlighted with the fact that all his runs have come at the time when the team needed them the most.

Joe Root who has scored 221 runs in this series so far was ordinary for most part of the series until he scored that brilliant 180 at Lords to help his team set a 583 target for the Aussies and grabbed 2 key wickets of Clarke and Khawaja  to ensure an English victory with an excess of 347 runs.  Definitely Root is one of the future prospects to watch out for.

Jonathan Trott, Matt Prior though don’t have big innings like Root or Bell to boast of but they definitely have provided the necessary support required for a big innings and the same will be expected of them.

Anderson and Swann have been absolutely clinical in their performances. Both Anderson and Swann have 13 wickets each to their name in the series so far and have continuously troubled the Aussie line up.

The only concern for England will be Kevin Pietersen who is rumored to be fit again to be a part of the playing 11. He has managed only 85 in this series with one half century and even if he plays it would be instrumental for England if Pietersen finds his form back.

Probable Squad: Alistair Cook(C), Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen, Jonny Bairstow, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Matt Prior(WK), Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Series down and dusted! What’s next?

The aim of this Zimbabwe tour was to spot the competency of the emerging Indian cricket players at the international level as well as a test of Virat Kohli’s capability as a leader. While the latter has been more or less accomplished, there are still some players yet to get a chance. Cheteshwar Pujara is one among the few still knocking in for an opportunity and it’s about time that he is granted one. Our two young seam bowlers Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat have been the revelations of this tour. Quite a lot was expected from the young Zimbabwe side on their own home ground, but it won’t be wrong to say that their performance was quite dismal. Indians have started reading the Zimbabwe pace attack quite well and the delinquency of Zimbabwean batsmen to deliver at crunch situations haven’t helped their bowling attack to try something new. Zimbabwe’s batting lineup capitulated to the Indian bowling attack in similar fashions in all the three ODIs. They get starts, a wicket falls and then the whole of middle order collapses cheaply to soft dismissals which clearly show that they are not doing their homework. Though India has clinched the series 3-0 with two more matches to go at Bulawayo, they have not been error free.  Let’s take a dig at each and every player and find out the culprit in the Indian side.

1)      Rohit Sharma:  Though a batsman of really sound technique the batsman surely lacks the required temperament. After making a comeback to the Indian side as an opening batsman in the champions trophy he managed to impress everyone till he reached Zimbabwe where it looks as if he has lost his form again and is trying to live up to his name of Maggi Man. The trolls on social media which had stopped after his successful stints in the Champions trophy and the recently concluded tri-series in West Indies, his form has been scrappy in the current tour. Even when he was on song he had failed to covert his starts to big innings again pointing out his lack of right intent. He has managed to score just 35 in the 3 innings that he has played in the ongoing series. Overall this has been a dismal tour for Rohit so far.

2)      Shikhar Dhawan: His time in the Indian side has been a topsy-turvy ride. A brilliant champion’s trophy where he was adjudged Man of the Series, an ordinary tri-series in the Caribbean and a disappointing first match in this series, Dhawan finally got his form back in the 2^nd ODI with a brilliant 116 where he punished the Zimbabwe side heavily for giving him 3 lifelines. He did score a good 35 in the 3^rd ODI before throwing his wicket away looking to wrap things fast.  If this tour would not turn out to be a memorable one for him, his records here won’t slander against him as well.

3)      Dinesh Kartik: A comeback to the Indian side on the backdrop of some serious performances at the domestic level, Kartik flummoxed everyone with two hundreds in the warm up games before the champion’s trophy. After that he managed just one half-century in the group leagues in England and after that it was all disappointment. Coming to the second ODI in Harare, questions were definitely raised about his place in the side but he shut everyone up with a good 69 which helped India recover from a precarious situation. It won’t be wrong to say that he provided the necessary impetus which was much needed for a good score and breathed some life to the faltering Indian batting line up in the second ODI. In the first ODI he came to deliver when the job was almost done and managed to get those 12 runs easily to seal the deal in the first ODI.  He will still have to work on his concentration levels to justify his place in the Indian side.

4)      Ambati Rayudu:  After getting a much awaited debut Ambati Rayudu scored a good half-century to impress everyone. But over the next two matches he has failed to create any sort of indications which would implicate that he is a horse of long races. He struggled to score in the 2^nd and 3^rd ODI which was quite evident from his strike rates, even his defense looks quite compromised when both his legs create a gap while he is trying to defend. His trudging innings in difficult situation is much attributed to his failure to rotate ends.  I don’t know what the selectors think of him but I think it would have been better to pick Pujara over Rayudu.

