Australia proceed steadily towards victory, despite Cook's resistance: T5D3

England 149 (48.4ov, Moeen Ali 30, Wood 24, Cook 22, Johnson 8.4-4-21-3, M Marsh 9-2-30-3, Siddle 2/32, Lyon 2/40) & 6/203 (79ov, Cook 85/234b/11x4, Buttler 33*/80b/3x4, Lyon 2/52, Siddle 16-10-14-1, Smith 1-0-7-1, Marsh 1/28, Johnson 1/51) need 129 more runs to avoid an innings defeat: T5/5 D3/5 at The Oval.

Once England's tail had wagged a little more and Mitchell Johnson had removed the principal waggers Moeen Ali and Mark Wood, Michael Clarke went against his previous practice and relied on his commonsense to enforce the follow on.

England, or more specifically Alistair Cook, made a better fist of things at the second attempt. But Cook's dismissal, caught at short leg off Steven Smith in the closing minutes of the day's play, must surely have, barring very heavy rain, sealed their fate, but not of course their recovery of the Ashes.

Cook's judicious strokeplay and exemplary (until that mistake) contrasted with the lack thereof of most of his teammates. A few of them played one or two good strokes, but none of the top order came close to matching Cook. Only Jos Buttler (who isn't, on his form thus far in the series a bona fide top order batter) managed to survive against the unrelenting Australian attack, in which Peter Siddle's economy was the highlight for me. I didn't think he was up to it, but am happy to acknowledge my error of judgment, unlike Shane Warne who on TV has continued to pooh-pooh him as a medium pacer. Some medium pacer, say I.

If all goes to plan the Test should finish on day 4. Even if things don't work out quite as Australia hope they have a considerable margin of safety in terms of runs and, maybe, time. The major threat is rain, which is forecast,as  I understand, for each of the last two days, though not for the entire days's play. Australia should win this one from here, but if England manage to hang on for a draw it won't be the first time that English weather has spoilt proceedings. Let's wait and see.


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Better too late than never in this Ashes series as Warner & Rogers lay foundation for Smith: T5D1

Australia 3/287 (79.4ov, Warner 85/131b/11x4, Smith 78*/132b/1x6 9x4, Voges 47*/87/8x4, Rogers 43/100b/7x4) v England T5/5 D1/5 at The Oval, London. England won toss and sent Australia in to bat. England: unchanged; Australia: M Marsh, Siddle in, S Marsh, Hazlewood out.

David Warner and Chris Rogers hung on grittily until lunch against some sharp England bowling, especially (again) that of Stuart Broad who began with a 5-3-4-0 (initially 4-3-1-0) spell which tested the pair's judgment and resolve, but failed to part them.

0/82 at lunch in English conditions was English Test cricket at its best, and  not only because the openers had responded so well. I exhaled a sigh of relief as the players walked off, relieved that Australia hadn't imploded once more, but well aware that its brittle middle order needed, unless the Warner-Rogers stand went on and on, to show more than they'd done in most of tis series.

Well, it did (Michael Clarke's 15 excepted). After Rogers, and then Warner, fell Steve Smith stepped in, and up. He had his scratchy moments (and I'm not referring to his restlessness before facing the bowling) but he persevered and in time, as he got his eye in and took the measure of the home attack, flourished' leaving Australia, at the end of a day curtailed by bad light, comfortably placed to at least save the Test (which no Australian supporter would wish for) on with what looks (perhaps through rose tinted spectacles0 a half decent chance of winning the dead rubber.

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Something to play for in Clarke's last Test?

There seems to have been little enthusiasm among Australian supporters for the Fifth Test : get it over and done with is the impression I've gained.

A rain interrupted draw against a modestly credentialled Northamptonshire (who were boosted by a ton from a former S Aust U19 player) at least provided a breathing space -as was the rule rather than the exception in the old days - for the two national sides. It also showed Patrick Cummins's (remember him?) potential with bat (82* to lead a much needed lower order revival) and ball. It has also given him a place in the XI for the march which will begin shortly, replacing Josh Hazlewood, and why not say I.

