THERE has been quite a bit of reporting, a lot of it misleading, about my demand for accountability from Australia’s chairman of selectors, Rod Marsh.
In particular, I want to reiterate what I have said about the omission of Peter Siddle at Trent Bridge and his subsequent selection at The Oval. I and many others were certain that he was the right man to play at Nottingham. That’s not hindsight. Unfortunately, Josh Hazlewood’s control had deserted him in the previous Tests. Peter would have provided that control which, to no one’s surprise, he has exerted at The Oval.
Once the Ashes were lost, however, I, like many, backed the inclusion of Pat Cummins at Siddle’s expense for the dead rubber. Contrary to what people have claimed, I have been backing Siddle not bagging him but the logic of Australia’s position — with a tour to Bangladesh coming up and the presence in the squad of a talented young quick who has barely been given a chance on tour — pointed to Cummins playing.
On a more general note, I cannot believe how easily the batting of both teams has folded once they have gone a bit behind in the game. That each side’s top order had its vulnerabilities was no secret. Yet neither side found a way to hang in through the tough times.
In all my Ashes series , which Australia mostly dominated, England always fought back and made us work for our victories. Seldom has a team fought back once it has gone behind early in the piece in this series.
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Were the pitches to blame? Certainly, the track at Trent Bridge was too heavily stacked in the bowlers’ favour. As a former bowler, I have long been urging for the balance to be shifted more to their side. Opposing teams racking up scores of 500 or more rarely make for interesting or entertaining cricket. Unfortunately, neither do two- or three-day Tests. What we all want is a fair contest between bat and ball.
I don’t want to detract from some of the excellent bowling, but too often poor batting technique and mental shortcomings have been to blame.
I keep on saying it, but it doesn’t seem to sink in so I will say it again: stay patient and focused during the difficult stages, make the bowler bowl to you and pick up quick singles to keep the scoreboard ticking over and rotate the strike. Neither side did any of these on a consistent basis.
If they had, think how things might have turned out if Australia had been able to bat for a day on the Saturday at Cardiff. The rain was waiting to save them on the Sunday and they would have got away with a draw. Some more disciplined batting on Friday and yesterday would have enhanced England’s chances of taking this Test into this afternoon, when rain might rescue them.
Enough of the griping. Let me heap some praise on a fellow twirler. This will probably sound like one spinner looking out for another, but I can’t speak too highly of Nathan Lyon. We’ve seen in this Test how effective he can be when he has a dry wicket and Australia have runs on the board. He is my unsung hero.
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For England, Adam Lyth must have played his last Test for the moment. I feel for him and am sure he will be back. Alex Hales will surely be included instead in the squad to play Pakistan in the UAE. Yet the idea of moving Moeen Ali up to open must be growing in the selectors’ minds, especially since it would make it easier to get Adil Rashid in the starting XI.
I have spent the past day thinking about who would make my composite Ashes team and it has not been easy because the quality in some positions has been so variable. I have selected players from the position they have gone in for their country. Here it is: Warner, Rogers, Smith, Root (c), Voges, Stokes, Nevill, Johnson, Broad, Anderson, Lyon.
It seems quirky to have seven Aussies and four Englishmen. But it’s been one of those series. Just look at some of the stats: only one England batsman has scored a century; in the averages, Australia have three of the top four batsmen and four of the top five bowlers. Those figures might have looked even more unbalanced if Australia had given Joe Root more of a peppering earlier in the series.
There’s one man whom I am certain would have made it in if he had been fit and that’s Ryan Harris. In the first column I wrote on July 5, I said that his loss was a bitter blow for Australia. How true does that look now.
My man of the series is Stuart Broad, who was magnificent throughout. He also takes the best spell award for that first morning at Trent Bridge. The catch of the series has to go to Ben Stokes for the one that dismissed Adam Voges in that crazy passage of play. Root’s century in that Test was the best innings. The biggest disappointment has probably been Hazlewood. Yet Josh will have learnt a lot and be a better player for the experience of this tour.