5)      Suresh Raina: He has been going through a lean patch for a long time now. Even his position in the team has become debatable but the way he played for his 28 in 18 balls in the 3^rd ODI has slight indications that he is getting his form back. Probably he needs some time on the pitch. He bats so down in the order that most of the times the top order does the job and Raina doesn’t get to bat at all, so we can’t really blame him. But we need to remember that he has delivered in numerous situations and probably that is still keeping him in the team.

6)      Ravindra Jadeja:  Jaddu got only 1 chance to bat in the 3 ODIs up till now. So a lot can’t be talked about his batting. But he has been quite economical as ever. He has picked up one or two wickets every match  and his presence has been vital to the side.

7)      Vinay Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat and Amit Mishra: Vinay Kumar the most experienced of all has been the least economical bowler. He has got hit frequently and has not been picking wickets either. A lot was expected of him but he has to an extent failed to deliver.

When it comes to our two young seamers Shami and Unadkat they have just been phenomenal. They have been economical ,picked up wickets at the hour of need especially Unadkat. No doubt these two guys can swing the ball both ways and that’s the reason the Zimbabwe batting has looked so wary of these two.  Unadkat and Shami are the picks of the tour for sure.  If our seamers have got the wickets to initiate the capitulation process of the Zimbabwe side, Amit Mishra has done the remaining job to keep the flow of runs in check and at the same time get wickets. He has troubled the Zimbabwe batsmen with his googlies.

8)      Virat Kohli: Kohli has been Virat in his own ways. He has done splendidly well as a batsman as well as handling a young side. He has led from the front. A century and a half century in three matches is quite staggering while taking charge of a young side. He has been balancing well and leading from the front. But once again his failure to keep his emotions in check has called for fresh debates. He misbehaved with the umpire after being given out which he thought was a controversial catch and was not out. His reluctance to walk out and persistence for a second review was uncalled for and stresses on the fact that he still needs to mature more before he can succeed MSD.

With the series in India’s grasps Virat’s next challenge would be to give a chance to those who are still waiting for it. While Bulawayo pitch is mostly a batsman’s paradise the challenge would be to pick up a suitable team. I think Kohli should rest Dhawan who has done fairly well and on his place pick Cheteshwar Pujara as an opener. Similarly Rohit should be dropped to work out on his inconsistencies and let the promising Rahane have a go. Similarly since it’s a flat track, the hopes of Vinay Kumar being economical are bleak. As such giving Mohit Sharma or Parveez Rasool a chance might be a good option.  Same way I think Virat should come down the order and let Raina go at 3 so that he can spend some time on a batting track and get his form. Remember Raina bats at 3 for CSK and breaks hell for the opponents. Making these changes probably won’t affect the result of the matches I guess, because the presence of Jadeja, Mishra, Unadkat and Shami has already created a lot of problems for Zimbabwe with Vinay Kumar being virtually inactive. Similarly Pujara and Rahane would only add value to the side. Actually I guess  Pujara would do better than Rohit.

Cheteshwar Pujara and his limited overs mystery!

