2015 Ashes - end to an average series

I couldnt stop myself writing about the 2015 Ashes test series that finished today - this blog is usually reserved to Indian cricket. But, the fact that Australia lost despite winning two matches in London by a huge margin was a shock that I couldnt resist. This was an average series won by a team that knew how to bowl on overcast conditions but came a cropper on batting pitches. 

The Australians knew how to take 20 wickets on flat pitches but could not do much on surfaces that supported them. Well, not exactly. They did well then too but their batsmen could not face opposition bowlers who made the ball talk. Result was that by the time bowlers had a chance to bowl, the English were too far ahead in the game. Flat pitch bullies are the Aussies then but what of the hosts? They are good at home, especially when they have Anderson and Broad together. But, step outside and they lost to West Indies even. Imagine! They are now ranked third in the ICC Rankings. Something must be wrong.

Twice we were wondering whether the test will be completed in two days. Yes, two days. I remember a match between England and West Indies long ago on telly where all four innings were played on one day and the match finished in two days. But, not here. The matches, thankfully to the spectators who were in full attendance, crept to the third day. Not a single test match went to the final day. Can you believe it if this was done on subcontinental pitches? There would have been a huge uproar - spin doctors et al. 

The statistics are revealing. Batting and Bowling. The Australians seem to appear at the top in both lists but they are upstaged by those players who rose to the occasion when required. Imagine, the second best bowler on Australian side was dropped for the last test to make way for Peter Siddle! The fifth bowler made a difference - yes, fifth bowler. Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes picked wickets that were critical. Australia had Mitch Marsh who did well but was picked for three tests only! The English batting was held together by Joe Root and his captain. The others did not seem to matter. 

Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers retired while Brad Haddin and Shane Watson may not play another test match. Similarly, Ian Bell must rethink his position in the English team while Lyth will be lost to county cricket forever. Bairstow can go back to County, scoring runs by the tonnes. Few batsmen survived the test series that was won by the home series again. Overall, an average series if I am being generous.

Whats wrong with Australia?

Consider this

• Four players get suspended from a test match because they did not submit their homework. 
• An ex-player held back the news of his retirement because he was afraid that he might be dropped.
• An official speaks openly about one of the Famous Four - stating that he is not a 'team player'. The player in question responds saying that the official didnt know him well enough.

Remember Simon Katich and his bust-up with the captain?

Whatever be the reason for the open fight, it is unprecedented in the history of cricket. Other countries who are notoriously famous for their internal team rivalries will be chuckling away to glory. This is the ultimate test therefore for the players in the playing eleven at Mohali - after Day 1, it looks like some of the reinforcements (Smith and Haddin) have done well. The skipper is obviously not happy as he promoted to No.3 and got stumped the very first ball!

The previous Oz captains used to be tough on the opponents (Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and co) while enjoying great relationships internally. But, now, the aggression has swapped sides - the Aussie team members seem to have good relations with the Indian cricketers while internally, they seem to be in a mess! 

Is the new mantra of the team to be "nice"on the field? 

Is there a problem with the coach? Many questions to be answered in the middle of a test series overseas. Really tough!

The Aussies are here...

There has been no talks about a revenge series or a whitewash like the one India faced Down Under. Why? The English test series has ensured that expectations from the Indian team is reduced to the extent that they probably don't start the series as favourites! While I would have agreed with that status earlier, the retirement of Michael Hussey before this series makes the competition more equal.

One cannot compare the English team with the Australian side simply because of the experience that the former had at their disposal. Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were superb in the test matches against India which were instrumental in their win. Michael Clarke has to find one more batsman who can do a similar job in the test matches - will it be Shane Watson or David Warner? What happens in such situations is that there is a virtually unknown player who rises to the fore and makes a name for himself. I am betting on Usman Khwaja to do it this time - let us see.

The preparation that the Australian team has been putting has been noteworthy - arriving 10 days early and staying in Chennai to ensure that they adjust to the heat and humidity is a marvellous piece of planning. Compare this to the schedule that the BCCI comes up with. Though the Aussies slumped against little-known off-spinner from the Board Presidents XI team, the practice they received must have been invaluable.

