I'm writing this post after the conclusion of the 4th test in the 2013 Ashes series in England. England are up 3-0. Although this result, as rightly pointed out by my manager yesterday, does not do justice to the intensity with which the two sides have competed over the last four matches, I'm now certainly of the belief that Australia deserve this scoreline.
The series started off with a close match that Australia lost by 15 runs but won many hearts with the fight they showed. Some of the sheen was taken away from the magical performance that Anderson came up with to cripple Australia everytime they seemed to run away and eventually finish off the match with 10 wickets. Before the series started, almost everyone believed that Australia would be drubbed miserably and England would retain the ashes as easily as it can be done. But no one expected Australia to put up such a fight. Now if we take a closer look at the match we can clearly see that the fight was there but not from Australia's batsmen but from its bowlers, who contributed heavily with both bat and ball. It could be said that Australia were on the wrong side more often than not when it came to marginal umpiring decisions. The discussion was after the match was centered around the shortcomings of the DRS and its tactical use.
Moving to the second match of the series where the bowlers were wayward, Bell continued his good form and Root followed it with a splendid century. The result - a thumping win for England. With glaring errors from umpires, sometimes in spite of inconclusive evidence after taking the assistance of technology, cricketing fraternity were now divided over the real culprit of the errors - DRS or Umpires.
The third test was a different story. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They benefited from positive approach towards their batting and their captain returning to form. They put a 500+ score on the board and put England under the gun with quick top order wickets. Pietersen comes to the party and England avoid follow on. The rest of the match's was centered around the weather which came to England's rescue after an inspired spell of fast bowling from Ryan Harris that left England in trouble early on the fifth day. Rain prevents any further play on day 5 with England reeling at 37-3 and England retain the ashes after taking an insurmountable lead in the series.
The fourth test started with Australia again losing the toss but with their fast bowlers showing the traditional Australian aggression and bundling out England for a frugal 238. Australia, which was for the first time in the series playing with a long tail (without the services of Pattinson and Starc in the batting department) clearly expected their batsmen to step up to the challenge. Australia posted 270 with a fighting century from Chris Rogers and a half century from Watson. England's top order failed miserably again with Harris continuing his good show. But as has been seen for many a time in this Ashes series, Bell stands tall and comes up with a superb century. With some strong tail end contribution from Bresnan, Broad and Swann, England posted a stiff target of 299. Australia beyond everyone's belief start off the chase brilliantly with the opening stand posting a 100 partnership. After which everything went downhill. Runs started to dry up, Broad and Bresnan became unplayable and without the cushion provided by Pattinson and Starc at the lower end the match was poised to end in the same fashion as the first test. And end it did with a meek surrender from the Australian batsmen. The deja vu moment of the match belonged to Shane Watson, who after playing across the line and missing the ball for the umpteenth time of the series, takes a review only to be told to leave the pitch as the ball is found to be gracing the leg stump thereby making it umpire's call.
I was frustrated beyond words last night to see the collapse, especially with the way, the middle order threw away the good work of its openers. No one expected the Australian team to come up with a good performance before the series started. It was only with the promise that was shown in the first test that people started to believe. And how wrong I was to be one of them. To believe that a turn around was possible immediately. In this same series. I am now of the opinion that the current Australian bowling unit is better than the English. Especially because of the way they have kept the superior English batting line up in check and kept their team in the match throughout the series. But the batting has a long long way to go.
The blame for this series loss must sorely lie on the batsmen for not standing up to the challenge and supporting their bowlers. Coming so close to winning second time in the series and losing is something that cannot be rectified now. The agony of the loss will hurt the team more than its fans. It is not the loss but its manner that will leave many hearts broken and many more angry. There is no point fretting about things which aren't in one's hands, like the misery of seeing umpire's call on an Australian review. I hope Clarke and the rest of the team understand that and act on preventing that happening in the first place.
The series started off with a close match that Australia lost by 15 runs but won many hearts with the fight they showed. Some of the sheen was taken away from the magical performance that Anderson came up with to cripple Australia everytime they seemed to run away and eventually finish off the match with 10 wickets. Before the series started, almost everyone believed that Australia would be drubbed miserably and England would retain the ashes as easily as it can be done. But no one expected Australia to put up such a fight. Now if we take a closer look at the match we can clearly see that the fight was there but not from Australia's batsmen but from its bowlers, who contributed heavily with both bat and ball. It could be said that Australia were on the wrong side more often than not when it came to marginal umpiring decisions. The discussion was after the match was centered around the shortcomings of the DRS and its tactical use.
Moving to the second match of the series where the bowlers were wayward, Bell continued his good form and Root followed it with a splendid century. The result - a thumping win for England. With glaring errors from umpires, sometimes in spite of inconclusive evidence after taking the assistance of technology, cricketing fraternity were now divided over the real culprit of the errors - DRS or Umpires.
The third test was a different story. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They benefited from positive approach towards their batting and their captain returning to form. They put a 500+ score on the board and put England under the gun with quick top order wickets. Pietersen comes to the party and England avoid follow on. The rest of the match's was centered around the weather which came to England's rescue after an inspired spell of fast bowling from Ryan Harris that left England in trouble early on the fifth day. Rain prevents any further play on day 5 with England reeling at 37-3 and England retain the ashes after taking an insurmountable lead in the series.
The fourth test started with Australia again losing the toss but with their fast bowlers showing the traditional Australian aggression and bundling out England for a frugal 238. Australia, which was for the first time in the series playing with a long tail (without the services of Pattinson and Starc in the batting department) clearly expected their batsmen to step up to the challenge. Australia posted 270 with a fighting century from Chris Rogers and a half century from Watson. England's top order failed miserably again with Harris continuing his good show. But as has been seen for many a time in this Ashes series, Bell stands tall and comes up with a superb century. With some strong tail end contribution from Bresnan, Broad and Swann, England posted a stiff target of 299. Australia beyond everyone's belief start off the chase brilliantly with the opening stand posting a 100 partnership. After which everything went downhill. Runs started to dry up, Broad and Bresnan became unplayable and without the cushion provided by Pattinson and Starc at the lower end the match was poised to end in the same fashion as the first test. And end it did with a meek surrender from the Australian batsmen. The deja vu moment of the match belonged to Shane Watson, who after playing across the line and missing the ball for the umpteenth time of the series, takes a review only to be told to leave the pitch as the ball is found to be gracing the leg stump thereby making it umpire's call.
I was frustrated beyond words last night to see the collapse, especially with the way, the middle order threw away the good work of its openers. No one expected the Australian team to come up with a good performance before the series started. It was only with the promise that was shown in the first test that people started to believe. And how wrong I was to be one of them. To believe that a turn around was possible immediately. In this same series. I am now of the opinion that the current Australian bowling unit is better than the English. Especially because of the way they have kept the superior English batting line up in check and kept their team in the match throughout the series. But the batting has a long long way to go.
The blame for this series loss must sorely lie on the batsmen for not standing up to the challenge and supporting their bowlers. Coming so close to winning second time in the series and losing is something that cannot be rectified now. The agony of the loss will hurt the team more than its fans. It is not the loss but its manner that will leave many hearts broken and many more angry. There is no point fretting about things which aren't in one's hands, like the misery of seeing umpire's call on an Australian review. I hope Clarke and the rest of the team understand that and act on preventing that happening in the first place.