For most of the players entering the International Cricketing Arena the order of their first appearances begin with T20s which is then extended to ODIs and finally if proven worthy are handed a test cap for their national teams.  That has not been the case for the extremely talented Cheteshwar Pujara who is just 24 years old. While he made his test debut on 9^th October, 2010 against New Zealand, he is still waiting for his first Indian cap in limited overs cricket. This young talent has already one 150+ score and two 200+ scores under his belt in only 13 matches that he has played. Making a comeback after legendary Indian batsmen Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman declared their retirements. In such case coming in to fill in the shoes of such great batsman shouldn’t be easy. But Pujara has lived up to the expectations really well. He has established himself as a proper no. 3 in the format involving white kits and is proud to have an Indian crest on the left hand side of his chest. More often than hot Pujara finds himself being compared to the great Rahul Dravid himself. A similar batting style which involves reading the pitch first and then having a go or let it be his knack to first let the ball hit the ground first makes him an obstinate occupier of the crease just like Dravid.
A strong defence and sound technique are no doubt Pujara’s main strengths. But having watched him closely I have a feeling that he can batter the opposition’s bowling attack once he is set. He has that attacking temperament in him. But he lets it out only when he is sure that he is ready to go. Probably another trait matching with The Wall himself. Isn’t it? Even Rahul Dravid in the beginning was criticized for the slow pace of his innings and was branded as not an ODI material. But how good did he turn out to be? It won’t be wrong to say that he is the most dependable batsman India has ever produced. And the same goes on with Pujara. Though sluggish in the initial part of his innings, he can turn the heat on the opposition’s bowling attack. All its needed is some amount of faith and persistence by the selectors on this young man.
Then what should be done?
I think here the responsibility of Dhoni creeps in. Captain Cool has a reputation of getting the best out of his players. We saw Jadeja conceding more than he generally does in the tri series in the absence of Dhoni. And as soon as Dhoni was back in the finals so was Sir Jadeja. Jadeja took just 4 wickets in the whole tournament before the final, but claimed 4 in the final itself thus taking the number of wickets to 8 in the tournament. Erratic Ishant has certainly got his knack of taking wickets back, Umesh Yadav has been better in his proceedings and above all Dhoni has been able to extract the class out of Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma, though extremely talented had not shown any kind of resolve before the champions trophy. Dhoni asked Rohit to open and take his time and what we got is a brilliantly performing Rohit whose runs speak it all about the quality of batsman he is. That is the effect Dhoni has on his young players.
Its truly said that a captain can make or break players. Dhoni has found Indian Cricket so many stars who are exciting prospects for the future. Cheteshwar Pujara is one of them. If you take a look at his list A career you would definitely feel that he can excel in limited overs cricket. You can’t expect the whole batting line up in the shorter formats to be pinch hitters. You need someone to stand in there throughout. The concept is also the same for T20s. There must be someone to anchor the innings on one side while others can go after the bowling. Cheteshwar Pujara is definitely contending for that spot in the Indian line up. And to add to that it would also bring the best out of Kohli who comes in at no.3 for India in the shorter formats. If the opening pair fails to build a partnership in the beginning the next man to come in is always Kohli. There is no guarantee that he would fire every time which would leave the Indian batting card reeling in case Kohli departs.  Someone like Pujara can guard such a precarious situation and Kohli could play his natural game.

Career Statistics for Cheteshwar Pujara.

But the problem is where to fit Pujara in the team? In my view Dinesh Kartik can be replaced with Pujara and we can try him out. Dinesh Kartik has not been very consistent coming from Champions trophy to the Caribbean tri series. 4 out of 5 times he fell prey to spin, clearly indicating his failure to read the conditions. So that change can be brought in the squad. I am pretty sure Pujara will do well. But all that comes later. The first step has to be taken by Pujara himself. It’s pretty sure that he will find his place in the playing 11 in the Zimbabwe tour. He will have to make sure that he builds on that, play some good knocks and make his presence felt. After all, even Dravid was branded as not so fit for ODIs in the initial part of his career, 15 years later he was India’s most dependable batsman. Pujara can learn from that and keep working hard.

Does it really have to be Sourav Ganguly vs M.S Dhoni ?

