The ECB hierarchy concentrated on winning the World Cup, and while that mission was accomplished the ruins of England’s Test batting was there for all to see at HeadingleyThere used to be thousands of lamplighters in London; these days there are just five left. British Gas keeps them on the payroll to work the stretch of Kensington Palace Gardens where English Heritage refused to install electric street lights. So they just about outnumber the surviving members of another of England’s dead professions, Test batsman, a job whose essential requirements seem almost entirely alien to this generation of players, who have been weaned on white-ball cricket and whose best players have spent the past two years worrying about nothing much other...
Once Australian attacks would have looked to fight fire with fire but at Headingley control and precision proved crucialFor Australia’s fast bowlers, this year’s Ashes has been all about versatility and balance. Like one of those Chinese tile puzzles, pieces have been slotted into and out of place in a careful and deliberate line of progress towards an eventual aim. The right components have been employed at the right time. The same has applied on the field, where tactical approaches have shifted with the moment.Take the short ball. The past two Ashes series in Australia have been dominated by bouncers on pitches suited to bowling them, and the Lord’s Test this year was dominated by Jofra Archer’s scone-botherers on a...
England’s lack of specialist red-ball batsmen and collapse to 67 all out against Australia meant the six-wicket hero of the first day of the third Test did not get his hoped-for restDay two in Leeds was meant to be one spent at leisure for Jofra Archer. You know, feet up, chatting to colleagues, perusing the match-day programme, enjoying buzz of the England dressing room while the guys paid to bat are knocking the shine off the ball.Archer had been craving this the previous evening, too. Having rocked up 20 minutes late on the first morning due to some issues with the local road system, and then backed up his head‑banging Lord’s show with a six‑wicket exhibition of more measured slice...
The old hand of England’s bowling attack looks to be having almost as much fun as the new sensation Jofra ArcherThe locals – experts the lot of them – were packing anoraks, hats, and brollies on Thursday morning, a bad sign for all those out-of-towners who had been foolish enough to trust the weather forecast.“It’s looking a bit black over Bill’s mother’s,” one of them said to another on the short walk up from Burley Park station. It was, too, if you only knew which way Bill’s mother’s was. Somewhere beyond the Western Terrace, you guess, where the horizon was beginning to turn blurry, as though Jack Russell, who was here working on a picture of the grand new stand,...
English morale has been lifted by Jofra Archer’s Lord’s debut but it does not follow that it has dented Australia’sThere has been a distinctly upbeat tone in English cricket during the short leadup to the Headingley Test. For once, the local bowlers do not have to worry about dismissing Steve Smith, the man who has sacked them for 10 Ashes centuries since his first in 2013, but will sit out this week with concussion. England have the cause of that concussion on their side, in the fast bowler Jofra Archer. And, with an hour’s less rain the Lord’s draw could have been an England win, which is an encouraging way to leave a stalemate.Like the Swiss flag, each of those...