Australia vs England 2010-11, 1st Test
Wooloongabba, Brisbane
November 25-29 2010
Deja-vu for Ricky Ponting as he hands another
Baggy-green to another untried spinner.
The last time England won an Ashes on Australian soil was in 1986/87, on the back of Botham's heroics and Chris Broad's metronomic century making. By 1989 Allan Border's touring party, supposedly noteworthy only for its profound inability to threaten the English, had regained the urn 4-0. In both cases the respective teams were given little to no chance before the start of the series. The 2005 Englishmen were in a similar boat, Australia's 239 run win the opener at Lords surely being a sign of the same old Aussie dominance.
Pre-series turmoil, uncertainty and ever-widening odds seem to be one of the most favourable conditions to win an Ashes series in recent decades. One can only hope this will apply in 2010-11 considering the stark contrast in the preparation of the two teams. England arrives in Brisbane with the old urn in hand, and with their most stable and cohesive unit perhaps in decades. Meanwhile all is crumbling under poor old Ricky Ponting. Ponting may be a flawed captain lacking of the tactical nous and imagination of a Taylor or a Waugh, but he surpasses all comers as Australia’s greatest contemporary batsman. As can be forgotten at times, he also holds the most wins as a test captain in the 133 year history of the game, 47, from 73 games at a percentage few have matched in test history. But beyond all his achievements, if Australia is unable to regain the prevailing memory of Ponting’s captaincy will, rightly or wrongly, be his cursed Ashes record.
Australia’s pre-Ashes state of play cannot have been this ghastly for at least two decades, maybe three if we stretch back to the days of World Series Cricket and the purging influence it had on contracted Australian test stocks. The focus of the past few days has been twofold. First on the agenda has been Michael Clarke, and his fight to temporarily alleviate his fundamentally unfixable back for Brisbane, maybe to the detriment of later dates in the series. Xavier Doherty’s surprise inclusion to make his test debut has been the other account of note. But these two stories shift the focus away from perhaps the most telling sign of Australia’s panic, and the selectors uncertainty, more even than picking a first test squad bigger than England’s entire touring party. Doug Bollinger, who has bowled consistently and with great enthusiasm for the past year and had results as good as any other Australia bowler has been left out in favour of Peter Siddle. The reason given for this is an apparent lack of match fitness, despite the fact that Bollinger put the miles in on the subcontinent and Siddle himself is recently back from an injury layoff of far longer duration and consequence. In the heady days of Australian dominance never would such a kneejerk reaction have come about, borne out of the fear of a strike bowler breaking down. Any bowler can break down at any time no matter how unforeseen the circumstances, English quick Simon Jones attested to that eight years ago when he pulverised his knee in the Gabba outfield in the first session of the series. The message the selectors have sent to Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Doherty and co, that they aren’t trusted to be able to carry an injury-hit attack, is not what our talented but particularly temperamental bowling attack need. Enough has been said about the continuing plights of Michael Hussey and Marcus North, and little more can be said until they bat. If one thing can be said for Hussey, it is that he can rise to an occasion magnificently.
All the theoretical early running is with England. Andrew Strauss’ men arrive at the Gabba today on the verge of outright series favouritism, even a few months ago the betting was traditionally Australia-favoured. It is important to keep the hype in check however. England has at least twelve or thirteen solid international performers but few stars. Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann are the only three who look able to consistently threaten to take the game from Australia. Collingwood and Bell when in form can be stoic and if not kept in check, prolific. Jonathon Trott is a star of the future. James Anderson brings much-needed experience to the pace attack. Then there is Stuart Broad, who while wholly less impressive than much of the pre-match dialogue suggests, does nevertheless give rise to Aussie demons as thoughts of The Oval 2009 flitter unwisely back into the mind. Even within the three stars only Strauss fully convinces me. Pietersen remains in an extended run of unimpressive form, as well as retaining a kind of arrogant nonchalance for his wicket bordering on the pathological. Swann has been a consistent performer the world over for the past 18 months and certainly Australia would give anything for as stable a spin option, but his value to the team could be more psychological as his forceful personality keeps the Poms in the right frame of mind. Unless he performs in Australia, which I am sceptical about apart from potential troubles in Sydney or Melbourne depending on pitches, I remain unconvinced. He’s not a Harbhajan or a Murali. He’s not a Warne.
Warne. Even four years after his retirement he’s nearly as talked about as any current player. The word from Ian Healy this morning is that Strauss may seriously consider bowling first merely because of the confidence gleaned from not having to face Warne in the 4th innings. This strikes me as a very big and wild jump. For all the talk of cold temperatures, green tops and potential invitations to the opposition to bat, it would overall be extremely unlikely if either captain did anything other than emphatically choose to bat. Ponting has batted on far greener pitches and would still have nightmares about Edgbaston 2005 when he put England in and was trashed for 407 inside the first day. Strauss on his part can't pretend to forget Nasser Hussain’s famous debacle of 2002 when he let the Australians have first use of a belter of a Gabba pitch. The key for this 1st test relies on how either team’s top order handles the lively early overs after inevitably choosing to bat first.
For all the expectation of this Gabba test and all the clichés pertaining to how the first session of a series can often define the final result (or indeed the first ball as in 4 years ago), I can’t help but feel the Gabba test this year might not be so foreshadowing. Australia has shown in both 05 and 09 that they can dominate an opening test and then consistently fall short of the mark and lose the series. As much as there’s an overall feeling of worry and concern about our fading chances, predictions would be impossible at this stage. The only prediction I will make is that if Australia win the 1st test the series will stay very much alive, but if England go 1 up, the climb back will be a huge one.
Likely Elevens
Australia
Shane Watson
Simon Katich
Ricky Ponting (C)
Michael Clarke
Michael Hussey
Marcus North
Brad Haddin
Mitchell Johnson
Peter Siddle
Xavier Doherty
Ben Hilfenhaus
England
Andrew Straus (C)
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Ian Bell
Matthew Prior
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
James Anderson
Steven Finn
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