Posts and words Comments
Loading ...
By Will 5 years ago, at the end of July Add your comment below
I haven’t offered my thoughts on Australia’s victory yet, partly due to lack of time and partly because I’m still undecided as to exactly what happened. But here are my thoughts for what they’re worth. Pretty much a ramble and a rallying-cry, but I’ve not the time today to spend any longer on it. I hope I’ll be able to reveal more about my blogging-hiatus this week or next.
Scott got me motivated to write something, when he mentions Matthew Hayden’s view of the English:
In the run-up to the game, there had been a lot written about England, and I’m not trying to be arrogant when I say this, but I don’t really care about them. We know that if we are playing to the best of our ability then England will not come close to us.
OK, yes – why should he care about the English? They performed badly in the first Test, and Australia are rightly one-nil up in the series. But it is his arrogance and total lack of respect which, in 2005, has caused the British public to have an un-rivaled hatred of the Australian cricket team. When Steve Harmison, who bowled magnificently throughout the Test, hit Ricky Ponting in the face, drawing blood, I don’t remember one Englishman coming to his assistance. Justin Langer did, of course, but English teams in years gone by would have at least asked if he was ok. Granted, English teams in the past decade wouldn’t have had the firepower to hit one of the all-time great hookers and pullers, Ricky Ponting, on the face – but that’s beside the point. The public hate this Australian team, and – as Scott points out – even at egg-n-bacon central, the public were begging for their blood.
Aussie bloggers have, on the whole, given England a better review of the first Test than the media (English or Australian). That first session was pure gold for the fans, even for Australians I bet. Years of drubbings had even caused the Australian media to, at times, call for an end to The Ashes – and all of a sudden, Harmison was hitting the top three batsmen on the head (yes ok, Langer was hit on the arm, you get my meaning) and they looked shaken and scared. It didn’t last; England let themselves down with dreadful catching, and scratchy batting.
But I like to think the tide is already turning. England have lost the first Test – yup. They’re one-nil down. But, catching aside, they showed enough to suggest England will take the 2007 Ashes. Harmison rightly moved up to 8th in the world in the ICC player rankings, and no Australian batsman looked comfortable against him. This series is by no means as dead as everyone thinks; if Hayden doesn’t care about the English, I doubt the English give a damn about him or Australia. This is a fighting team, with match-winning players who will be hurting more than they reveal.
Tags: australia, england, lords, the-ashes |
“But, catching aside, they showed enough to suggest England will take the 2007 Ashes.”
William, just replace 2007 with 2005 and thats what a lot of folks said a few fortnights ago. I remember Vaughan’s comments on how England is still a young side and about how quite a few Aussies wont be around for the next series. That directly implies he wasnt confident about winning this time around.
By the by. My 2007 thoughts still stand.
2007 isn’t really the issue now, is it? Edgbaston next week is; along with the Oval, it’s where England seem to have the most success.
well said, Geoff, roll on Edgebaston. The media hype got to all of us before Lords and now the media crucifixion of England is getting to us again. I can’t watch the games on my old PC so all I have to guide me are the media, TMS and you lot.
The boys just need to get back into a Test frame of mine after so many ODIs. There’s still time.
One nil? Yeah. This blog 1, media 0.
I hope that the England team does have the fight to comeback from this initial defeat. There is the risk that the players, as much of the media, already consider this series to have slipped away from Englands grasp.
The willingness to give up just a little too easily was evident in both England innings once the top 5 were out. I’m not saying that KP together with the bowlers could have put on the 230 to win the match but there wasn’t even the whiff of determination to eek the innings out as long as possible.
In these situations, however hopeless they may seem, England must be resolute in their belief that they can get something from the game instead of instantly resigning themselves to defeat.
So we’re one-nil down after the lords test. Well, McGrath always does well at Lords with his mastery of the slope and we always do badly there against the Aussies. Our middle order will come god – there’s too much class in Flintoff and Vaughan to think otherwise. Bell is one for the future perhaps, and maybe Key could come back in later on for him if the failures continue.
G.Jones should be given a chance behind the stumps – I still firmly believe his keeping is on the up and his batting is of Test standard – he just need to maintain his concentration and he could be invaluable to us.
Simon Jones was a big plus but perhaps Hoggard should go and Collingwood could come in…..
I agree with Collingwood; he bats, bowls and fields and England might feel they need some batting-depth for Edgbaston.
Three thoughts, in addition to those I have already written:
(a) McGrath won’t have retired in 2007;
(b) England usually win at the Oval because the Aussies have usually won the Ashes by that stage, and no longer feel the pressure to win;
(c) Collingwood is not Test match material. We can actually win at Edgbaston (where we have a fairly good record in ‘live’ Ashes Tests) with an unchanged team.
