Johnson reprises Ashes bowling form to rattle South Africa: T1D2

South Africa 6/140 (43.3ov, deVilliers 52*/94b/1x6 4x4, Johnson 13.3-1-51-4) trail Australia 397 (122ov, Marsh 148/288b/15x4, S Smith 100/213b/13x4, Johnson 33, Steyn 29-6-78-4, Peterson 2/49, McLaren 2/72) by 257 with 4 1st inns wkts in hand: T1/3 D2/5 at Centurion.

Another Australia - or Mitchell Johnson - day . South Africa had a good moment or two in the almost empty stadium: one after they'd  worked through the remaining Australia batting, another when they drew breath at the end of a battering day with AB deVilliers still at the crease, and looking good.

In between it was Johnson who ripped the top order asunder with an exhilaratingly (from an Australian perspective) ferocious (from everyone's perspective)  81 balls. Graeme Smith was tied up in knots        ( look for pics/video of his looping catch to slip) while Alviro Petersen, Faf du Plessis - the find of the last Proteas' tour of Australia - and Ryan McLaren looked out of their depth.

Yes, Johnson bowled very well, but Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and ( particularly compared to the South African spinners) Nathan Lyon supported him well. I hope that none of them breaks down (but also that Australia thinks hard about who might be able to bowl a few supporting overs if required by injury or a match situation.

We mustn't forget that Shaun Marsh and  Steve Smith's 233 fifth wicket partnership gave Australia a good foundation for what looks like a probable victory. The wicket is sometimes keeping low, even to Johnson, so circumspection will be order of the day for the remaining batters - of both sides.

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199* Marsh-Smith partnership revives Australia after early wobble: T1D1

Australia 4/197 (90ov, Marsh 122*/132b/12x4, Smith 91*/179b/12x4): T1/3 D1/5 at Centurion.

South Africa won toss and sent Australia in.

The series started well for South Africa, whose pace attack, not unexpectedly given their collective and individual reputations,shone in the first session and a bit before Shaun Marsh and Steve Smith wrested the initiative with a very impressive partnership. Australia are in a good position with runs on the board, wickets in hand,  and Brad Haddin still to bat.

Before the match started Foxtel showed extended highlights of the 2009 SAf - Aust series. What I saw there reinforced my opinion that Phil Hughes should be included in the XI. What I saw live told me that I'd underestimated  Marsh - he showed that he's no yesterday's man. Smith also impressed, but then over the last few Tests he'd shown a lot of evidence of maturing as a Test batter.

Well as Marsh and Smith batted against good pace bowling on a wicket  eased as the day went on, the South African spinners Robin Peterson and J-P Duminy looked ordinary. It will be interesting to see how Nathan Lyon fares when his turn comes.

Question: Why were there so few spectators? 

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Top Test Teams's Tussle about to begin

In a few hours South Africa and Australia will begin another Test series. I and many others believe the three matches will, no matter what the ICC ratings may say, determine the true top Test team in the world.

This has only happened of course because Australia has just walloped  England 5-0 and grabbed back the Ashes. Its record in the 2013 series preceding that- 0-4 away to India and 0-3 in England - hardly suggested a resurgence of Ashes clean sweep proportions. Which makes me wonder whether the Ashes triumph was, if not an aberration, then an exaggerated reflection of the true state of affairs.

And, on the eve of this series, some of the old uncertainties have re- emerged: injuries and perceived deficiencies (read George Bailey) compelling a rethinking of the team structure and selectors preferring their gut feeling ( or Western Australian affiliations) to their stated position that current form trumps all (eg Phil Hughes).

So the Australian XI for T1 will have a different batting look ( even though as I write  it is yet to be announced)  while the bowling attack will probably remain the same as in the Ashes: Johnson, Harris, Siddle and Lyon. Not a bad group, provided they all remain fit.

South Africa may well start favourites: Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel are world class players. But Jacques Kallis - one of the great Test all rounders (even if IMO not as good as Garfield Sobers) - has retired. He is, in the immediate term at least,  irreplaceable by one player.

So, some very interesting questions will be posed shortly and answers, some if not all, provided, weather permitting over the next few days.

 

 

England complete ODI series almost as dismally as Ashes: ODI#5

Australia 9/217 (50ov, Bailey 56/74b/4x4, S Marsh 36, Wade 31, Broad10-2-31-3, Stokes 10-0-43-3, Jordan 2/37) beat England 212 (49.4ov, Root 55/86b/1x6 3x4, Cook 39, Morgan 39, Coulter-Nile 10-1-34-3, McKay 10-1-36-3, Faulkner 2/37) by 5 runs: ODI 5/5 at Adelaide Oval. Australia win series 4-1. Player of series: A Finch, player of match: J Faulkner.

By no means a memorable match, though the close finish offset - to a degree- the many passages in which high quality moments were rare or absent.

Australia posted a modest score on an uncharacteristically slow Adelaide Oval pitch ( not, I hope, an indication of things to come with our drop ins). Then England  moved steadily towards its target, before a late innings freeze saw them yield to disciplined bowling, astute captaincy and good fielding. 