I'd prefer to see a get over it mentality to take over, accompanied by a full blown attack upon England, who must be more than satisfied with their efforts to date. 

And of course it's Michael Clarke's farewell. He has adopted a more positive attitude than most towards this occasion, yet has continued to emphasise the impact of his batting failures upon his team's performances. He has some point, but there are other matters needing attention. 

A seaming pitch has been promised, so is another short Test looming? We shall see, but in any event hope that Australia put up a better fight than they've done everywhere except at Lord's. 

Broad 8/15 scythes through Australia - all out 60 before lunch- then Root 124* confirms England dominance:T4 D1 to

England 4/274 (65ov, Root 124*/158b/1x6 19x4, Bairstow 74/105b/12x4, Cook 43, Starc 3/73) lead Australia 60 (18.3ov, Extras 14, Johnson 13, Broad 9.3-5-15-8) by 214 with 6 !st inns wkts in hand: T4/5 D1/5 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Toss: England, who sent Australia in.  England XI: Wood in for Anderson (injured); Australia XI{  S Marsh replaced M Marsh.

Stuart Broad bowled magnificently, inducing an appalling, if not entirely inexplicable, batting collapse before lunch. Australia's embarrassing 60 all out, apart from all the records it broke, has effectively allowed England to win the Test and thereby reclaim the Ashes.

If there were any doubts about this they were dispelled by Alistair Cook and Joe Root who took England into the lead after two early wickets fell, and then Root and Johnny Bairstow's  173 run 4th wicket stand.  This also exposed the limitations of the four man frontline bowling attack, which in turn questioned the competence of the selectors. In my opinion Adam Voges should have been replaced by Shaun Marsh, leaving Mitchell Marsh in the eleven (unless the selectors followed my wilder thoughts and restored Shane Watson, or Brad Haddin, or even Peter Siddle)

England had the better of the conditions- overcast at the outset turning to intermittent sunshine in the afternoon-  but this does little if anything to excuse Australia's technical deficiencies. It is one thing to look to bat aggressively but it is folly, as so many,perhaps all, Australians did, to fail to tailor your responses to the conditions by, for example, not going so hard at the ball as you would do on your
home pitches.

Magnificent as Broad's bowling was, his team supported him well. Mark Wood had David Warner caught behind in his first over after Broad had removed Rogers and Steve Smith in his first. 3/10 was only marginally better than Australia's 3/2 at the start of the 2010 Adelaide Test, but on this occasion was no recovery.

And England's fielding was superlative, Ben Stokes took the catch of the series when he caught Adam Voges in the slip cordon - watch it on TV or YouTube where it will surely be replayed many times.  My favourite was Alistair Cook's Aussie Rules style mark to remove Michael Clarke wafting outside off stump for an undistinguished 10 - the third highest individual contribution' after extras 14 and Mitchell Johnson's 13.

I watched England overtake Australia's paltry offering in the English afternoon but slept soundly through, and beyond, the last session. No nightmares during my slumbers: I'd already had them in real time via my TV screen.


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England, as expected, win convincingly to take 2-1 lead: T3 D3

England 281 & 2/124 (32.1ov, Bell 65*/90b/10x4, Root 38*) beat Australia 136 & 265 (79.1ov, Warner 77, Nevill 59/147b/7x4, Starc 58/108b/1x6 6x4, Finn 21-3-79-6) by 8 wkts; T3/5 D3/5 at Edgbaston. England lead Ashes series 2-1. Player of the match: Steven Finn.

It was inevitable, given the match situation at the start of play, that England would win. It was small comfort to Australia that they made England wait two sessions to claim victory. The greater part of that comfort came form the lower order batting, not the bowling, as Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc showed more resistance than those ahead of them in the order.