It’s a very normal human quality to compare prodigies. You would know this better if you were a macho in your classroom during your young days. More often than not you would be compared to your closest of competitors in every realm of academics. A same thing can be observed in the case of these two great Indian captains who contributed to Indian cricket in their own ways. Let’s take the case of each of these captains separately and then try to find out if their roads merged or just diverged away further from time to time.
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly or more popularly known as Dada to his fans is definitely one of the most pioneering figures of Indian cricket who brought a lot of laurel to India’s cricketing culture. Probably it won’t be wrong to call him the man who set the foundation stone of what today’s Indian Cricket team is all about. However, Dada didn’t have a very smooth cricketing career in the beginning. In an interview with Rituparno Ghosh, Ganguly himself admitted that he never wanted to be a cricketer during his childhood and was a football player instead. His brother SnehasisGanguly encouraged him to play cricket and so he did from class 9th onwards. Well he made his ODI debut against West Indies in 1992 and was soon left out citing his arrogance and refusal to carry drinks for the senior players. The young man toiled hard and was recalled to the side in 1996 while India was touring England where he just played one ODI. But a mid-tour drama between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammad Azzaruddin, then the captain of India earned SouravGanguly a chance in the test team alongside Rahul Dravid. To add to his credit, Dada scored a maiden test century on his debut at Lords and only the third one to do so in the history of cricket. In 2000, Sachin Tendulkar stepped down as India’s captain amidst match fixing charges against players like Ajay Jadeja and Azzaruddin and cited bad health as a cause. Thus, S.C Ganguly was appointed the new captain of the Indian Cricket team. Henceforth, He started repairing India’s reputation and records overseas. He holds the record of maximum overseas test victories by any Indian Captain and the number turns out to be 11. He took India to the finals of ICC Cricket World Cup after 20 years, last being in 1983 led by KapilDev , which was the only world cup India had ever won. Sadly, India turned out to be runner ups. A year before that SouravGanguly had led the Indian team to a famous Natwest Series Victory against England while chasing 326. It was that time while he was hugely criticized because of the shirt twirling event though today it has become one of those iconic symbols of Indian cricket. Ganguly himself said in one of his interviews that he is not very proud of the shirt twirling incident and wonders why he did that. In 2004, India registered their first ODI victory against the Aussies in Australia after 12 years. What we were looking at was a new Team India. A young team India which didn’t depend and move round only on Sachin’s shoulders. It had its own identity. Dada had given us many god talents like Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni himself. And that was the beginning of a new era. He was dropped from the squad because of poor form and incessant ego fights with Greg Chappel and lost his captaincy. Though he made his comeback before the 2007 world cup but finally said goodbye to International cricket in 2008 in his last test against Australia. Amidst the crisis he had said a brilliant thing to media and it went like this:
“People will support you,people will criticize you.When you cross that rope everything is about you.”

Stats For SC Ganguly

Then came the reign of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was introduced to the International cricket by Sourav Ganguly himself. Popularly known as Captain Cool made his ODI debut on 23rd of December, 2004 against Bangladesh. Though he had a bad series there, he came back with strong performances later starting from Pakistan’s tour of India. In his 5th ODI he played a brilliant knock of 148, then the highest score by any Indian wicket keeper in ODIs. Later that year he broke his own record by scoring a blistering 183 against Sri Lanka which is definitely one of his most entertaining knocks. In 2007 he led India in the inaugural T20 world cup in South Africa and India came back as champions. Soon after that he was appointed as India’s ODI captain in Australia’s tour of India soon after the T20 world cup. He never looked back after that. He had stepped to change the face of Indian Cricket. In 2008, India won the CB Series in Australia defeating the Aussies in the finals. He was appointed as India’s full time test captain in 2008 in the last test against Australia replacing injured Anil Kumble. India clinched the final test match thus retaining the Border- Gavaskar trophy. Under his captaincy, India were titled champions of ICC T20 World Cup 2007, Asia Cup in 2010, ICC World Cup in 2011 and the latest edition of Champions Trophy in England. Though his captaincy was under scrutiny after India’s 8-0 defeat in tests by the hands of England and Australia in their homes and a 2-1 et defeat by England in India he managed to pull it back together by handing Australia a 4-0 whitewash this year. While the tests defeats were understandable because of misfiring senior players and inexperienced young guns, suddenly everything has started falling in place after he rebuilt a strong young Indian team with an average age of just 26 right from scratch. To much of his credit he got the gem out of Rohit Sharma, found a way back for erratic Ishant and more than that he discovered the star of Indian bowling line up Bhuvaneshvar Kumar. Not to forget RavindraJadeja , R Ashwin and UmeshYadav who are our future prospects to give new heights to Indian Cricket. Among these he was once again under scanner for his relations with senior players like Virender Shewag and Gautam Gambhir. Sudden retirements of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman from international arena and Sachin’s exit from limited overs cricket have only added fuel to the fire. Dhoni who always believes in a strong team than a few strong individuals probably didn’t go down well with the senior players. But Dhoni has produced results. He is no doubt one of the best finishers of limited overs cricket, the latest display being in Queen’s park Oval where he held his nerves together to enable India lift the Celkon Mobile Tri-Series Trophy, and another silverware in BCCI’s cabinet.

Stats for MS Dhoni

After having a look at the achievements from both the captains its hard for me to believe that Sourav Ganguly and Dhoni are at crossroads. Two very different characters on the field, Dada being an aggressive one whereas the Captain Cool tag for Dhoni says it all. But if Indian Cricket team is reaping the fruits, Ganguly made sure that quality seeds were sown and Dhoni managed to manure and nurture the plant well. As such there is no point comparing both. Simply see a bigger picture starting from 2000 and come down step by step to 2013. You could feel what I am trying to explain here. I am pretty sure when the next captain comes in, most probably Virat Kohli comparisons will still be made but most importantly what has to be ensured is we need to build on the foundation rather that finding cracks in it.