 Ravi Bopara at the end couldn't take England over the line. He came to the crease in the 36th over at 4/154, accumulated 25/44b before being  adjudged, after a drawn out deliberation by the third umpire, to have been stumped by a Matthew Wade fumble. 

9/209: 8 needed from 8 balls and the last pair in. They didn't make it, leaving the 27,000+ crowd  of mostly Australia supporters to go into the warm night and, if they so chose, watch the Australia Day fireworks from the banks of the Torrens.

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Floor wiped: Australia's many good hands make light work of dispirited England in 3 days to take series 5-0: T5 D3

Australia 326 & 276 (61.3ov, Rogers 119/169b/15x4, Bailey 46, Haddin 28, Borthwick 6-0-33-3, Anderson 2/46,Broad 2/57, Stokes 2/62) beat England 155 & 166 (31.4 ov, Carberry 43/63b/8x4, Broad 42/36b/3x6 4x4, Stokes 32, Harris 9.4-4-25-5, Johnson 9-1-40-3, Lyon 2/70) by 281 runs. Australia, having already regained Ashes, win series 5-0. T5/5 D3/5 at SCG.

Australia batted on, in increasingly frivolous mode (Brad Haddin made only 28) , set England an impossible (even without the benefit of hindsight) task and once again their bowlers contributed to another act of self destruction. 

I still find it hard to believe that, especially after the result in England, that the visitors could have gone to pieces, after looking competitive - if only briefly or intermittently - in each Test.

But full credit to Australia, who played as a team (and were unchanged throughout) , even if the top order batting wobbled at times. England's best player was the debutant Ben Stokes. He may be the way ahead, but his steadiness with the ball and pugnacity with the bat showed a thing or three to his teammates.

It was not unexpected but the one sidedness of this match, and the series, was

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Another meltdown leaves England without any wheels left to fall off: T5. D2

Australia 326 & 4/140  (30ov, Rogers 73*/89b/9x4, Anderson 2/30) lead England 155 (58.5ov, Stokes 47, Broad 30*, Siddle 13-4-23-3, Johnson 13.5-3-33-3, Harris 14-5-36-3) by 311 runs with 6 wkts in hand: T5/5 D2/5) at SCG.

This was an embarrassingly one sided day. Alistair Cook was lbw padding up to the second ball of the day: 2/8. Things then went from bad to execrable: 3/14 (night watchman Anderson), 4/17 (Pietersen), 5/23 (Bell) before Ben Stokes marshalled the lower order to increase England's total sixfold against a pace attack at the top of its mental and technical game.

But, Stokes and Stuart Broad's tail end biffing aside, it was  a pathetic effort. Even a moderate response - Chris Rogers excepted -from Australia in its second innings didn't redeem the situation much (if at all).

Australia now has three days in which to secure its fifth straight victory of the 2013-14 Antipodean Ashes. England have no more wheels left to fall off. For Australia the focus should, once the seemingly inevitable victory in this match has been achieved, shift to next month's three Test series in South Africa, in particular how to paper over the cracks in its top order batting which were evident once again today. 

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More of the same as England put Australia on ropes before Haddin & Smith counterpunch: T5D1

England 1/8 (6ov) trail Australia 326 (76ov, Smith 115/154b/1x6 17x4, Haddin 75/90b/13x4, Watson 43/59b/7x4, Stokes 19.5-1-99-6) by 318 runs; T5/5 D1/5 at SCG. England won toss and sent Australia in. Australia unchanged (for 5th consecutive

Test). England brought in Ballance, Borrhwick and Rankin for Bresnan, Panesar and Root.

England won the first session (4/94)and a bit ((5/97) convincingly, as they had to if they weren't to have even more egg on their collective face after Alistair Cook won the toss (his first of this series) and sent Australia in. 

But thereafter Brad Haddin & Steve Smith reverted to type, kept to the script of the previous Tests, and swept England (Ben Stokes excepted) aside to post a strong recovery. Which may prove, depending on how the bowlers bowl,the batters bat and the wicket plays, to be a matchwinning one.

The England XI, with three debutants, looked at best experimental, at worst ramshackle. Joe Root, after being used as the gap plugger in the first four Tests  might have felt miffed at being omitted ( and even more so at have to spend so much time sub fielding). Scott Borthwick did take an expensive wicket and Gary Ballance fumbled in the field, so they have points to prove...

As for Australia, Haddin, yet again, and Smith turned the Test around by adding 128 for the 6th wicket.

Haddin played, as he's done throughout the series, with judicious aggression. This was not surprising. Smith's innings - at least the first part, until he'd established himself at the crease - was, after his uneven performances during his Test career. But he showed how much he's matured, not so much by eliminating big hitting from his stroke repertoire as by intelligent shot selection (and brutal execution).

 England were disadvantaged by an injury to Rankin who broke down twice (who of the support staff gave him the green light both before the match and when he returned to the field?) , they don't have frontline spinner and there are, despite Monty Panesar's omission, still a sluggard or two in the field.

All this points to another Australia progression towards a fifth consecutive victory. It doesn't have to be like this, yet it's hard to see England pulling themselves together enough to resist Australia's bowling (& fielding) pressure.

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