When England began its modest run chase most Australian supporters would have wished for a tight contest. There was a sniff of that when both openers fell, but Ian Bell, tasking advantage of a letoff in the slips, struck out again and saw them home.

Jimmy Anderson will miss the next Test, and perhaps the rest of the series. For all the talk about his record, and properly acknowledging his great bowling the first innings of this match, I believe that Stuart Broad has been the most consistent threat across the three Tests to date.

And Australia? Adam Voges should be replaced, and perhaps one or two others - but not Michael Clarke who I believe is a class batter, despite his bodily infirmities (about which there has been surprisingly little media comment). Remember the saying: form is temporary, class is permanent.

Scorecard

Australia narrowly avoid defeat in two days...but still face big loss: T3D2

Australia 136 & 7/168 (55ov, Warner 77/62b/11x4, Nevill 37*, Finn 13-3-45-5) lead England 281 (67.1ov, Root 63/75b/1x6 9x4, Moeen Ali 59/78b/11x4, Bell 53, Cook 34, Broad 31, Lyon 3/36, Hazlewood 3/74, Johnson 2/66, Starc 2/71) by 23 runs with 3 2inns wkts in hand: T3,5 D2/5 at Edgbaston.

When Mitchell Johnson removed Johnny Bairstow and Ben Stokes in the space of three balls, England were 5/142, a lead of only 9. But that turned out to be the high water mark of Australia's day as the bowlers were unable to confine England to a total around 200-220 which the seam bowler friendly conditions (albeit with more sunshine) seemed to the experts and me to be both desirable and achievable.

But it was not to be. Joe Root took his score to 63, Jos Buttler went cheaply before Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad, the latter looking more comfortable with the bat rhan he'd done for some time, added 87 for the 8th wicket: no record (as far as I know) but very significant in the context of this Test.

Australia batted again, Chris Rogers fell cheaply but David /Warner played his natural game and raised hopes ( or wishful thoughts) that he might lead the team to set a target which would challenge England batting last.

But this wasn't to be either.  Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (a real worry this), Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh compiled 17 runs between them as Steven Finn, who was deemed unselectable during England's last tour here (18 months ago), cleaned them all up: 5/92. When Warner fell to Jimmy Anderson, who later walked off injured, Austrslia were 6/111. Peter Nevill marshalled the tail, and has taken the Test into a third day, but a likely short day ending in a heavy Australian defeat and a 1-2 series deficit.

Tonight I will grit my teeth, pour myself a glass of red, and watch England complete a well deserved victory. This doesn't mean that I believe that the Ashes will change hands, especially given the roller coaster nature of the first three Tests ( not dissimilar to the three Test series in Soiuth Africa last year. But then we had Ryan Harris. But now England may not have Anderson. Enough wishful thinking for now!



;Scorecard

Rogers and Smith centuries put Australia in front on flat Lord's pitch: T2 D1

Australia 1/337 (90ov, Rogers 158*/282b/25x4, Smith 129*/217b/1x6 13x4) vEngland; T2/5 D1/5 at Lord,s. Toss: Australia. 

Winning the toss gave Australia, who brought in Mitchell Marsh and Peter Nevill for Shane Watson (as expected dropped) and Brad Haddin (personal reasons) the considerable advantage of first use of a flat Lord's pitch. Chris Rogers and Steve Smith, coming together after David Warner was dismssed for what now looks a trifling though quickfire 38, have added 259 for the 2nd wicket . They gave few chances (fewer, I thought,  than were in the eyes of some beholders/commentators) and with their judiciously aggressive strokeplay capitalised on the blandness of pitch to reduce the England attack to near impotence.

Much of the quick scoring came at the beginning of the innings and during the last session. In between England, whose bowlers lacked the edge and some of the accuracy they'd showed at Cardiff, opted for a wide of off stump line in the hope of induced some errors. The scorecard shows that this strategy didn't work.