Withering Vigour of Australian Cricket!

Probably Australian legends like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne have heart aches when they see this Australian side performing like a bunch of school boys. It’s hard to believe how the balance has shifted so drastically from one side to other. During the 90’s and early 2000 the Australians were real cricketing giants and the English simply couldn’t compete. Today the story is exactly the opposite . Today the Aussies take the drubbing and the English batter them black and blue. With yesterday’s test defeat Australia have now 6 consecutive test losses which they last experienced in 1984-85. The Australian Cricket has taken some serious beating after the golden Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting era.  The inconsistent and misfiring squad has lot to deal with. The underperforming batting line up leaves all the burden on the tail enders and thus affecting their efficiency with the ball. On top of that Mickey Aurthur’s claim of a feud between Clarke and Watson is definitely playing its role at the back of the minds of both the players. The fact that both these players don’t see eye to eye has become a matter of concern in the Australian camp and the English side is definitely using it well.

Shane Watson has been very repetitive in the way he throws his wicket away. He scores a fast 20, hangs around for a while and then gives his wicket away. Dots and boundaries comprise 86 percent of his innings as per the stats shown during the lunch time.  His dismissals in both the innings were quite similar in fashion.  He took a big stride forward in both the situations where he managed to nick the ball to the slips in the first innings and missed the ball in the second innings which went on to hit his pads and was a straight forward LBW decision for the umpire. It was noticed that Watson who generally covers his wicket was standing little towards the leg side in the second innings clearly trying to keep his front leg out of the way but the consequences were quite similar to the first innings. Watson trying to change his technique is a clear indication that his recent failures are playing around with his head and its necessary that he finds his form back soon to help his as well as his team’s cause. Rogers, Hughes Smith all were big disappointments in the match. Though Clarke and Khawaja tried to show some intent and had a good post lunch session, they couldn’t carry it forward and soon fell after their respective half centuries. Looking at the fact that the Australian side would have failed to cross the 200 mark had there not been a partnership between Pattinson and Siddle at first and then between Pattinson and Harris for 9^th and 10^th wickets respectively was really disheartening. The Australian batting line up has shown no signs of fighting spirit or intent up till now in this series.  They were heavily punished for the batting madness they displayed in both the innings.

While the batting line up for Australia has been consistently disappointing, the bowling line up has been very inconsistent.  Twice in the match they had scalped three English wickets at a score less than 30 and still failed to humble the English batting line up. Partnerships managed to grow even after early blows.  While Bell was phenomenal in the first innings, a scintillating performance by Joe Root in the second innings spearheaded a big victory for England in the second Ashes test match. The failure of Australian bowlers to keep on the momentum may be attributed to the extra pressure they face because of their team’s misfiring batting order. As such once the English batsmen start firing, the Aussie bowlers completely lose their head as well as the rhythm. The fine line of difference between both the team has been that while someone or the other stood there for England even after early blows the case was not the same for Australia. Bell had bailed England out with his centuries both at Nottingham in the second innings and a century at Lords in the first innings with major contributions from Trott and Bairstow, Root took the baton in the second innings with Bell chipping in again with a blistering 74 and a valuable 38 by Bresnan.

Lack of experience in the Australian side against an all-round experienced English side contributes further to the imbalance between both the sides. The average age of the English side is 29 with all its major players somewhere around that age with exceptions of Root and Bairstow whereas the average age of the Australian side is 28 even after the presence of 35 years old Rogers and Haddin while both Watson and Clarke are aged 32 years each. On the other side we have Agar who is just 19 with just 11 First Class matches, Smith(24) and Pattinson(23) who are the younger members of the Australian squad. The heavy imbalance is quite evident in the Australian side itself and when the seniors fail to deliver, the younger generation just follows the suit. And thus we got the whole bunch of underperforming lads who fail to stand up to the big event. Though the flamboyant English side has less things to bother about, they still have room for improvement. Captain Cook has just one half century in this series and he must be looking for a big score to get back on song. An injured Peitersen will be another concern. Peitersen has failed to deliver as of now and his injury will add extra pressure to the English side to find a suitable replacement.

