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 2nd 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.
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 2nd 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.
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