England have won in Australia before without express bowlers, but on the surfaces witnessed so far, it is starting to look like the missing elementThe history of English cricket is littered with moments in the field when, almost to the imagined sound of Herb Alpert tootling out Spanish Flea on his trumpet, the car has shipped many of its constituent parts and is careering downhill at a pace.On the second day at the Adelaide Oval, one that was dominated by Shaun Marsh’s maiden Ashes hundred and capped off by Mitchell Starc’s pinpoint location of Mark Stoneman’s front pad before the rain, the latest such entry came moments from dinner amid a chorus of local derision. Related: England face an Ashes...
England deliver new hard-nosed, opening day response to Australia sledging, but umpire Aleem Dar issues a warningDifferent coloured ball, same old nonsense. The 2017-18 Ashes may have witnessed less than a week of cricket but when it comes to behaviour, the latest battle for the little urn is already shaping up as a race to the bottom.The opening day in Adelaide, where a record-breaking 55,317 spectators flocked through the turnstiles for the first day-night men’s Test between Australia and England, should have been a celebration of the oldest rivalry in cricket getting a fresh twist under lights. Instead, it was a case of rinse and repeat from the back end of the Gabba Test and the fallout caused by the...
The Australia No3 looked destined for another day-night century at Adelaide after riding his luck but his dismissal gave England a chink of light in the darkThese were meant to be words about an Usman Khawaja century as he finally set straight seven years of Ashes false starts in conditions where he has excelled, a century where the No3 replicated the poise and control that underpinned his masterful ton at the same venue 12 months ago to make Joe Root’s decision to put Australia in look disastrous.Instead, his dismissal four balls after the dinner interval exposed the hosts’ collapsible middle order at the most dangerous time in day-night matches as artificial light took over and the wicket’s additional grass stood...
Jimmy Anderson hopes bowling with a pink ball under lights on a pitch that is not as batting-friendly as it once was can help England against AustraliaThe Adelaide Oval was once a genteel cricket ground – it is now a magnificent sport stadium. Only the arch–traditionalist can quibble about the redevelopment and even they might be convinced by it come Saturday night with 50,000 in attendance and the sun dipping gracefully in the distance. The old scoreboard is still there and so, too, is some of the grass on the hill; the cathedral is no longer visible but there is still an air of tranquillity, which has always been so deceptive.This is where Bodyline boiled over 85 years ago, on...
Stokes’ New Zealand trip is a sideshow – what matters for England in the Ashes is working out how to dismiss Steve Smith and how to counter Mitchell Starc’s pink-ball expertiseLet’s be honest, Joe Root and his players needed the Ben Stokes issue resurfacing this week like a hole in the head. When I wrote at the start of the tour that they should draw a line through his name completely, this was the type of scenario I envisaged.Here are England’s squad battling hard to defend the Ashes and suddenly the agenda changes with the latest will‑he-won’t-he-play saga. Publicly they will say they are 100% focused on the day-night Test that starts on Saturday and squaring the series. But with their...