The pitch has been rightly criticised for its flatness. Whether it is sufficiently flat to condemn the Test to a draw is too early to say. Australia have a good numbers of runs on the board at the moment, but they will need to add many more to give them the scoreboard pressure which might assist their bowlers to dismiss England twice. Just over a month ago New Zealand lost to England at Lord's after a first innings of 523.

For all the assistance offered by the pitch both Rogers, on his English home ground, and Smith batted extremely well.

Observations on the eve (or morning if you're in England) of the second 2015 Ashes Test

On the eve of Ashes T2 the usual situation- England wobbly, Australia confident - has been reversed by the Cardiff result  which was a fair reflection of the gulf between the teams.

Since then Australia have gone into something close  to panic mode and flagged  two changes in advance: Brad Haddin omitted for"personal reasons" and Shane Watson (probably) dropped. Whether Mitchell Starc will take the field is uncertain, though if you listen to the positive noises coming from the Australian team and its media support group (as well as observing Peter Siddle's making positive sounding comments but with a glum, disappointed face on a media interview recently), you'd be inclined to think that Starc will play.

In all of this I seem to be the only person suggesting that Adam Voges's  position should be in doubt. Yes, he did well in the West Indies, but it was against weak opposition: weaker, due to injury, than the team which performed well against England just before Australia'sTests.

If Voges was omitted for Mitchell Marsh this would give Shane Watson, whose modest performances at Cardiff were less modest in batting aggregate than some of his teammates, another chance. The downside to all this is that the umpires are well aware of Watson's susceptibility to lbw, so they will be all too ready to adjudge him out ( as happened in T 1), expect  a review which will possibly confirm an "umpire's call", which will probably only confirm the official's decision even if replays show the ball scraping leg stump. In effect Watson is being required to bat with 4 (or more) stumps. Yes, he's not come to terms with this weakness (nor it seems have any of the coaching been able to offer constructive guidance), but for all his exasperatingly failures, he has made some runs.

Brad Haddin has found it hard to bear the cross of dropping Joe Root on 0, and hasn't for some time rediscovered the batting touch which helped Australia so much in the 2013-14 Ashes. So it's probably right for him to sit out T2, but he shouldn't have to end his career by being dropped (only a fool would believe the "personal reasons" justifications which have been trotted out).

England? Unchanged  XI perhaps?

Here's an interesting piece on the series from a US perspective.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/sports/cricket/englands-risky-approach-is-paying-off-at-the-ashes.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

England surge to comprehensive win over Australia with day to spare : T1D4

England 430 & 289 beat Australia 308 & 242 (70.3ov, Johnson 77/94b/2x6 9x4, Warner 52/86b/1x6 6x4, Smith 33, Broad 14-3-39-3, Moeen Ali 16.3-4-59-3, Root2/28, Wood 2/53) by 169 runs T1/5 D4/5 at Cardiff> England lead series 1-0. Player of match: J Root

Australia made a pretty good fist of chasing the improbable until on the cusp of lunch David Warner, who had looked to have negotiated the best Stuart Broad could deliver to him - and there were some beauties in his opening spell - was lbw to Moeen Ali, who Alistair Cook had restored to the attack after his first two overs had gone for 22. 2/97 became 3/101, then in short order 4/106, 5/106 and 6/122. Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson kept a candle of hope flickering before Watson, as many  expected, was lbw (to Mark Wood for 19): 7/151. With all due respect to Johnson, who reminded us that he possesses considerable batting talent, it was all over bar some slogging. England cruised to a comfortable victory, and thus a 1-0 series lead, with a day to spare. Broad bowled magnificently.

England showed many of the qualities that are often associated with Australia (and which the latter's supporters would have hoped to see demonstrated more often in this match). The scorecard reveals a lot about the weakness of Australia's middle order batting, the pitch maps about the prodigality of the quick bowling, and TV replays the susceptibility of Watson to lbws (and his propensity to review such decisions) not to mention Brad Haddin's major blunder behind the stumps (and some other less costly fumbles).

