I haven't been trying but I would imagine if I were it would have been very hard to avoid the talk surrounding the start of the Ashes series.
For weeks now the papers have been full of speculation about who will do what, when, on what type of pitch, with many of them concluding that England have their best chance to win an Ashes series in Australia for almost 25 years. Certainly a better chance than last time they visited Down Under, when Steve Harimson's opening delivery to third slip set the tone for the abject 5-0 thumping which followed.
That came only 18 months on from the epic series in England in 2005, so it is to be hoped that England can hold on the the urn a little longer this time. Again, only 18 months have passes since Andrew Strauss and his team regained the Ashes on home soil. Perceived wisdom has it that since then England have improved while the Aussies have gone backwards. Any side would struggle to cope with the retirements of the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist so it is perhaps unfair to be too critical. However, the new generation of Australian Test players do not hold anything like the same aura of their illustrious predecessors.
This being the first day of the series and with all sorts of chicanery in the diary as we get closer to Christmas, I took the opportunity to take some time off to tune in to Sky's live coverage of the first Test from Brisbane's famed Gabba cricket ground. The 10-hour time difference means that play starts at 12 midnight UK time, with a scheduled finish of 7.00am and scope to continue to 7.30 if there are delays or slow over rates. It was going to be a long night. Especially those parts of it during which Nasser Hussain is on commentary. Dull doesn't even begin to describe the former England captain, whose petulant on-air spats with Michael Atherton and Sir Ian Botham do at least provide the odd moment of comedy. Still, you get the feeling that their laughing at him and not with him. Quite why you seem to have to be a former England captain to get onto Sky's commentary team is beyond me.
For further amusement take a look around at some of the facial hair on show on the field of play. The Aussie bowling corps excels in this department, with Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle all sporting the kind of nose rug normally reserved for computer generated plumbers. Yet it is England's own Kevin Pietersen who takes the spoils. Pietersen comes across as someone who wouldn't want to be outdone at anything, be it batting, pop-star poking or moustahe-moulding. He doesn't let himself down in the latter category, that's for sure.
Just three balls into the day's play and the smile was wiped quickly and shockingly from my face. Strauss, having won the toss and elected to bat, cut scruffily at a very ordinary Hilfenhaus delivery and found only the waiting hands of Mike Hussey. It wasn't quite the embarrassment of Harmison's opening contribution in 2006/07, but 0-1 having just lost the wicket of your captain is a somewhat inglorious situation to be in. Coming in at number three Jonathan Trott seemed almost affronted.
He was nervous too, edging just short of the slips on one occasion and getting a streaky four with another unconvincing stab moments later. He was next to go after making 29, completely bamboozled by a bit of a ripper from Shane Watson. At least Alistair Cook was looking more solid at the other end. Cook made a cautious, almost painstaking 67, seeing both Pietersen and Paul Collingwood come and go as England's batting line-up began to look a little frail. Pietersen made an enterprising 43 and helped Cook put on a partnership of 76 for the third wicket, but was eventually caught by Australia captain Ricky Ponting off the bowling of Siddle. Ludicrous moustache or not, Siddle was to become the hero of the day for the home side.
It might not have looked that way when Collingwood confidently drove him through mid-on for four, but when the Durham man attempted to repeat the trick next ball he found only the edge of his bat, and Marcus North in the slips. England were now 125-4 and not looking so clever. When Watson caught Cook to give Siddle his third wicket it brought Matt Prior to the crease. Another good length delivery, another attempted drive, and Prior's off-pole was sent spinning around the turf. Two in two for the hitherto ordinary but honest toiler, with Stuart Broad next up. Steaming in and backed by a home crowd positively demanding more than a whiff of blood, Siddle crashed one into Broad's toes trapping him straight in front to complete only the ninth hat-trick in Ashes history.
Or so we thought. I'm going to have to have a moan at this point. The review system ruined what, had I been Australian, would have been a very exciting moment. Under ICC regulations captains are now permitted to challenge two umpiring decisions per innings in Test matches. It's a system which has worked to some degree in American Football and tennis, but there's little doubt that Broad's insistence on having a look at the replay took something away from the whole thing, and offered brief, cruel and pointless hope to this particular England fan. No blame should be attached to Broad. If the system is there he should use it if it means not being the victim of a bad decision. Yet in this case the claim that he had got outside the line or that the ball could be missing the stumps seemed a little frivolous. It was plum. As plum as a plumber's moustache.
By the second celebration of the hat-trick ball England were now 196-7 and relying heavily on Ian Bell, who had quietly gone about building a fine innings. He was joined at the crease by Graeme Swann who, although potentially the key man with the ball for England, couldn't contribute much with the bat. Siddle had him lbw for 10 with the score on 228-8. The England spinner had become Siddle's sixth victim, with the Aussie finally finishing the innings with career-best figures of 6-54.
The last two English wickets were claimed by Xavier Doherty, who had been a surprise inclusion in the side. At 28 and with only 30-odd first class games under his belt, Doherty replaced Nathan Hauritz in the selection to some degree of consternation in the Aussie press and media. Yet Bell was a key wicket for the Test debutant, with the Warwickshire man caught by Watson for 76. Jimmy Anderson's mandatory stubborn resistance ended when he was bowled on 11 by the man who David Lloyd reliably informs me is only the third Test cricketer to have a first name beginning with X. Those wickets would have made Doherty feel a lot better after earlier dropping Cook while the Essex opener was still on 26. England's total of 260 all out fell some way short of what had been expected, and certainly of what had been hoped for.
The Aussie openers faced a potentially tricky seven-over spell but came through unscathed to the close of play. Simon Katich has 15 while Watson partners him on 9 when play resumes at midnight tonight. For England's part, they will be hoping that Anderson and Broad can pick up a couple of wickets before lunch to enable Swann to work the magic that has seen him rise to second in the ICC world bowling rankings. Australia still trail by 235 as day two gets under way, so the game is still very much in the balance. Unfortunately it would be unwise to use all of my annual leave on the noble pursuit of watching cricket and Babestation, so it will be the weekend before I can spend any more quality time with Hussain, Atherton and Botham.
Or any other former England captains.
No comments:
Post a Comment