This game has meaning, for history shows the ‘dead’ rubber in a series can have lasting significance – not least on the captaincyThe Ashes may be gone but the notion of a dead rubber seldom applies when England meet Australia. A Test match between these two nations has a life of its own. There is now the added incentive of points in the Test Championship (no irony intended here, let’s give it a go) and a drawn series would be a welcome rarity in Ashes cricket.Moreover the supposedly “dead” game can often have lasting significance – there are several precedents for that. In 1987 England arrived in Sydney for the final Test 2-0 up, which was a bit of a...
The England Test captain’s tiredness exposes modern cricket’s faultline – a packed schedule is brilliant for fans but brutal for playersThe weather seemed to turn last week, and the conversation with it. All of a sudden it was autumn and, since what it’s like out is one of the few reliable topics of conversation in this country, friends sent despairing messages from Old Trafford complaining about how bitterly cold it was in the stands. The cricket season’s still got another fortnight‑and‑some to run, there’s this last Test at the Oval, and two more rounds of County Championship matches after the current one. They’ll be sweeping great piles of dead leaves from the outfield by the time it finishes on 26...
England need only to look to the example of Steve Smith to see how relinquishing the captaincy can restore batting formThe serious postmortems are on hold since there is barely time to breathe between Test matches. The outsiders have not been playing any red‑ball cricket recently; even so it was a mild surprise that the selectors plucked out the same 13 names for the Test at the Oval, though it is unlikely that the same 11 will take to the field, especially if Ben Stokes is still suffering from a sore shoulder.There will be talk of a headlong pursuit of World Test Championship points. But even without this fresh incentive there will be much to engage us. An Ashes Test...
The gnarled, pocket tug-ship Australian gave Archer some chat but was dismissed by the fired-up fast bowlerMatthew Wade enjoys a chat. As talk-show formats go this one probably wouldn’t make it past the proposal stage, even in the city of Partridge, Granada TV and feisty men of all ages with a liking for the sound of their own badinage.Not that this is likely to discourage Wade, who on the fourth day of this fourth Ashes Test helped dish up the most abrasive moment to date of a series that has up to now been peppy without slipping over the line into boorishness. Related: David Warner hammered to new low thanks to Broad mind games | Ali Martin Related: Trevor Bayliss...
Supporting top batsmen such as Steve Smith and stitching together faltering innings makes captain a valuable Ashes assetWhen your Ashes tour around England extends from days into months, you start to read the local consensus. Pub talk, pundit talk and player talk overlap, sometimes divergent and sometimes repeated. When this year’s subject has been Steve Smith there has been a general despondency; for Australia’s fast bowlers a general disquiet; for the wicketkeeping captain, Tim Paine, more often a general disdain.Perhaps this was given an early boost when a Birmingham reporter asked Paine whether Edgbaston was the most intimidating venue in cricket. Paine’s brush-off was received as an insult, as though a cherished source of national pride was to believe that...