The Ashes series is now up and running with the first test at the Gabba ending this week. England went into the test with some hope, confidence and some excitement but reality has hit with Australia winning the 1st test by a humiliating 10 wickets.
However it wasn’t all plain sailing for the hosts as the first three days were quite evenly fought and gave indications that this test match could be quite close. Ultimately the test match was decided by key moments, partly because of sheer brilliance from the Aussies and partly down to mistakes by England; In the first innings, James Vince was batting well for the visitors before being spectacularly run out by a direct hit from Nathan Lyon. In the match, Vince was one of 7 English batsman to score 38 or more but he would be the highest scorer in the match for England on 83. In Contrast, the No.1 ranked Test batsman and Australian captain Steve Smith, rescued Australia when they were in trouble in their first innings at 76-4 with an unbeaten 141. Australia’s tail also wagged as the last 3 wickets adding 119 runs whereas the England’s last five managed 56 and in their second the last four just 10. With Australia only needing 170 to win, as soon as Warner and Bancroft negotiated the new ball (and headbuttgate!) the result was not in doubt!
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for England, Ashes Newcomers Stoneman, Vince and Malan passed 50 in the first innings while the experienced batsmen faltered and in the match plenty of batsmen got starts but unfortunately didn’t push on and convert into a big score. There will be some concern with the bowling attack that showed it was missing Ben Stokes during this match. Anderson and Broad bowled with experience and control but this was not backed up by the rest of the bowling attack, Stokes Replacement Jake Ball and Chris Woakes has match figures of 1 for 115 and 1 for 113 respectively while Moeen Ali struggled with a split finger which only allowed him to bowl 4 overs in the second innings, it’s also saying something when Joe Root was England’s best spinner in the match. In comparison Australia had captain Smith make a big score, with Shaun Marsh making a 50 and Pat Cummins; the tailender made 42 in the first innings. In the second innings both openers made unbeaten 80+ scores when they successfully chased the target. The Aussie bowling attack in both Innings complimented each other, bowling well in pairs with each bowler chipping in with some wickets; Nathan Lyon bowled exceptionally well to hold up and end while the fast bowlers could rotate and be more effective.
All in all there were some positives for England but as I said in my last blog post, England need to do the basics right, some of their batsmen need to convert their starts into big scores and post an innings score that the bowling attack can defend; the bowling attack need to bowl better together as a unit, they need to back each other’s effort up by creating pressure which will hopefully result in wickets. Personally I don’t think there will be any personnel changes for the second test in Adelaide, a test match that should suit England better with more favourable conditions. I think Jonny Bairstow is one of England’s better batsmen so to see him bat at 7 behind Moeen Ali is ridiculous. Yes he may bat well with the tail but you need your best batsmen in and scoring runs, it’s no good if Bairstow is 30 not out with the tail all out is it? Woakes and Ball are under pressure after the first test and I believe they will have a chance to put it right in Adelaide however there are two young hungry fast bowlers waiting in the wings and I think Overton and Curran will play a part in this series at some point. I don’t know much about Overton but as a Surrey fan I am a big fan of Tom Curran, he has pace, he has variations and his passion for the game is infectious!
The first test had sledging, it had drama, there was some good cricket on show and because of the Aussie media, we had Headbuttgate! Turning a non-malicious headbutt from weeks ago into front page news to try to get under the skin of Jonny Bairstow and the England players; it seems to be working with Anderson accusing Australia of Dangerous bowling and Root seemingly thinking Steve Smith disrespected England by laughing at Cameron Bancroft in his press conference when he explained the headbutt incident; If he didn’t laugh i would of been worried! if you haven’t seen the press conference then catch it below:
The Ashes are in full swing and I cannot wait to see what unfolds in Adelaide with the pink ball!