Are you sure Flintoff and Vaughan will be able to raise their game ?? Otherwise it is quite impossible for England. Vaughan has done it in the past against Australia but Im not sure if Flintoff will be able to overcome Shane Warne. After all, he was completely found out even by Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
I would definitely bring in Collingwood in place of either Giles or Bell … Bell looks a bit too raw to handle this pressure and quality at the moment … and Giles seems a waste (but maybe thats becoz he has had no runs to play with)
PS What abt Mark Butcher ?? And isnt anyone missing Graham Thorpe now ??
Oscar: I wasn’t just talking about winning at the Oval in Ashes Tests. Remember the match against South Africa two years ago?
On second thought, with Thorpe retired, I might have been well advised not to mention that.
“Oscar: I wasn’t just talking about winning at the Oval in Ashes Tests. Remember the match against South Africa two years ago?”
Yes, fair point, my mistake. The stats tell me that England have played 87 Tests at the Oval, won 35 of them, drawn 34 and lost 18. I don’t know how this compares with other grounds, but that sounds pretty good.
If Lords proved anything, it is that there is not a lot of fight in the English cricket press. At Birmingham, I hope we find more fight in the English cricket team. Although I am sure we will.
“I hope I’ll be able to reveal more about my blogging-hiatus this week or next.”
I suspect someone works in the sports/media industry 
I think you English are really kidding yourselves!!
I don’t want to sound like an arrogant Aussie, but anyone watching that test can surely see that England have a lot of problems. How many times does Trescothick have to fail against Australia? Why isnt Vaughan opening when his best batting was when he was an opener? Ian Bell looks like any number of flat footed english batsman since ‘89. G. Jones was a third grade player in Brisbane for a reason. Flintoff is not a number 6 test batsman – he averages 32! Giles is not up to standard.
Your four seamers all bowled good balls or spells but can’t work together as a team or bowl two good spells on the trot.
Everyone talked about Harmison, but he bowled a lot of rubbish and was just way too short. Yeah he a couple of guys on the head but it was a bad wicket, and the simple fact is that hitting guys doesn’t get them out. He needs to pitch the ball up and use his slippers. And to put some pressure on the batsman by doing this consistently. A perfect example was when he hit Ponting. He has a guy who would be a bit stung by what happened, so the very next ball is on his hip which he tucks away for a single.
I hope you guys take this in the spirit it is intended.
good long-shot, scott, that-your suspicion… Will, reveal all soon.
I think Collingwood is probablt Test natch material, though I am more inclined to Giles going than Bell. But I suspect neither will go for now… and one can;t fault the selectors on consostency (and faith), the very thing they were applauded for till recently.
And well said about the English media, Scott. There’s fight in the team alright, and I hope at the end of the Edgbaston test there’s stilla team left in the fight.
The most important factor in the rest of the ashes series, in my opinion, is Vaughan. With the bowlers doing a good enough job it’s the batting that perhaps could have done better (and of course the catching)…which brings in Vaughan. I have always thought number 3 to be the most important batting position. After a poor start your number 3 needs to fight back, after a good start he needs to consolidate (and thats why your highest quality batsman should bat there, eg Bradman). If Vaughan can bat well the Likes of Bell and Flintoff might find it easier coming into bat with not so much pressure, and maybe bowling to an attack with no momentum. I’ve said it once and i’ll say it again, only a few things have to go differently and the result could be a lot different
sorry, that should be “and maybe batting to an attack with no momentum”
A lot that has been said about the English batting line up is true, their form has to dramatically improvie for that to be a test match winning line up, and the Aussies clearly have a plan that is working.
Australia’s batting is still suspect though. I still find myself on the edge of my seat when we (thats Aus) are batting, because it seems a wicket could fall at anytime. That won’t change until (if) Langer and Hayden play very big innings.
What would an injury to Lee or McGrath do now? (Cat firmly planted amongst the pidgeons)
Can you imagine? (Will sulks off to picture both McGrath and Warne suddenly picking up injuries before next Thursday………………)
When Hayden says he doesn’t think about the English it’s because of the belief that when Australia play well they can beat anyone in the World. This has been proven over the last few years. What’s more it is something that you need to believe if you are ever going to be a champion team. Just like swimming or running it you are too busy looking into the other lanes you won’t go as fast as you can, and unless you are Michael Johnson you won’t win.
PS Just a dose of reality for the people spouting about England playing to their full potential, the Australians have more room to improve than the English. I think England played at about 70%, Australia played at 60%. To win England don’t just have to play to at least 90-100% of their potential they need to do it for every session of the Test.
