Stewart's men have missed their opportunity (15 November 1998)
ENGLAND missed a glorious opportunity in the matches against Western Australia and South Australia to strike a psychological blow before the Ashes series even commenced
15-Nov-1998
15 November 1998
Stewart's men have missed their opportunity
By Ian Chappell
ENGLAND missed a glorious opportunity in the matches against
Western Australia and South Australia to strike a psychological
blow before the Ashes series even commenced.
There have been a few mutterings in the media about an itinerary
that has some Australian players arriving home too late to play a
first-class game before the Gabba Test. If England had pulverised
WA and SA and their form was the hot topic as the Australians
arrived home a little weary from Pakistan, you can bet those
mutterings would have turned to a deafening roar. Now, instead of
the Australian players constantly being badgered about a
gruelling itinerary that could be construed as favouring England,
the emphasis is on their highly successful unbeaten tour of
Pakistan.
Despite the fact that Australia, on the last three tours of
England, have gone out of their way to hammer the county sides,
Alec Stewart's team still do not seem to have grasped the
importance of this tactic. On the contrary, England have given
the impression that they are trying to build gradually to a peak
for the first Test. This would be acceptable from an established
side, but Stewart's team still have a lot to prove in Australia
and they could have redressed the balance by firing from ball one
and demolishing the opposition. The difference in approaches
typifies the gulf between the two competitions - Sheffield Shield
matches are played as though it is a life or death struggle,
while often the county competition resembles an interruption to
an otherwise pleasant afternoon tea party.
England need to do everything right to win the Ashes, but they
have made a stumbling start. Stewart will have to hope that the
mammoth partnership between Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash in
Adelaide is the point from which England commence the turnaround.
Apart from that partnership the batting has been lacklustre on
tour, but it will eventually be the minimal variety in the
bowling which costs England any chance of winning the series.
Stewart has at his command a capable group of seamers, but he
lacks a recognised bowler of real pace and, if Darren Gough is
injured, a true spearhead. These are 'must have' types if England
hope to dismiss Australia's powerful batting line-up cheaply on
anything like a regular basis. The pitch on the opening day at
the Gabba will probably be the most favourable for this England
attack and, with Shane Warne unavailable, it might be worth
asking Australia to bat first if the conditions are at all
helpful.
It would be a big gamble and an important test for Alan Mullally.
England are hoping his bowling will help overcome their reliance
on right-arm fast-medium seamers, but while the Australians will
be wary of Mullally's new-found reputation, they have the
advantage. They know he failed to make an impression at shield
level a few years ago - and he knows they know. This will turn
into a huge advantage for the batsmen if Mullally does not start
on a high note.
If England lose the series, as I expect, it will look as though
the batsmen are totally to blame when there are collapses.
However, the bowlers will actually be partly at fault. If they
are not capable of restricting Australia to reasonable totals,
then eventually the mountain of runs will result in a landslide
and the England batsmen will be buried under their opponents'
relentless attack. It is a simple ploy, but it has proved very
effective against England, when used first by Allan Border and
then Mark Taylor.
At full strength, Taylor will have a well-balanced bowling
combination able to exert pressure on most pitches and sooner or
later the England batting line-up will succumb. Glenn McGrath is
the most important ingredient in this potent recipe, even more so
than Warne. He is the warhead who makes explosive early forays
and, if he succeeds, Taylor then manipulates the attack superbly,
backed up by brilliant fielding which rarely offers the
opposition batsmen a second chance. If McGrath continues his
dominance over Mike Atherton then England's sheet anchor is out
of the way and the batting becomes vulnerable. If the England
batsmen do not find ways to score regularly off McGrath and do
not punish the loose balls bowled by Warne, then they will be
contributing to their downfall.
If Taylor has at his disposal McGrath, Warne and Jason Gillespie
for the bulk of the series then I cannot see Australia losing a
match. More to the point, if none of Australia's 'big three' were
available, I still could not see England winning a match. Despite
the improvement shown by England, they still concede big totals
when bowling on hard pitches. Against South Africa at Old
Trafford the opposition declared with more than 500 on the board
and England will encounter those conditions often in Australia -
and the locals are a stronger batting side than Hansie Cronje's
team.
Then on pitches with a bit of pace and bounce (i.e. Lord's) the
England batting has a recent history of crumbling. Scores of 110
against South Africa and 77 against Australia cannot be
forgotten, especially when England will be confronted by a bouncy
pitch for at least three out of five Tests. Then there was the
Oval disaster where Muttiah Muralitharan sliced through the
England batsmen like a sharp knife into melting butter. That
cannot instil confidence for the contest with Warne.
It must be cause for further concern that, in the opening two
tour matches, Australian first-class teams (with some
internationals missing) built up decent totals and then a trio of
energetic young pace bowlers ripped into the top order. In boxing
parlance, I can see England side-stepping some trouble by bobbing
and weaving for long periods, but I doubt they can either avoid
or deliver the odd knockout blow. If they were capable of
delivering they should have done so by now.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)