On the Indian front, Dhoni will need to play a bigger role in this series to stop further decline. MSD will not have Gambhir in his squad after a long while - Murali Vijay will be my favourite to play the first test, especially on his home soil. Shikhar Dhawan's technique is suspect against fast bowling and this must be on the minds of selectors also.

The middle-order will have Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in their roles that they have been occupying for the last few series. Will this test series be Sachin's last one? Will Virat Kohli regain his form? One of Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja will play the first test and knowing Dhoni's quest for players with multi-skills, he will once again opt for Jadeja to play at No. 6. Dhoni might also opt to come up at No.6 and then have the troika of Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha play together.

Harbhajan's exploits against Australia (especially at home) is well-known and thus Dhoni will try to play that card once again. The combined batting of Ashwin and Harbhajan will be better than what Jadeja can provide and thus it does not look like a bad decision at all. Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda are the pacers in the side and unless Ishant's ankle gives him a big issue, it will be Dinda who will sit out of the playing eleven.

Overall, the series seems to be interesting between two teams who are equal on paper but the Indians might be slightly ahead because of home conditions. Will their team members grab the opportunity to show that they can emulate their predecessors of 2010s?

Boxing Day test - Australia have noses in front of India

India's fortunes in the 1st test on Boxing Day was expected to be hinging on the ankle and hamstring of their opening bowlers. Michael Clarke had this thought on the back of his mind probably and opted to bat first after winning the toss. Not surprisingly, the opening bowlers from India started gingerly, opting to be careful with their bodies than anything else. Warner and Cowan had a steady start before the introduction of the third pacer introduced runs and more importantly, wickets for India.

Warner tried to hook Yadav for another six but the extra bounce took his glove en route to the wicket-keeper. Shaun Marsh came and went without troubling the scorers, thanks to a full-pitched ball from Yadav. Ricky Ponting came to the crease and was promptly pinged on the helmet by a short-pitched one. This mislead the bowlers to focus on the short ball against Ponting, thereby playing into the hands of the Tasmanian Devil. The legend was losing his balance at the crease early on but with the diet of easy pickings, calmed his nerves and adopted a much better approach at the crease.

After the highest Australian partnership this year between Ponting and Cowan, Zaheer Khan decided to make his presence felt in the test match. Bowling with the older ball, he improved with each spell that he bowled and  made the ball talk. This energized Yadav to bowl the perfect ball to Ponting. Shocking him with a short ball, Yadav followed with a full-length delivery that took the edge to slips. Once again, the century eluded the veteran but he was looking good at the end compared to the start when he resembled a cat on hot tin roof.

Zaheer castled Clarke after the short partnership between the captain and Cowan. Bowling around the wicket to bring the ball back, Clarke's cut was not enough to stop the ball from hitting the wicket. The very next ball, out-of-form Michael Hussey got what the commentators called a jaffa !! Though all technological evidence showed no clear signs, the umpire gave Hussey caught behind to loud shouts from the slip cordon. Ashwin chipped with the wicket of Cowan to reduce the Aussies to 214-6. Even-stevens in the day till then. It was then that Haddin and Siddle put their heads down to bring the score to a respectable 277 at the end of day.

It was good news for the Indians to finish the day with the scoreline, especially compared to the tea-time score of 170-3 but not good enough compared to the score when Siddle came to the crease. But, Dhoni would have felt happy that none of his front-line bowlers broke down after bowling 20 overs each (Zak bowled 23 in fact). Ashwin gave a good impression in his first stint Down Under by extracting spin and bounce on the first day of the test. Will the pitch deteriorate further to help him in the second innings is to be seen. Dhoni could have perhaps used Virat Kohli, Sehwag and Sachin for few overs in between to reduce the load on the bowlers but it was not to be.

Overall, an intriguing day but the session score-board at the end of Day 1 shows the Aussies slightly ahead at 2-1.

