Australian fast bowlers against English batsmen has been the defining contest in this most famous of sporting encountersThere are the usual signs that it is getting closer. The Ashes white noise starts to fade. The Ashes hum starts to die back, wider current of Ashes anxiety to fall away. And suddenly Test cricket begins to pare itself back to the basic, atomic level business of Australian bowlers against English batsmen, Baggy Green in the field against starchy whites at the wicket. Look back and cricket’s oldest two‑hander has so often pegged itself out this way. Hence, perhaps, the strikingly emotive response to Joe Root’s announcement that he will move up one space to bat No 3 for England in Thursday’s...
I know I’ve struggled with the bat – the criticism hurts – but I’m going to play with freedom in this Ashes and should be judged on my bowlingThe Ashes are the pinnacle of Test cricket for any England player, and if we can follow up our World Cup victory by winning back the urn from Australia it would represent one of the greatest summers for the sport in this country.It would be quite an English thing to say we need to come down from the extreme high of that day at Lord’s, however. Everyone in the squad would do anything to experience it all again but what we can do is harness the feelings and confidence it gave us,...
From shirt numbers to the Test Championship, via concussion substitutes, bantermime booing and much more1) At Edgbaston on Thursday, Test cricket will be dragged kicking and screaming into the early 1990s. For the first time, players with have their name and number on the back of their shirts: as in white-ball cricket, Joe Root will wear No 66, proving that the responsibility of captaincy need not get in the way of a popular pun.2) After years of vetoes and false starts, the all-singing, all-dancing, all-context-providing Test Championship will begin this week. Teams collect points over a two-year cycle, with the top two playing in the final in June 2021. There are 120 points available in each series, so winning a...
England are best when underrated in the Ashes but after Lord’s feats they must beware thinking they can recover any situationA clique of radical extremists have seized the levers of power. A risky event that was unthinkable three years ago now seems unstoppable. Those with experience and acknowledged expertise have been marginalised. Dissent is discouraged.Sensible people are sceptical, uneasy. Lesser officials suppress their doubts and keep working within the system, hoping the leaders are right and that the damage will be less than they fear. They block out fears of ruin and look forward to promised cash. But many others stand aside aghast, some believing the only hope now is for the revolution to happen and fail so that life...
Selectors have given the opener another chance as they attempt to break the link with ball-tamperingThere are stock phrases we get used to in Australian cricket. “Play his natural game” has been given a bit of a rest since the rank batting collapses early this decade. “Not crossing the line” is heard less often since the sandpaper fiasco of 2018. But “banging the door down” is alive and well.Bang the door down. That is what you are supposed to do any time you get dropped or skipped over. Go a level down, haul in the runs and wickets that demand your next elevation. Great in theory, rarely reflected in practice. Related: Cameron Bancroft joins Smith and Warner in Australia’s Ashes...