Ashes 2017-18: Smith Three, Root Nil

When Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow were stroking the ball to all corners on Thursday afternoon, it genuinely looked like an England reversal of fortunes. 305-4 at stumps became 368, with the Yorkshireman joining his team-mate on three figures. However, once Malan was brilliantly caught by the sub fielder Handscomb, the walls came tumblin’ down. Moeen Ali went three balls later and the next four wickets fell within another eight overs.

Still, it’s not often England make 400 overseas these days, and the Malan-Bairstow partnership of 237 had somewhat incredibly broken the national record for the WACA. Good news, yes? Then you realise that this is Perth. In a recent Sheffield Shield contest, Western Australia had amassed more than five hundred and still lost! There was still a lot of hard work to do. Getting Steve Smith out would be a good start.

Oh, dear. Overton’s early strikes produced a smidgen of optimism but once Steve Smith put down his roots, normal service was resumed. Day three saw the Aussies pile on 346 runs with Shaun Marsh’s wicket the only loss. His brother Mitchell proceeded to hit his first Test century at long last, while the skipper cut, pulled, flicked and drove impeccably to a career-best 239. Even when Smith was adjudged LBW to Anderson after a review, the eighth and ninth wickets added more than 100 before a declaration at 662-9. From such early promise, England now faced a day and a half to bat and save not only the match but the entire series.

That was never going to happen, especially when the out-of-sorts Alastair Cook gave Josh Hazlewood a leading edge caught-and-bowled for just 14. Vince and Malan managed to make fifties but nobody else passed 22 as the procession duly unfolded. A mysterious wet patch on the wicket almost succeeded in wiping out the final day’s play (which member of the England squad sneaked out to the middle with a hose under cover of night?) but Hazlewood, Cummins and Lyon managed to finish things off with minimum fuss.

I confess I hadn’t foreseen such a one-sided set of results, although there could yet be compensatory victories at Melbourne or Sydney. It would seem that, given no obvious superiority on paper, the planets were perfectly aligned for the Aussies. The Aussie bowling quartet have performed admirably, the quicks knowing when to bowl short, especially to the England tail, and Nathan Lyon’s spin option making Moeen look the part-time county twirler he was only a few years ago.

Pre-series, much was made of the battle between the world’s best Test batsmen, and opposing captains, Smith and Root. Well, there has been only one winner in that contest. Oddly, it has been the Ashes new boys who have been largely free from criticism. Stoneman, Malan, Vince and Overton have all contributed with a measure of consistency. However, Root, Cook, Broad and Moeen have so far failed to find any kind of form when it mattered. Mind you, take out Steve Smith’s 426 runs and the home team’s batting hasn’t been electric either.

While he and the squad can now celebrate Christmas with the urn already in the bag, what can Strauss and the coaching team do to prevent a whitewash? Well, you can’t expect the England fast bowlers to suddenly fire in 90mph bouncers with any regularity. The only Englishmen capable of doing so are either injured, too raw, too focussed on T20 riches or have had such strengths eliminated by coaches placing more emphasis on swing and control. It is also a bit much to expect things to improve as a result of the tail practising more against the short ball; the top order need to produce most of the runs. Cook and Root will surely come good before the series ends next month. There are no better openers waiting in the wings, either at home or in the Lions. It's also nothing to do with Ben Stokes' absence, Bairstow's butting or Duckett's water throwing. They are minor distractions, surely more in the minds of the media than the players.

The Ashes have been lost, so perhaps a little experimentation might be attempted. On the other hand, a more productive option might be to focus on existing strengths, hope for a bit more luck and prepare to win the trophy back on familiar slow pitches. I don’t have the answers. However, congratulations to the Aussies and we should sit back and admire Steve Smith’s superb batting and three fast bowlers close to the top of their game.

Aussies Back with a Vengeance at Lord's

After England’s triumph at Cardiff, I was expecting a bit more fight from the Aussies at Lord’s, but surely nothing as emphatic as what Michael Clarke’s men delivered this week. The First Test result had a lot to do with crushing the confidence of Mitchell Johnson, first by providing a wicket to neutralise sheer pace and second by the partisan crowd goading him on the boundary whenever possible.

I’m no expert on the art and science of the groundsman’s skills but the match proved simply to be a one-sided affair where the Australian batsmen dominated the English bowlers, and their seamers routed the home batsmen, especially in the second innings.

Chris Rogers’ recent record-equalling run of Test fifties and Steve Smith’s fabulous couple of years weren’t mere accidents, and their 284-run second-wicket partnership sucked the life out of Anderson and co, with both achieving their highest scores so far in Test cricket. If the 37 year-old opener can aggregate more than 200 runs with a bad head, what could he have produce when in full health? Meanwhile, Smith seemed to be toying with the England attack in the manner of Viv Richards in his pomp!