Ashes series - 11 reasons why Oz lost at MCG

Ugly CaptainThe Ashes is on its way to England after the hosts lost by an innings (again) and more at MCG. Hardly anything went right for the Oz team from the moment the coin was tossed. Here, we look at 11 reasons why they lost at MCG:

1. Ricky Ponting - The captain should take the responsibility of losing the test match as well as the Ashes. First with his batting which is dismal at this moment (an average of 16 runs in 4 test matches is hardly Ponting-like) and then his captaincy which seems to be lacking the imagination required to conjure results from hopeless situations. Adding to these is his brawl with umpires that saw him argue with the best umpire in the world - his desperation showing up in a visible manner.
2. Michael Clarke - The Deputy has a slightly better average than his captain (21+) and that is not saying much in his defense. The Pup needs to sort out his batting, especially against the short-pitched variety - he doesn't need to go far to do it. The new entrant into the Selection Committee - Greg Chappell - can do a great job.
3. Phil Hughes - the opener wanted to do the role of a Virender Sehwag for Australia when chosen. The joke in twitverse is that he is doing the role of Suresh Raina - enough said!!!
4. Shane Watson - Has been contributing steadily at the top of the order but guilty of throwing it away after scoring a fifty. His lack of bowling has handicapped the Oz further.
5. Steven Smith - Was he chosen for his batting or bowling? The most surprising selection after that of Cameron White, he has been missing on the wickets column while adding few runs on the board (by the way, he has a higher average than Clarke and Ponting!!!)
6. Michael Hussey - Mr.Cricket had his first set of failures in the series in this test match. The second highest run-scorer in the series, he has managed to salvage his reputation thanks to his scores in the first three test matches. Failures were bound to come but two in the same match was a bit too difficult to swallow.
7. Brad Haddin - The other lower-order contributor for Australia in this series who has been shoring up the scores. His keeping has been steady for the Oz - maybe the right guy to take over the captaincy hat also.
8. Mitchell Johnson - A six-wicket haul in Perth notwithstanding, his alter-ego appeared in MCG and continued the otherwise depressing performances in test match. One of the reasons why Australia struggles to take twenty wickets in a match.
9. Ben Hilfenhaus - Another failure who has taken four wickets in three matches this series. An English-type bowler who has failed as bad as Johnson.
10. Ryan Harris - Injured in the series and out of the 2011 ODI World Cup. Was doing a good job in supporting Siddle with his lion-hearted performances but faces an uncertain future now.
11. Peter Siddle - The bowler who has looked like taking wickets for Australia - running in fast and doing his bit for the struggling team. The only bowler who looks capable of playing for a longer period.

Related articles

• Ashes series - Even-stevens at MCG (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• England Retain The Ashes After Test Win (news.sky.com)

Ashes series - Even-stevens at MCG

After the resurgence of the Australian attack in Perth, the series is even-stevens at MCG with everything to play for both the teams. Ricky Ponting seems to have recovered and is all set to play tomorrow - news that must have made the team Management feel relieved. More so Greg Chappell who believes that Clarke is not ready to be the captain now.

The pitch will be key after there were reports that the playing deck was switched. If it supports the slower bowlers, England will enjoy the advantage while if it is a hard one, the onus will be on the batsmen to revive the innings from the opposition bowlers.

Will Hussey and Cook continue their golden run? Or will it be the resurgence of Ponting and Collingwood? Similarly, will Johnson continue his all-round performance he showed in the Perth test or will another avatar of the fast bowler appear at MCG? Will Anderson rally his team after reports of stiffness were played down by him?

All questions will be answered over the next five days when one team will blink. Which team will it be?

Related articles

• Shane Warne: momentum says Australia will defeat England at Melbourne in fourth Ashes Test (telegraph.co.uk)

Ashes series - Australia announce squad for 3rd test

The Oz selectors have named their squad for the third test match

Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Three changes - one necessitated by injury to Simon Katich while the dismal bowling forced the inclusions of Smith and Beer. Marcus North has been finally rested by the selectors after calls were loud and clear.

