AUSTRALIA ARE PLAYING THE AGGRESSIVE CRICKET LEHMANN PROMISED

Australia’s aggression with the ball and bat are the blueprint of Australia’s dominance in the first Ashes Test.   After claiming England had played ‘dour’ cricket in England, Lehmann and the Australian team have took on England with the aggression that has been customary to Australian sides of the past. 

Ever since Lehmann took over the side he has advocated the enterprising style of cricket and in conditions that assist that brand of cricket, Australia have forced England into their shell.

Lehmann push for playing the assertive style is enhanced by the Australian conditions and the top six batsmen.  Warner, Watson, Smith and Clarke Australia have four players that have the potential to change the duration of match in a session especially in their home conditions.  With the Kookaburra losing its shine after 30 over’s, Australian batsmen have strict mindset to attack. It was illustrated by Haddin and Smith in the first innings by pulling short of the length balls to the boundary.  Then once again today, once Warner and Clarke were set, they hit the ball on top of the bounce, an ability that comes natural to them.  Such shots poses high risks with the duke ball in England but in Australia if the shots can be executed properly can produce a lot of runs.  They are shots Australia is willing to play and take on England.

On the other side of the fence, the only batsmen in England capable of playing such shots in Kevin Peitersen, all the others are prefer to play the waiting game. It is a style that is enhanced by the duke ball and the English conditions. 

 

With the ball, the catalyst has been Mitchell Johnson, the left armer ability to bowl sharp rising balls at over 90mph have left the England top order clueless at times.  While Johnson has tendency to be erratic, the batsmen are so conscious of his pace they have failed to put the bad balls away.  Johnson tactic of bowling at the body has forced England to play the ball instead of sitting back and leaving it.  The aggression has forced England out of their comfort zone something Lehmann wanted his team to do.

The issue for England is Australian bowling is so disciplined with the lines and length it is impossible to score of likes of Siddle, Harris and Lyon unless the English batsmen decide to take a slight risk. On top of that Clarke innovative captaincy also ensures England is not assured easy runs and his field settings have the choking feel on the batsmen.

Even today, Carberry might have been unlucky with his dismissals as Ian Chappell said “if you are imparting the backspin on the ball it means the ball has hit the bat, rather than the bat hitting the ball”.

  

England will continue to face the intimidation from the Australian all series, it is important their batsmen show positive intent and play the brand of cricket that is needed to put Australia on the back foot.  If they continue with the ‘dour’ style, their hopes of regaining the Ashes could evaporate even before Christmas.

POOR PLANNING EXPOSES ENGLAND

It seems the whole cricketing world expected the bouncer barrage from the Australian bowlers expect for the England batsmen and their coaching staff.  Ever since Australia’s returned from England three months ago they have been planning meticulously on exposing the England batsmen. The main ingredient they required was ‘bounce’ from the home wickets. 

Even England was aware the wickets would contain bounce hence they picked bowlers that are nearly two meters tall so it was mystifying to know what Graham Gooch had been planning with the batsmen for the last three months.

Each of the batsmen was exposed by the same deliveries only three months ago.  Trott didn’t have the same prodigious movement on the front foot but neither did he ever try and evade the short ball by ducking under it, the best way to play the short ball in Australia. Kevin Pietersen might have looked the most comfortable of the English batsmen but the ugly swipe he played on the 2^nd ball of Johnson short ball would not have gone unnoticed and on the big Australian grounds, a top edge is likely to be caught than fly over the roped for six.

Ian Bell and Prior were also victims of well set traps. Lyon has been raised on pitches that rarely assist side spin so he has learned to impart more over spin on the ball rather than side spin. Ever since the last Test match in India, he has learnt the art of bowling around the wicket and used different angles to fox the batsmen. England should have prepared for the line and the over spinners.

The worst dismissals were that of Cook and Root.  The England captain has now been dismissed caught keeper of Ryan Harris on four occasions in the past five tests.  Luckily for Cook, it took Harris 4.4 overs to hit that perfect length, once he did Cook was stuck on the crease and pushing at a ball well in front of his pad.  Root once again failed to transfer his weight on the front foot, a flaw that caused his demise in each of his innings in England. 

If the tail expected anything else than a bouncer barrage they are to be sent back to their rooms and then made to listen to Shane Warne commentary in England. During each of the Tests Warne stated “I wouldn’t be bowling one ball towards the batsmen half, I would be giving it to the tail”. The talk certainly didn’t fall on deaf ears, even Craig McDermott a strong advocate of pitching the ball up advised his bowlers to offer some chin music

.

Australia executed their plans superbly but with over 10 support staff and a coaching maestro’s such as Andy Flower and Graham Gooch at the helm it is incredible to believe how England batsmen have succumbed so easily. 

  

No amount of planning and execution is likely to save the first Ashes Test. Best England can hope for in the second innings is to try avoid been intimidated by the short ball and execute the plans we hope at least they would have discussed in the last three months.

Dot balls allow England to gain the Upper Hand

The playing eleven was as per predicted, the decision to bat first was as predicted and so was the predictable Australian top order collapse.  On a pitch that looked easy pace the Australian batsmen failed to find a game plan between pure aggression and rock solid defence. 

Warner started as he would in a T20 match racing to 18 of 14 balls including 4 boundaries but after he went into a conservative mindset. Warner only managed another two fours and scored his 31 of next 68 balls.  While he did leave the ball well and England bowled accurately if he had kept the same mindset when he first started Australia could have reached a hundred at lunch.