Darren Lehmann has to make sure that he gets the right balance in the team, take some bold measures and if required bench the senior players. It can’t get any worse. Probably they will lose 5-0. At least he can train his young guns, give them some exposure and prepare them for future because the way this Australian side is performing a clean sweep looks quite imminent. 9 times before this England had taken a 2-0 lead in the Ashes and 8 times out of that they managed to keep the urn with themselves. Only once Australia had managed to steal the urn when they bounced back 3-2 to win the Ashes.  The Australians might be hoping some similar kind of miracle but it can come only if the team decided to get inspired and perform.

What Stands between England and Australia?

There is less than a day’s time before we go into the second Investec Ashes test match between England and Australia at Lords. Australia had to suffer a marginal 14 runs loss to England. The Aussie tail end tried everything possible with all their heart to bring Australia this close to victory, only to see their team lose, thanks to a poor usage of DRS and a misfiring top order. Australian top order had to reply whatsoever to a prolific Jimmy Anderson who rattled past them in both the innings. Among all this you still have to feel for Australia who after being in numerous precarious situations could pull things back and at one point looked to cross the finishing line first. A brilliant 109 by Ian Bell and the much controversial not out decision by Aleem Daar to Stuart Broad, who clearly had nicked the ball to Clarke’s hands gave England a firm base and enabled them to whisker past Australia in the first test.
Leaving all the controversies behind, the Aussie top order has to be held responsible for the loss. Shane Watson and Rogers failed to stay on the crease and emulate on their starts. If even one of them could have stayed and ensured that they player a bigger innings, the story could have been a lot different. Captain Clarke looked completely out of rhythm in both his innings. It was painful to see Phil Hughes going out on 0 after scoring a brilliant 81 under pressure in the first innings at Nottingham. And Ed Cowan has thrown away all the opportunities that he got to become a permanent member of the Australian test side.
Coach Darren Lehmann has served notices to all his top order batsmen on their failures and specially to Ed Cowan whose erratic shot selection were not complementing his rather not so obstinate occupation of the crease. Both the times Ed Cowan was dismissed trying to play cover drives while clearly he was not in a good position to execute those shots. And the step taken by the coach is quite understandable seeing that they were really close to victory by the 163 and 65 partnerships that the tail enders had produced. In such a scenario, even one firing top order batsman would have seen them through ahead of England.
England would definitely be the more confident team between the two because someone or the other among its batting unit has been able to bail them out of alarming situations. Moreover, Australia’s incompetence to read Anderson’s deliveries, specially the slower one gives a lot of edge to the bowling unit along with the talented Steven Finn, Stuart Broad and a classy Swann. The rest of the credit has to be given to Captain Cook who has been street smart in handling his resources and has been quite resourceful himself at the top of the order for quite some time now. Though it was Joe Root’s debut ashes match and not to forget he was opening too, but I think he still could have done better. At least his talent is promising enough for him to go ahead of the mental barriers that the Ashes creates in an English or Aussie player. As such the whole of cricketing fraternity in England and genuine cricket fans all over the world would like him to show more grit and determination in the 2^nd match and get off to a flyer. He definitely has the potential to do that.
On the other hand while Australia’s tail end has been the stronger of the two sides, the case is quite the opposite when it comes to the top order. Looking at the fact that they almost clinched the first match just riding on the shoulders of its tail enders, the team would definitely push in its top order to do well. Probably that’s their hitch in the ride. If that works out well I don’t think it’s going to be a walk in the park anymore for England. The major problem still lies with Ed Cowan who failed to show any sort of intent. I think Ushman Khwaja must be given an opportunity at the cost of Cowan. He has the necessary talent and probably he could do a better job. And it’s very important for David Warner to find his form and way back into the team. His presence and his ability to blast any sound bowling attack would always be an intimidating factor for the English. Meanwhile Steve Smith will have to resist his knack to go after each ball and try hard to read the conditions and then have a go. Darren Lehmann has to take care of all this. While he can’t do much to the techniques of his players he can definitely bring in some tactical awareness in the young side and brief them the whole plan to get the best out of them.
While it will be a challenge for Clarke to show that they can turn around the course of events against England, Cook will probably look to make changes so that he can tighten the screws against the Kangaroos, who had already said that he is not afraid to make big changes in the side.