The Ashes So Far…

It’s been a quiet month on our blog as the oldest sporting rivalry has been unfolding in England. Three test matches into the series is probably the right time to take stock of things and evaluate some of our predictions from the previous post. England has expectedly taken the lead but it could so easily have been 1-1 after the thriller in Cardiff. Australia was utterly dominant in Wales and England returned the favor in London in front of the MCC members. Edgbaston was a damp squib after the highs of 2005 and attention now shifts to Headingley and The Oval for the final two tests.

We expected a close series since the two teams were evenly matched. And yet Australia possesses an explosive batting lineup which is capable of blasting a team out of a game. And this was exactly what happened as England’s gamble of playing two spinners did not pay off in Wales. Led by Ponting and Clarke, the Aussie batsmen made merry and England had their backs against the wall on the final day after two hard days in the field. Cardiff had won the rights to host an Ashes test match much to chagrin of the British press and an English defeat here would have ensured some vitriol in the press for what was otherwise a picturesque venue.

Panesar and Anderson’s rearguard action ensured none of that happened. Their display invoked memories of Brett Lee and Ricky Ponting facing a charged up Harmison and Flintoff at Old Trafford in 2005. The Cardiff crowd came to life in the dying moments of the last day’s play and every ball safely negotiated was cheered wildly from the stands. Australia’s best bet was always to get the points in the game where their lineup batted England out of the game. That England was able to get out unscathed inspite of the Australian batathon always meant that they had their noses in front coming into Lords. Australian dominance at Lords for the past 80 years or so has been the stuff of legends. Such a record at an overseas venue is unheard of for any team in any sport anywhere else. That is the beauty of the Ashes rivalry. Since it has existed for so long, there are traditions, records and memories and special performances inevitably draw comparisons to something eerily similar at some other time in history. That England was able to emerge from the shadow of the past and conjure up a dominant performance for the first four days spoke volumes of decline of the Australian team as it did of England’s character.

England’s bowling attack had a distinct Mickey Mouse tinge about it. Stuart Broad does not inspire confidence as a test bowler, Swann and Anderson are hard working and need assistance from the conditions to become match winners and Graham Onions’ biggest contribution so far has been some wonderfully catchy headlines in the sports section of newspapers on account of his name. Andrew Flintoff however is no Mickey Mouse bowler. In a statistically insignificant career, he has towered like an ogre over modern day batsmen, bowling hostile pitches on the most benign of pitches. Having announced his retirement for the end of the series, this was likely to be one last swansong for Freddie. Could he rise up to the occasion?

British sporting public has been accustomed to disappointments from their star players in crucial moments. This has often been attributed to over zealous media which tends to hype up the expectations from their match winners only to see them crumble under the weight of phony expectations. No athlete has been able to live up to all the hype and hoopla surrounding them since Johnny Wilkinson’s memorable drop goal against Australia in the 2003 World Cup until Freddie lit up Lords on the final day. Whatever hopes Clarke and Haddin had of a world record chase soon evaporated on the final morning as Flintoff bowled with sustained aggression, unchanged from one end and ended up with a 5-wicket haul. Edgbaston robbed us of a good contest as my prediction for rain from the previous post unfortunately came true and a benign pitch ensured a tame draw in the end.

This series has had a bit of everything so far. Although we are missing the sheer class of the players from 2005 we have had singsong battle nevertheless. 1-1 might have been a fair result going into Headingley but 1-0 England it is instead. There has been plenty of talk about the spirit of the game emerging from both the camps and I will have a follow-up post addressing that issue soon. In the meantime let us hope that Headingley serves a fascinating contest. 1981 anyone??

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