The ECB is an easy target but skewing the domestic game to produce more spinners and favour limited-overs cricket looks to have backfiredA stock of explanations and excuses is a valuable bit of any cricketer’s kit and should be kept ready, stashed by bat, box and pads. “The sun was in my eyes. I couldn’t pick it up in this light. My foot slipped. Somebody was moving behind the sightscreen.”England, who, after all, have had no shortage of practice at this, have used some particularly ripe examples over the years. Ian Botham blamed the rain that ruined their chances in a group match against Pakistan at the 1992 World Cup on the team chaplain, Andrew Wingfield Digby “You’re useless, you...
While Dawid Malan, Craig Overton and James Vince have pleasantly surprised, senior players are the ones who have underperformed in AustraliaThe Ashes are gone, to begin with. Switch off the TV, dial down the radio and flick over the back pages. Fans back home can console themselves by forgetting all about it and staying in bed late. But for England, adrift in Australia, there’s a hard rearguard ahead as they try to escape from the final two Tests with the team intact. Some will be playing for their places, perhaps even their careers. So far they have been beaten in every key moment by a team that have three faster bowlers, a more commanding captain and a sharper spinner. “They’ve...
While Steve Smith’s Brisbane century and Mitchell Starc’s wonderball to James Vince in Perth were defining images, there were other moments that were more subtle yet just as pivotal to the early return of the urnThe Ashes isn’t always about the actual cricket. The most significant moment of the epic 2005 series came during a game of touch rugby, when Glenn McGrath stood on a stray cricket ball and was injured on the morning of the second Test. In 2017, the England players’ apparently harmless decision to have a few beers in Bristol after an ODI victory over West Indies had unimaginable consequences. Ben Stokes may not have made much difference but we will never know for sure what happened...
Joe Root’s momentary lapse of reason in Perth has left England’s Barmy Army looking to the weather forecasters for help in stopping the rotCognitive dissonance is flying the better part of 10,000 miles to watch the cricket then sing and dance and plead for rain. The healthy travelling support summed up England’s dire situation as well as any.Maybe they had also directed their prayers in the direction of Cardiff in 2009, when the situation was much the same. Australia batted second there before a huge downpour ended Ricky Ponting’s quest for wickets on the fourth evening. We all know what happened next. Related: Craig Overton and Stuart Broad injury concerns add to England Ashes woe Related: Restless Joe Root falls...
Marsh hits Ashes 181 not out against England in Perth but says during ‘shoulder rehab I thought I wouldn’t get back’Mitchell Marsh has never hidden behind his all‑rounder status to shirk his primary responsibility. To play for Australia, he has always known, hinges on whether he can hold down the No6 spot with the bat. That means tons. But until Saturday, he had not saluted. His reflexive response to the first question flung at him when leaving the field showed how heavy that weight had been, now lifted with this lavish triumph. “It’s only taken 22 Tests.”Many judges were convinced this would never happen when he returned home from India in March needing shoulder surgery and sporting a Test batting...