CRICKET:THIS ASHES tour has been like no other in living memory. While England have gone on their serene way in Test match preparation, with scarcely a hiccup, the Australians have been floundering with issues of form, fitness, and confidence, each as yet not fully resolved.
Cricket Australia, the governing body, seems to be in turmoil, with a marketing department that appears to be ruling the roost. The chairman of selectors made his initial squad announcement from beneath the railway arches by Circular Quay in Sydney, and latterly, when the squad was reduced, could be interviewed by the luggage carousel at Adelaide airport.
Few players have managed any performances of substance in the state cricket they have played, and two days ago their reserve wicketkeeper Tim Paine, himself pushing strongly for a Test spot, broke a finger playing in a hit-and-giggle promotional Twenty20 match at The Gabba, and is out for the duration of the series. It has been calamitous.
But everyone knows that when the teams arrive at The Gabba tonight, none of this, not England’s controlled build-up or Australia’s flapping, will count for a hill of beans. In Australia, there is no such thing as an uncompetitive Australian cricket team. At The Gabba, that charmless, characterless concrete bowl, with its dressingroom bunkers, they have been nigh on invincible.
In order then to win the series, or even draw it, England need to overturn history for unless the weather interferes in its tropical intensity, The Gabba does not do draws.
Crucial to the game is the pitch. A recent Shield match and a one-day international appeared to indicate the possibility of a capricious surface. But those games were following unseasonably heavy rain which hampered pitch preparation. In the past few weeks the heavy rain has been replaced by afternoon showers only, which enables proper preparation.
This promises to be a typical Gabba Test surface, with good pace and carry, some help for the seamers early on, but settling down thereafter. Later, as Shane Warne’s record here would suggest, it can help spin. The toss, of course, will be a big factor, although there appears to be one rule for Australians and another for the opposition. Not since 1985, when New Zealand were here, has a visiting side put Australia in and won. Since then, of 11 winning tosses, the visitors have fielded first on nine occasions without further success.
Against this, Australia have won 13 tosses and batted first on seven of them. Since his blunder at Edgbaston in 2005, Ricky Ponting has always batted when winning the toss, whatever the circumstance: at Headingley this year, against Pakistan he did so and the side were bowled out for 82. It is fundamental to England’s strategy that they create scoreboard pressure with first-innings runs, so it would be astounding, given the reasonable weather forecast, if given the opportunity, they did anything other than bat first.
The biggest stumbling block that England may come across is the Australia captain himself, a driven man and supreme batsman, but one on the brink of becoming only the third captain of his country to lose three Ashes series.
Of late, Ponting has had a lean time with the bat, but he excels at The Gabba averaging more than 66, with four hundreds (two against England) against a career average of almost 55. There is a massive burden on him, however, and it will be a huge test for him should he not get support from the rest of the Australian batting.
Conversely how will they cope in the unlikely event that Ponting has a bad series? England’s bowling is key. All four bowlers, with Test experience in Australia limited to Jimmy Anderson alone, will take on a heavy workload.
They will be well drilled in the lengths and lines to bowl (which fundamentally means a fullish length to encourage taking the edge, with a preparedness to be driven down the ground) and now have only to carry out their plans.
The performance of Anderson, one of the most improved bowlers in world cricket, will set the standard. If he swings the new ball he can be devastating. But Graeme Swann will have a crucial role, too.
Doug Bollinger’s lack of match fitness means Australia will field only the single left-arm paceman to create rough for him to exploit outside the right-hander’s off-stump. However, the fact that Australia recognise his threat and will attempt to get after him, may play into his hands for he is too canny to be belted out of the attack.
The possible absence of Michael Clarke, the most adept Australian against spin, will just make it more difficult. On a seamers’ pitch Swann can still play a part. He will benefit too from the extra bounce and the use, for the first time in an Ashes series here, of the Umpire Decision Review System. So too will the batsmen. Last time, England felt strongly that they were on the receiving end of too many bad decisions. There will be fewer excuses this time.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
AUSTRALIA (probable): Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle.
ENGLAND (probable): Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn.
