England must battle to avoid nightmare on Vulture Street (15 November 1998)

15 November 1998

England must battle to avoid nightmare on Vulture Street

By Scyld Berry

AT ten o'clock on Friday morning in sub-tropical Brisbane, either the burly Darrell Hair or the side-burned Sri Lankan K T Francis will extend his left arm and take one last look around a field full of apprehension, however well disguised. Then the 30th Ashes series to be staged in Australia (the 60th in all), and the ultimate test of character and technique for an England cricketer, will begin.

While World Cup finals may have their brief excitements, nothing in English cricket can equal a five-Test series in Australia, and an opening match at the Gabba in particular. Since West Indies went off the boil in the early Nineties, the Ashes have returned to their traditional position of primacy, for England players and supporters if not Australians.

And it is a test which England have seldom passed. Only once in the half-century since the Second World War have they won in Brisbane (for the five walkovers which England enjoyed in the 1978-79 series against the babes unwanted by the World Series cannot be counted). This was when Bill Athey donned a hair shirt on the opening day of the 1986-87 series, when England were at their most vulnerable, and defended in the tradition of Yorkshire opening batsmen.

This test of character can begin before an England player reaches the Gabba, as the environment is more alien than anywhere else in Australia. It is not just the heat, which leaves the skin glowing if not burning at day's end. Brisbane is freeways, malls, bunting-strewn car marts and real estate ads blaring dollar signs halfway to Texas. Edges are sharper than in softer England; the cantilevers of the Gabba's towering Northern Stand jut over most of Vulture Street like ill-mannered elbows.

The more extreme climate of Queensland has bred more aggressively masculine attitudes. Into Australian cricket this has been translated by Allan Border, firstly during his decade as captain of Queensland and Australia, and now as one of three national selectors. The gospel according to the most durable of all Test cricketers is as far removed as it could be from that of the muscular Christians of the Victorian era who first spread the game. It is: thou shalt aim for and achieve the mental and physical disintegration of your opponent.

Australia's prime means to this end is the compilation of a mountainous first-innings total, under the weight of which their opponents are steadily buried, and not without a trace of sadistic satisfaction. Only once in their last six years at home have Australia been dismissed below 200 in their first innings (a standard England opening bid in recent years, albeit on lesser pitches), which was when Darren Gough and Angus Fraser trapped them on a Sydney seamer; and their lowest first innings at the Gabba in that time has been 379.

To bat for two days, sometimes after tumbling their opponents out first, and to test their capacity to survive in the sun of summer: this is the merciless method which has made Australia world Test champions since West Indian cricket cooled. Not content with their top six batsmen and Ian Healy at No 7 (the scorer of an unbeaten 161 in his last Test against West Indies at the Gabba), Border and his selectors may position Paul Reiffel at No 8, "the best tail-ender in Test history" as he has been called, to amass that crushing mountain.

The Australians have their weaknesses. Matthew Elliott, who has sorted out his personal problems and scored three hundreds in his four Shield innings this season, will probably be omitted to allow lesser members of their top three a fair run. Justin Langer is so patriotic he has a kangaroo kicking a palm tree tattooed on an intimate part of his anatomy - and he was not even in the Australian XI which defeated West Indies - but he does not have the footwork and calibre of Elliott.

Stuart MacGill, the apprentice leg-spinner, can bowl a leg break like Shane Warne, who has won the last five Gabba Tests for Australia with his bounce, after the pitch has dried; but he has a weaker left arm and shoulder and can lose his shape in delivery and bowl long-hops as the master never would. The absence of Warne, and the virtual disappearance of both Waughs as bowlers, place even more of a load on Australia's remaining match-winner, Glenn McGrath, who returned from Pakistan on Thursday and has no game before the Test in which to adjust to the fuller length which the Gabba will demand.

To set against this host, England have a solid phalanx of batsmen and seam bowlers, men who know their own game and will polish their swords calmly on Thursday night. But England have several fringe players, more so than Australia, who are liable to expend their energy in anxiety rather than the heat of battle, which is why there can be only one winner of this series and the hosts will retain the Ashes.

Robert Croft in particular, if he should play, will no doubt be subjected to many a reminder from Ian Healy and Steve Waugh (brother Mark does not relish confrontation) of his frailty when batting in the 1997 series, in Australia's attempt to repeat his disintegration. It makes one more reason why England are likely to proclaim their belief in a balanced side until the morning of the match, then opt for all seven batsmen and four seamers.

Another is that the Gabba's groundsman, Kevin Mitchell junior, has achieved grass of good root depth, which prevents the pitch wearing and tearing in favour of finger-spinners. But Mitchell's cardinal aim is pace, bounce and sideways movement on the opening day to encourage seamers and an entertaining fall of wickets, an aim assisted by the condensation which is caused by his use of flat sheets to cover the pitch.

It will be the sternest test of technique as well. Whereas Australian batsmen keep their hands close to their thighs, too many of England's can play away from their bodies and be undone when the ball bounces, as it does here. Still, the visitors have just an outside chance, to share the series if not win it, especially if they are granted some luck on Friday morning.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)