Watson in the meantime seemed so focused on his front foot defence he neglected his back foot game. Watson innings of 22 was his slowest when he has crossed 20 in Test cricket and his mindset set right from the start signified a batting approach that was alien to him. England deserved the credit by placing very straight mid-on and a straight short mid-wicket. The field set encouraged Watson to play across the line but he resisted the temptation but got bogged down as could not find an alternative way to score.  Finally he got poked at ball that he would have left well alone.

Steve Smith was the only Australian batsmen to show initiative on scoring quick singles and rotating strike.  Through his brief stay Smith managed to push the ball into gaps and used his hands cleverly to ensure the singles still optimum way to putting England on the back foot.

Even later in the day as Johnson and Haddin recovered  the innings the singles they managed were the clip of the legs or the thighs rather than using soft hands to place the probing lines out the off stump.  

Throughout the day the Australian played out 412 dot balls out of 560 balls, meaning that failed to score of 75% of the deliveries. It enabled England to bog Australia down and ball consecutively at one batsman.   

Australia might well be satisfied at the close of the Day 1 but on a pitch that was termed as ‘best’ looking GABBA pitch on Day 1 by Shane Warne, by blocking too many balls they allowed England to gain the upper hand.

Selecting Right Handers will assist Australia untangle Swann.

Australian selectors have been wise by selecting a batting line up that is predominantly right handed for the first Ashes Test starting in Brisbane on Thursday.  Apart from the two openers, Warner and Rogers, Mitchell Johnson is the only other left hand batsmen. The rest of the batting is right handed giving Australia an advantage when it comes to tackling England off spinner Graeme Swann. 

Swann was the leading wicket taker in the Ashes in England with 26 wickets but the ace off spinner’s career record suggests he is more effective against left handers.  In his Test career so far Swann has 118 wickets at 26 against left hand batsmen compared to his 130 wickets at 33 against right hand batsmen.

During the Ashes in England as the number of left handers in the Australian team decreased Swann became less effective. In the 1st Test Australia had six lefties in the  2^nd it was 5, in those Test matches Swann picked up 13 wickets at 22.07. While in the next three Australia respectively had four three and three. In those matches Swann picked up 13 at 36.

One person that needs to devise a plan against the off spinner is Chris Rogers, one of the main reason Rogers was unable to convert starts in England is because he fell to the spinner 6 times out of 10 innings.  Swann also managed to dismiss Khawaja fell to Swann four times and Hughes three, it was one of the reasons Australia was not able to capitalise on the starts given by the top order. Rogers aside most of the other batsmen Swann managed to dismiss are not part of the eleven in Brisbane giving Australia a significant advantage in the middle order.

Come Brisbane the middle order will compromise of two of Australia’s most prime batsmen against spin in Clarke and Smith. The inclusion of Bailey also adds to the strength with the Tasmanian showing promise against Indian spinners in the recent ODI series. Bailey was severe on Indian off-spinner, Ravi Ashwin, the man that led the rout in the 4-0 whitewash earlier this year.  

Swann has been successful against left hand batsmen because he spins the ball away enticing them to play against the spin which is not Australia’s stronghold.  In contrast the right handers have been able to work him on the onside with the spin. With Cook’s defensive field settings, likes of Smith and Clarke are able to nudge easy singles to rotate the strike and get on top of England’s most effective bowler as they did in the last three test matches.

The selectors may or may not have done it deliberately but will it certainly benefit Australia to tackle England’s second most effective bowler.  Stacking the side with right handers might be the simplest but the most effective solution.

IF ONLY WE COULD FREEZE TIME

Sitting inside an enclosed media centre and listening to music on maximum volume through the headphones the chant of “Sa-chin Sa-chin” could still be heard even before Tendulkar entered the playing arena.  Mumbai Cricket Association had opened the gates nice and early to ensure each fan was inside the stadium to watch Tendulkar walk out for his 329^th his final test innings.

Nearly each person that entered the Wankhede Stadium kept on standing and cheered their hero to the crease. For the next 15 minutes they screamed “Sa-chin Sa-chin” continuously and refused to sit down.  Even a defensive shot was greeted with a roar.  It was once in a lifetime experience and highly unlikely India would ever experience such an atmosphere or such an audience for a Test match ever again.

For all those that turned up, the shots Tendulkar played during his outing will remain in their minds forever, none more so ever than the shot that bought up his 68 Test fifty.  It was the trademark Tendulkar straight drive played with a full face of the bat and it just raced to the boundary.

For that spilt second, you felt like freezing time.  It would have been the fitting gift for man that has managed to freeze a nation of over a billion people for nearly a quarter of a decade. But to halt time would be a fantasy and perhaps those who believe there will be another Tendulkar are living in a fantasy life.

Back in the real world Tendulkar stroked his way to 74 before playing a deft late cut into 1^st slip’s hand.  Tendulkar was out.  The brief walk back once again told a story of man that just simply loved playing cricket.

Once he realised he was out, the disappointment on his face was evident.  But the primary reason for the dismay was because he had executed the same shot only couple of over’s ago against the same bowler.  So annoyed was Tendulkar he started to scurry of the ground, his natural instincts took over, he was mad at himself for not been able to execute the shot, the cricketing brain was still in action and it seemed like Tendulkar had almost forgotten this was his last innings.  About ¾ of his journey to the boundary rope, the cricket brain finally halted and he acknowledged the fans for one last time. It was not the prolonged goodbye many would have expected as the master rushed up the steps. But once again the walk back to the pavilion showcased Tendulkar was so engrossed and dedicated in his batting that all other factors was extraneous. Short and quick exit was only a minuscule of the remarkable Test career but it was the last sign of a true batting genius.  

Without the great Sachin Tendulkar Test cricket will never be the same in India again.