Though the inclusion of Beer was a surprise to the entire world, the legendary Shane Warne had suggested his name when there was a big noise to recall him back to the Oz squad. Did the Oz selectors just follow his advice to name the youngster? Warne's rival, Macgill, is not impressed however. The player himself was surprised by the call-up. Whatever it is, the spinner looks to be another shot in the dark by the team management?

Mike Gatting suggests that Ricky Ponting should step down and concentrate on his batting even though agreeing that there are not many options to replace him outside Clarke. But, given Clarke's current form, is he a good choice? No. Who else then? It has to be Ricky Ponting, by default, then. Dean Jones gives his two cents on how the Oz should hit back - hard. Will his words inspire the team in the next test?

Related articles

• Beer a big call, says Hilditch (news.theage.com.au)
• Ashes series - Is the new Australia same as old England? (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Ashes series - Interesting stats

Interesting statistics shared on various Australian sites

18.50 - Michael Clarke's average in the 12 matches since he moved up to number four [courtesy Courier Mail] He made up for it today but fell off the last ball of the day to bring the English bowlers back in contention.
17 - Number of Tests since Australian selectors dropped a batsman [courtesy The Australian] When are they going to drop Marcus North, who clearly does not fit the bill? Worse still, who will they bring in to replace North? Cameron White? David Hussey? Brad Hodge?
4 - Number of batsmen on the four-man selection panel [courtesy The Australian] No wonder the bowlers dont know whether they are coming into the team or going out.
22 - Number of years since Australia has gone four Tests without a victory [courtesy The Australian] Gone are the days when the Aussie team dominated world attacks. They had forgotten how things were in the pre-Border era.
8.29 - Marcus North's average when called upon to bat before Australia have made 150 [courtesy SMH] Do we need to say anything here?
54.79 - North's average when going in with 150+ on the board [courtesy SMH]
1 - Number of players to make a 'diamond duck' in an Ashes Test before yesterday [Rodney Hogg run out by Dennis Lillee, 1981 - courtesy SMH] Diamond and Golden ducks on the first day of the test match - what a setback for the Aussies!!
2 - Matches with four century partnerships in a test innings

Related articles

• Hussey looks to the skies (espncricinfo.com)
• Rough diamond for Katich, golden day for England (espncricinfo.com)

Ashes series - more trouble for Australia

The Australian team seemed to plunge into more problems on the Ashes series - recalling a person who was removed from the big original list of 17 only yesterday. Usman Khawaja was the beneficiary of a back injury to the vice-captain Michael Clarke - one that has been afflicting the batsman for quite sometime now.
The batsman was suffering from bad form in the previous tour to India - this injury coming at the start of the series must have given him and his captain a head-ache alright.

 
The captain himself is under pressure to get his act right in this series and bring back the urn to the Aussie sub-continent. He has lost two ashes series and another defeat now will put him under tremendous pressure. He put up a brave face at the conference today but agrees in the perception that his job is on the line.

Simon Katich and Marcus North however agree that Anderson will be handy in the Brisbane test. Even though Mitchell Johnson has mentioned that he will target the English captain in the test match, the general feeling that one gets on reading these articles is that the Aussies have really gone soft. Or are they really feeling the heat after the initial warm-up matches that the Poms played?

After today's development, I would feel that the English are slightly ahead (55-45) of the Australian team in this series. Let us see how the next 2 days pan out before the start of the first test.

Related articles

• English talk up Ashes chances (3news.co.nz)
• Ashes series - Australia prune their squad (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Ashes series - Is the new Australia same as old England?

Years ago, when the Aussies were beating anyone and everyone who played them in test matches, England were a sorry lot. They picked players in the hope that they would perform. A player would be selected for a match only to be dropped the next one, without any reason. Even captains were not spared - the English team resembled the tube stations that dot all across the country - players going in and out of the team regularly.