Australia’s first four wickets posted 426, England’s a mere 30. At least Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes produced a resilient stand of 145 to keep things interesting. Nevertheless, Clarke showed shrewd determination by not enforcing the follow-on, allowing Rogers and Smith (again) and a grateful David Warner to rub Cook’s nose in the guano. It obviously worked because the England second innings didn’t even last two sessions, let alone the five needed to survive the match.

Steve Smith deservedly won the Man of the Match award but credit should also be shared amongst the five main bowlers. Josh Hazelwood and Johnson claimed eleven wickets between them, more than the entire England attack. Starc, Lyon and Mitchell Marsh – recalled in place of Shane Watson - also weighed in with handy performances. Johnson’s run out of Stokes on the last afternoon added to the humiliation. Stuart Broad’s jaunty ‘nothing to lose’ knock of 25 proved to be the top score in England’s second innings, more than Lyth and Bell managed between them in both attempts.

Australia have rarely enjoyed a margin of victory as wide as the 405 runs at Lord’s. Only Graham Gooch (against India) has produced a superior aggregate to Steve Smith’s in a Test at the same ground. Jimmy Anderson’s match analysis of 0-137 must be amongst his worst. It all amounts to a miserable four days for Bayliss, Cook et al; a severe reality check after the recent buoyant mood amidst the soaring strike rates.

So what now for Edgbaston? Obviously England will be down and the opponents in great spirits but it’s still 1-1 with three matches to go. Will England make changes? Ian Bell’s persistent failure to get past one must be making him vulnerable, although he must fancy his chances of rediscovering old magic on his home turf. The Yorkshire trio of Lyth, Root and Ballance had a disappointing match but could yet be joined by county colleague Jonny Bairstow next week given his scintillating form in the Championship. James Taylor’s huge innings for Notts puts him in the frame but he has lacked the consistency needed to displace the middle order incumbents.

Amongst the bowlers, the selectors must have been looking at Derbyshire’s Mark Footitt. For all his left-arm seam credentials and plentiful wickets, I can’t see any of the four playing at Lord’s making way for a man plying his trade – however successfully - in Division Two for one of the least fashionable counties. Even without changes, it will make for an interesting contest.

Australia and India win the first big battles

The ICC schedulers ensured that the 2015 World Cup was guaranteed an interested audience right from the off. All the big guns have opened their accounts, and results have arguably gone with expectations, although none of the matches have produced an exciting finale.

The New Zealand-Sri Lanka opener was perhaps the hardest to predict, but Brendon McCullum's destructive innings and Corey Anderson's 75 off 46 to ridicule the death bowling reputations of Malinga and Kulasekera got the Black Cap off to a blistering start in Pool A. Across the sea at the MCG, fellow hosts Australia demolished the old enemy in considerable style.

Still no Michael Clarke so George Bailey skippered the side whose only failure was to win the toss. Aaron Finch became the first centurion of the tournament with 135, then Glenn Maxwell and Brad Haddin gave the England pacemen a late mauling before Steve Finn's end-of-innings hat-trick lent the fielding side a spurious air of confidence. Eoin Morgan's men had after all conceded 342 runs and were about to see Starc, Hazelwood and Johnson unleashed upon Moeen Ali and Ian Bell. In the end, it was Mitchell Marsh's medium pace which did the damage, together with a few superb catches, leaving England's final partnership of James Taylor and Jimmy Anderson 13 overs in which to knock off 150-odd runs.

A shame the match ended in controversy after the umpires came unstuck over an lbw decision which turned into a run-out. Taylor may feel aggrieved that the mistake deprived him of a likely debut ODI century, but England were never going to win the match. Morgan's position looks perilous after notching his fourth duck in five innings. However, England can hardly sack him mid-tournament,and he will get his chance of making runs against Scotland, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the coming weeks. Quarter-final qualification should be assured. Failure to progress may leave selectors no choice but to replace him with, in my humble opinion, either Root or Taylor.

Earlier today at Hamilton, Zimbabwe handed South Africa an early scare dismissing the top four for only 83 after barely 20 overs. However, the Proteas bat deep, and this merely spurred David Miller and JP Duminy into thrashing a world fifth wicket ODI stand of 256. Elton Chigumbura's team were certainly not overawed by Steyn and Morkel, but the consistency of Philander and Imran Tahir proved more problematic. Hamilton Masakadz struck a defiant 80 but SA triumphed by 62 runs.

One of the greatest rivalries in international sport is India v Pakistan at cricket, and Adelaide had the pleasure of hosting the latest contest between the pair, with their ever-exuberant hordes of colourfully-attired fans. India came into the competition on the back of some dismal results but Virat Kohli's return to form, some fine stroke play from Dhawan and Raina plus 4-35 from Mohammed Shami were too much for Pakistan. They were bowled out three overs short, every single dismissal a 'caught'.

The West Indies enter the fray tonight, along with Associate hopefuls Ireland and Scotland, with the UAE and Afghanistan in the following few days, but the big four have laid down their gauntlets in style.