England’s sorry Ashes series means scapegoats will be sought and while Root has made mistakes he gets plenty of things rightThree matches and three heavy defeats into the series, the Ashes already lost, seven defeats and no wins in eight Tests in Australia as captain, and after a poor year for England’s red-ball team there are several obvious reasons for removing Joe Root from the England captaincy – but I would like him to stick around.In his book The Captain Class, the Wall Street Journal’s Sam Walker identifies the key characteristics of elite captains which include: extreme doggedness and focus in competition; a low-key, practical and democratic communication style; motivating others with passionate non-verbal displays; strong convictions and the courage...
Fastest bowler in Ashes series has been let down by bad luck and worse batting, but should still be savouredGood news has been in short supply for England’s cricketers during this Ashes series but some arrived for Mark Wood in the shape of the new year honours list: his father was awarded an OBE for services to pensioners for his work at the Department for Work and Pensions in the north-east.Derek Wood was also among the first to sample his son’s speeds in the back garden at home in Ashington. “We had to stop when I was about 13,” the younger Wood told me six years ago, shortly after winning his first Test call-up. “We had a long thin garden...
This one-sided series will not be remembered as a classic but Australia’s threatening bowling in Melbourne stands outIt is safe to say that the current Ashes series will not be remembered as a classic of the genre. We follow sport for the contest, and the total lack of one is the reason there is so much consternation from wider English cricket quarters, even as the team tries to apply blinkers to get through two more Tests. There have been plenty of one-sided Ashes series, and most teams struggle away from home, but this has been another level.When the tiny trophy has been played for in England in modern times, the contests have been closer. There is 2005, of course, the...
Fast bowler tore through meek England to win Ashes in rapid fashion but tougher tests await the hosts in Asia next yearAt the end of 2002, Australia retained the Ashes inside 10 days. In 2021, the official figure will be 12 days. But that includes a surrender just after lunch on the fourth day in Brisbane, and well before lunch on the third day in Melbourne, scarcely enough in each case to be included as a day’s play.On Monday, in these pages, we wrote about the extraordinary emergence of Scott Boland. On the second evening, his two wickets before stumps set the match on a path towards an inevitable conclusion. On the third day, Boland realised that conclusion himself, taking...
The debutant offers hope of progress for Indigenous Australians with a moving reaction from the standsThere were four moments across the first two days of the third Ashes match when the Melbourne Cricket Ground rose, in movement and in voice, to the hometown bowler Scott Boland on his Test debut. The second time was when he took his first wicket, as Mark Wood’s dismissal was upheld by the video umpire. The third time was when Boland, batting at No 11, scored his first runs with an edge through the slip cordon.Those either side were more important. The first, before the match began, when Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin spoke during the welcome to country, noting the rarity of an Indigenous Australian...