How times have changed - Australia are resembling their ashes counterpart now. Today's announcement was something that would have done the English team proud. SEVENTEEN!!! 17 players for the first test in Brisbane. What were the selectors thinking? 

Going into details of the squad, let us see was it really required?  The players selected include - Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger

The players likely to play the test at this time are Katich, Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz. The remaining 3 slots are open - one is the No.6 slot where North seems to be the front-runner and in all likelihood will play in the first test. The other two are the slots of the pace bowlers - Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus will be the first choices with Bollinger in the hunt in case of an injury.


Why then did the selectors choose 4-5 more players than the usual list? Of course, injury worries are there but that doesn't necessitate the selection of so many players. Are the selectors trying to confuse their opponents? Michael Hussey is too good a player who can be replaced given the current status of Aussie cricket - then, why go for players like Ferguson? Is it the presence of a person by name Greg Chappell, who is introducing these "novel" ideas? Or are the Aussies really confused? Whatever it is, they are probably the New England team now. Will their performance resemble the English also? Time will tell.

Related articles

• Ashes series - starting soon (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• The Ashes 2010: England bowlers skip Hobart warm-up to tune up in Brisbane (telegraph.co.uk)

India series - Where did the Oz fail?

India finished the test series against Australia at home on a winning note though the difference was not big. The Oz team scored 400+ runs in the first innings of both the test matches but still lost. Where did they fail? Let us go through the team members that formed the composition of the Australian team?

1. Openers - Simon Katich and Shane Watson. The most consistent among the batsmen. Only the last innings in Bengaluru was when they failed to raise a huge stand. They managed to counter the threat of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth with the new ball but could not manage to score a larger one. Watson did not ball as much as he could have - that might be the only complaint against him in this series.
2. Ricky Ponting - The captain himself agreed that he let the team down by not scoring centuries. He was effective in countering the threat of Harbhajan but not successful in continuing further.
3. The Two Michaels - Clarke and Hussey. While the first one was a complete failure in this series, the second one made starts but again, did not score big (one dismissal was unfortunate in the first test though). It was quite surprising to see Clarke fail since he plays spin so well.
4. Marcus North - He was always under the sword but managed to regain his spot with a century. But still, one feels that he is not convincing as a test cricketer.
5. Tim Paine - One of the successes of the tour - being a replacement of Haddin, he performed well both in front of as well as behind the stumps. Very good prospect for the Aussies.
6. Nathan Hauritz - another failure on this tour. He was not helped by the bad field placement in the last innings of Bengaluru but at no time did he manage to trouble any of the Indian batsmen. Steve Smith will fancy his chances for the Ashes series.
7. Mitchell Johnson - Was the senior-most bowler of the squad but did not behave like one. His performance was up and down in both the tests. Only when he is back in the old form he is known to have, can the Aussie team manage to win test matches with the ease of old.
8. Ben Hilfenhaus - bowled better than the other bowlers and showed that swing was not his only expertise. He could bounce out Sehwag and provide breakthroughs regularly.
9. Doug Bollinger - Injury forced him to miss the latter part of the first test but he showed glimpses of talent that can make him a permanent bowler in the squad.
10. Peter George - Another exciting prospect who learnt test match cricket the hard way. He will have to be tested on home soil once as well.

Overall, the team was talking more of the Ashes rather than the series on hand - maybe that was one of the reasons for the bad performance. There are talks of Ricky Ponting's bad captaincy but who is the next option? Michael Clarke, who had a poor series? These are troubled times for Ponting when he doesn't have the services of all the greats (Mcgrath, Warne, Gillespie, Gilchrist, Hayden) - imagine what would have happened if Clive Lloyd had the current crop of West Indian bowlers as part of his team!

Will the Aussie team bounce back? Definitely. They will show the world that they are still strong at home by beating the English team at the Ashes series.

Watch the Betfair page for betting on the Ashes series.

Related articles

• India cruises to easy win, sweeps series 2-0 (thehindu.com)
• India beat Aussies to win series (news.bbc.co.uk)