We’re two Tests into the 2010-11 Ashes Cricket Series in Australia and England is one win away from retaining the six inch terracotta urn. The visitors appear indomitable.
The Australians are all at sea. From players through to selectors, they deserve almost all the condemnation that’s been cast at them. Almost all, I say, because England are no less deserving of all the praise that is being heaped on them.
The gulf between these two sides will be hard to leap for the baggy green wearing team. They stare down the barrel of consecutive losses in the third Test at the WACA in Perth from Dec 16 to 20. Failure there means that they were unable to retain or recover the Ashes on Australian soil for the first time since the 1986-87 series.
The five match Test series began at the Gabba in Queensland. Australia started well; England finished better with the game petering out to an uninspiring draw on the fifth day. Australia squandered a commanding 221-run first innings lead; England recovered and batted their way to the draw as they took a moral victory—they lost just one wicket for 517 runs.
Second Test
Then, the Second Test held all the drama to the end on Tuesday Dec 7, with England winning by an innings and 71 runs—the greatest margin the visitors have had over the hosts in 24 years.
England’s Graeme Swann conceded just 91 runs and took his fifth and the final wicket of the match to stake his claim as the hero of the match. While Kevin Pietersen’s superb knock of 227 runs set up the monster lead, James Anderson’s wickets in the first innings gave them their dream start.
There were no heroes for Australia. While Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke at bat, along with the underused Ryan Harris with the ball, shouldn’t drop their heads—for they were admirable, given the circumstances—there were too many under-achievers.
Australia had won the toss, elected to bat on a flat, green pitch, then proceeded to have their worst first innings in a Test match for 60 years. Chaotic from the first over, Simon Katich was run out without even facing a ball—a diamond duck. Then, the next bowl had Captain Ricky Ponting facing his first ball and he was caught out for no runs—a golden duck. Only five balls had been delivered by England’s James Anderson and Australia were 2 for 0.
Anderson got his next wicket in his second over—second drop batsmen Michael Clarke. It was only the third over and Australia was like a trout flopping on the bank of Adelaide’s River Torrens at 3 for 2.
Their first innings at bat didn’t see out the day and they were all out for 245. England, continuing from where they left off at the Gabba, scored 620 before retiring on the fourth day. Having lost just five wickets, the tourists led by 375.
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Australia, needing 137 runs with six wickets in hand and a day’s play, were not facing an improbable mission. As wickets began to tumble, eyes turned towards the sky in the hope that the gathering clouds would burst to wet the gills in time to resuscitate the flailing Aussies—maybe they could still escape with that draw.
And rain it did. Bursting the banks of River Torrens, Adelaide had its highest recorded level of precipitation in a day for December. But the flash floods came an hour too late as Australia was already all out before lunch for 304 runs, 71 shy of England.
Out played? Definitely. The rot has set in and the Australian team smell nauseatingly bad. It’s unlikely that Ponting and his selectors can breathe new life into the old carcass. That old saw “can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field” couldn’t be more true.
Ponting’s Fall
A fish rots from the head. It would be a foolish person who suggests that Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting’s needs to make a better effort. While Ponting faces the ignominious record of being the only Australian Skipper to suffer three Ashes Series defeats, no one could ever say he doesn’t give his all.
If Australia is to have any chance of keeping this series alive, however, he somehow needs to turn back the clock and lift his team in Perth. A draw would be barely passable as they would need to win in Melbourne and Sydney. They need to win at the WACA.
If he hasn’t picked up a paper, seen a sports bulletin on TV or listened to the radio, Ponting’s ears must nevertheless be on fire from the buzzing criticism floating in the ether directed at him and his charges.
While his field placements and bowling selections have been questionable, Ponting’s scoring at the crease has been terrible. In the wake of the Adelaide debacle, he has slipped from being one of the world’s top 20 batsmen for the first time since 1991 to 25th. A golden duck in the first innings, 9 runs in the second, bringing his total for the series to just 70, is far from good enough.
The truth be told, his best is far behind him and the writing is on the wall for a new leader. For those optimists out there, it’s not the first time he’s been in the firing-line and recovered, and while there’s life, there’s hope ...
But Australia and their supporters may be as sanguine as they want. To think that they can rebound from such a defeat and keep their dreams of regaining the Ashes alive is as unlikely as a return to the team by Shane Warne—whom Australian media are trying to coax out of retirement, some even suggesting he take over the captaincy.
Ponting pointing as the sole culprit, however, is unreasonable. He’s not on his Pat Malone, the entire team is having a Barry Crocker of a series. The former No.1 cricketing team is now out of their depth. While some injuries will force changes, they have a myriad of problems—there is a lack of confidence at every level from batting to bowling and fielding to selection. They lack a game breaker, or two, with bat or ball, preferably both. Meanwhile, England is heralding a changing of the guard.
