So Australia and England continued in the first ODI where they left off in the Ashes series - a comfortable victory for the home side.
Alastair Cook couldn't even blame bad luck with the toss. He elected to bat first and immediately ran into trouble, lasting only four balls. Joe Root fared even worse, scratching around for only three runs in 23 deliveries. Ian Bell and Gary Ballance steadied the ship while Eoin Morgan posted a typically smooth half-century, Bopara and Stokes provided useful cameos and Jos Buttler some end-of-innings biffs to close on 269-7. In the past, that would have been a challenging target at the MCG but not so much in 2014.
The Aussie openers Aaron Finch and David Warner shared an opening stand of 163 in just over half the allotted time and the damage was done. Finch completed his second ODI century, Michael Clarke made a run-a-ball 43 and Baileyand Maxwell saw them home with more than four overs to spare.
So what doe this tell us about the two sides? For Australia, the national confidence is overflowing. Shane Watson may have failed yesterday but the T20 specialists Finch and Warner coped with anything Rankin, Jordan, Stokes, Bresnan et al could bowl at them. On the other hand, Clint McKay was the best bowler on show, and Clarke didn't really need his Test stars like Johnson, Siddle and Harris, although the latter was never going to be considered for this series; probably wrapped up in cotton wool in readiness for the South Africa tour.
It has been mentioned that these one-dayers are serving as a chance for some England players to showcase their Test credentials. Well, I can't see that myself. Eoin Morgan's skill as a late-innings strokeplayer and field manipulator is well-known. But so is his reluctance to play first-class cricket and learn how to bat more patiently when the need arises, essential for Test cricket. Ravi Bopara was one of the world's leading run-scorers in List A last year and, with his medium-pacers and T20 expertise, is a familiar name on the global T20 scene. Ben Stokes will undoubtedly figure in England's summer Tests, as will, I hope, Ballance and Root. Jonny Bairstow's failure to seize the day in Sydney has left the door ajar for Jos Buttler. However, the ex-Somerset 'keeper needs to do a lot more than slog some boundaries to be on the Test selectors' radar.
As for the bowlers, neither Rankin, Jordan nor Bresnan helped their cause in this latest trial by Oz. Is it still the case of a shell-shocked England, Kevin Pietersen screwing up the dressing room, strategic shambles from Flower or do we need to recognise Australia's resurgence as a major power in the international game? On the KP issue, Cook's resolute dead bat in the press conference betrayed obvious signs that the rumours of a major rift over the once-talismanic batsman were correct. As I've said before, if KP cannot commit to the team ethic, he should not be picked for England. End of. Not that he should be the scapegoat for the Ashes debacle, either. If anything , KP is more valuable to England in the shorter format, as a year's World Cup rehearsals begin to take shape.
I've always asserted that a top-class cricketer, be they Cook, Bell or Anderson, Clarke, Haddin or Johnson, should play in any format. Nevertheless, the cluttered calendar is making that harder and harder to achieve. International T20 line-ups are almost unrecognisable from the Test Elevens. Some twenty-over specialists are crossing over into fifty-over cricket with some success. However, even Aaron Finch has a first-class batting average below 30 which probably wouldnt get him into a English county XI. George Bailey has at least served his Sheffield Shield dues.
If T20 was a valid breeding ground for Test performers, India and Sri Lanka would be miles ahead in the Test rankings, but they aren't. For players to succeed in Test cricket on an consistent basis, they need plenty of exposure to the demands of first-class cricket. For a batsman, that means excellent shot selection and knowing when to leave the ball alone or take evasive action instead of risking a hoik to mid-wicket. For a bowler, it means knowing when to contain (permanenetly in T20!) and when to attack, bowling 20-odd overs a day.
If England are to assess the next crop of Test batsmen, then forget the 50-over stuff; focus on the County Championship and stop abandoning Compton and Taylor at the first sign of weakness. Where England have been unforgiveable is the way that promising fast bowlers are converted by the coaches into mediocre fast-mediums who can't even run to the crease without hitting the wicket and conceding no-balls. The Lions need to play proper cricket not one-day tours, and bowlers should return with vital experience of different conditions, not career-threatening injuries. Let the ODIs provide the shop window for World Cup hopefuls and domestic cricket, particularly in Division One, allow players to score runs, take wickets and develop proper match fitness. That means the ECB working better with the counties and, furthermore, giving up any idea of selecting IPL players for summer Tests.