That’s utter tripe. What about these famed plans Australia have for every opposing batsman? Is that a result of only focusing on their own game?
Yep. That is their game. Find a weakeness and bowl to it. I don’t think Matt Hayden has too many bowling plans for opposiing batsmen anyway.
There is a difference between watching for then working on a batsman’s weakeness and worrying about how aggressive Andrew Flintoff might be, or the overall makeup of the English team.
I’m not sure what you’re saying. Australia’s batsmen noticeably changed their approach for the second innings. I find it hard to believe that was soleley down to deep introspection. Likewise the manner in which they cut out the sweep in India last year suggested that they do, indeed, think about their opponents.
How is cutting out the sweep shot or batting less aggressively on a wicket that has calmed downin the second innings, “thinking about your opponents”?
I would say, they think about their own game and what the opposition is likely to throw at them in the form of tactics, and what weakenesses they can exploit then train and prepare accordingly.
I don’t think Australia would care less which wicket keeper England select, how many bowlers are playing or whether Pietersen bats at number 4 or number 7. They believe they will beat whatever England thow up – they have to believe that. I think that is what Hayden meant – granted, he didn’t put it very well.
There seems to be a very fine line between thinking about what your opponents will do and thinking about your opponents. I would argue that you cannot entirely separate the two – indeed, Australia would be less successful if they did.
Cutting out the sweep shot is thinking about your opponents because their opponents got them out that way. Batting less aggressively, similar.
Yeah but Hayden was going on with this 5-0 bullshit. I mean, please. I want him to think about making it 2-0 not worrying about moonshine.
For what it is worth, I think that IF the Australians play to their potential, they can indeed win 5-0. But to do that, they need to make sure they win the Second Test. And they won’t play to their best if their mental disciplines are not right; statements such as Hayden’s would suggest that the mental discipline is not what it should be.
Get Today Right, and the rest will follow. So worry about getting today right.
[...] It caused a lot of fuss on the cricket blogs about the place but really, if Road Runner’s running at peak then WEC just isn’t going to come close is he? I love it. The general tidings are for a big Justin & Matty partnership. It would be especially great to see a century from Matty in this mode. What an incredible thing it would be to behold. The carefree century. Not in a joyous, high-spirited way but careless in that dark, brutal nihilistic sense. An absolutely reckless, uncaring, irresponsible mass of runs. Matty’s complete self-interest can only be understood when it is considered that the self-interest involves a deep, immanent interest in runs. A single huge desire for runs and nothing else. Matty assumes this desire into his being and puts himself in the precarious position of being nothing without runs. A big innings in this state would look and feel like a searing desperate violence – ‘Beat’ Takeshi in Blood and Bones. Its kind of awful but awesome – certainly compelling. It would be a wonderfully disturbing thing to see on a cricket field. I want it bad. [...]
Mental imagary Will! Powerful stuff
Aha! Cheers for that Stu!
I suggest you and your readers look up the above blog site and find out what it’s like to play cricket at an amateur level in the UK. Not only is it very funny, it also highllights a side of cricket very much ignored by the popular media as it is all to do with just playing and not the celebrity nonsense and manufactured spectacle of the money grabbing professional game
A few months after the Ashes, it is important to reflect on the English team’s performance in 2005. What happened in Pakistan… well, were the Ashes a case of deep intensity that suddenly went missing in Pakistan or was it that Ricky Ponting had the wrong people in the Ashes line up… neglecting Hussey and Hodge for the Ashes… when they might have made the difference vis-a-vis Clarke and Martyn… or did the Aussies not play a game more suited to English conditions and treated Lord’s like Perth (Hayden proved this with his controlled innings in the 5th test)…? Wonder how the Pietersen’s of this world will fare vs. the Kumble’s in India’s backyard later this year, not to mention the powerful line up of Dravid and Sehwag in Indian conditions (Flintoff may find them rather difficult to conquer)… and if Sachin re-discovers his touch and VVS is on a song!!!. England have a long way to go to show that they are a champion world beating team, notwithstanding the Ashes triump, which now appears more of a strategic error on Australia’s part rather than England’s superiority. 2006 has surely some good ranking potential… to truly show which is the champion test outfit… and if South Africa beat Australia in the return series in SA…. wow… we are in for a thrilling year… any bets??
« Darryl Harper on David Shepherd | Main | Stats, boring stats »
The Corridor (a cricket blog) is proudly powered by WordPress
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS)
The Corridor (a cricket blog) All content © 2004-2010 Will Luke. All Rights Reserved.
None of the views or opinions offered on this site reflect those of my employers, Cricinfo Ltd and ESPN International
| 