It looks as if Mitchell Starc, Australia's best bowler (of a moderate lot) in this match, will miss the Lord's Test starting in 4 days because of injury. It is widely assumed that Peter Siddle will replace him. In my opinion Siddle is Hobson's choice, as Pat Cummins hasn't had much red ball bowling for some time. I also fear that Siddle has passed his peak: he last appeared in a Test here v India and only took two tailender wickets. Isn't there another young Australian quick bowler without a history of injury and with experience of English conditions  who can be drafted into the squad? If not, why not?

As for the batting and wicketkeeping, I need to think about them for a day or so. Watch this space....

Well done, England!


Scorecard

Ashes 2015 begin with Root, Ballance and Stokes leading England fightback

England 7/343 (88ov, Root 134/166b/17x4, Ballance 61/149b/8x4, Stokes 52/78b/2x6 6x4, Starc 3/84, Hazlewood 3/70) v Australia T1/5 D1/5 at Cardiff. Toss: England.

Once play got under way, after a brief drizzle and a lengthy opening ceremony strongly padded with Welsh windbaggery, England initially faltered to 3/46, then Joe Root, dropped before he'd scored, led a counterattack which, despite Australia's bowling regrouping later in the day, left his team with the better of the day's play.

Not much better perhaps, but enough to keep the spotlight on the successes of Root, Gary Ballance and Ben Stokes as well as on Brad Haddin's failure to catch Root - a little more than a regulation catch yet considerably less than a difficult one. This allowed Alistair Cook's modest and Ian Bell's poor efforts with the bat to avoid much scrutiny.

Root deserves abundant praise for his innings, not just its total but also its quality. His driving along the ground was as crisp and well timed as I've seen for a long time: worth stating awake to watch (pity Channel 9 aren't showing Foxtel - or any- type highlights at a more congenial hour).

Australia's attack was a mixed bag. Mitchell Starc was at times brilliant, at other times all over the place; Mitchell Johnson was out of sorts; Josh Hazlewood was steady with occasional nip (as when he had Adam Lyth sharply caught in the gully); while Nathan Lyon, after being brought on early and dismissing Cook ( a good catch by Haddin) didn't do much thereafter.

From my armchair the two Mitchells looked inaccurate, too often bowling wide of the off stump mark. Glenn McGrath on the radio cut Johnson some slack, on the grounds that the Cardiff pitch didn't suit him. I'll defer to the great man's opinion though would be less confident about the accuracy of his prediction that (unspecified) pitches later in the series will be more to MJ's liking. If they haven't already done so after hearing this England officials will be issuing instructions to the pitch preparation people at each of the other four Test venues.

 The pitch looks OK by UK Test standards for the moment, but could be trickier later in the Test. Australia will, unless they collapse abysmally in their first innings, have last use of it,which should motivate everyone in the eleven to think about how they can improve on their D1 performance and at least keep in touch with England (read as first innings lead) when they bat.

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Random thoughts on the eve of the 2015 Ashes

My heart hopes and my head believes that Australia will retain the Ashes. (I was about to predict that Austrslia will win the series, but won't go that far... just yet.)

Australia are on a roll, having just beaten the West Indies 2-0 whereas England could only manage 1-1 (+ a draw) against the same team earlier this year..

Ryan Harris's retirement will affect Australia considerably: despite recurring imjuries and threat thereof he has been the bone marrow of the attack for the last few years. Mitchell Johnson is mercurially brilliant, while Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood have done a good job in recent Tests.Nathan Lyon has plugged away, yet has often been attacked even though, despite conceding a lot of runs on those occasions, he's not often wilted. At least he looks likelier to take wickets than England.s "bowling allrounder (pull the other one) Moeen Ali.

Michael Clarke is a much more assertive leader than Alistair Cook.

Australia appear to be a much better fielding side than England: this was a major difference between the teams in the last series here.

I could go on, but the start of play on T1D1 is at hand. so I'll adjourn to my fireside and settle in for what I hope will be a good night's cricket.