Sydney : Day 3 : Order the paint stripper
That, as they say, is pretty much that. Although England have managed to string this out to a fourth day, but at what equates to 12/5, the first Ashes whitewash in 80 odd years is now inevitable. Australia’s tail managed to do exactly what England’s tail (and top order, for that matter) failed to do: score runs. A 71 from Shane Warne helped Australia, albeit somewhat unconvincingly, get to 393, a lead of 102. England’s batsmen once again chose to commit hari-kari in the 40 odd overs before close and I can’t help feeling that England really are cutting it a tad fine if this is some cunning plan and they’re planning to show the Aussies how to, actually, I’ll stop there. It’s beyond a joke now.
The fact is, all the promises made from all the “spokesmen” for England, ranging from Fletcher, through Flintoff to even James Anderson, about how they were “up for it” and how they were “determined to give something back to the England supporters” were all empty and meaningless. There was no determination in Alastair Cook’s 8 ball 2nd innings. There was no “up for it-ness” in Ian Bell’s waft at a wide one. Mahmood once again bowled staggeringly few overs, just 11, for 60 runs. Considering he can’t bat, how can you have a man in the side who does so little? Collingwood might have scored a double century in this series, but he’s done precious little else. Chris Read has been given the opportunity to shine, to play for England, to assert his place - but has so far failed to do any of that.
The current England team, are not a team. We’ve seen the odd individual performance, even in this match - Jimmy Anderson’s 3fer was a good return to the side for him, and even Flintoff’s 1st innings 89 was a good looking knock that showed a glimmer of his former self - but at no point in this match, nor this series, have we seen England truly operating as a team. A group of 12 men who are “all for one and one for all”, as demonstrated by the communal Christmas lunch, to which at least 4 members (of which two were senior members of the squad, Pietersen and Collingwood) chose not to attend. Arguably the most important thing in any team is the team spirit, the sense of brotherhood, almost. (But not in a weird cliquey Da Vinci Code way.) Yes, it’s very hard to maintain the team spirit when you’re being thrashed, but the ability to rally together, to raise the spirit, to keep each and every man going is what defines a truly great team.
Australia have it; England don’t.
Tags: Australia, England, its-just-not-cricket, Notice-Board, Test Cricket, The-AshesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cricket
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