Dust to dust....

…Ashes to Ashes

It’s early to make a call like this but it seems likely on first test evidence that the English will be too strong for the Australians and will retain the smallest trophy in the sporting world.

What a finish to that first test. There were heroic English bowling performances and for the Aussies, two of the best tenth-wicket stands I can recall. But the Aussie top and middle order batsmen continued the trend of the past few years of not performing. But the Decision Review System had the final say.

The Ashes is one of the world’s oldest sporting contests dating back to the 1880’s. In a time when test cricket increasingly struggles to compete with the popularity of the shorter forms of the game, the Ashes is one of the few remaining attractions of the five day marathon version of the sport.

For so long the Aussies were the dominant force in world cricket. In the 1990’s Ricky Ponting, the Waughs, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer dominated opposition bowlers then Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz would sledge their way through batting line-ups on the way to another test victory. There was some succession planning in evidence as players like Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist and the late-blossoming Michael Hussey emerged on the world stage.

But despite the development of these players, it seemed that in relatively quick succession McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, the Waugh twins, Martyn, Langer et al disappeared from the international game. There were the inevitable calls that many of these players hung around just a touch too long at the expense of the youngsters coming through. But it’s always a tricky call to drop legends of the game when they’re still performing at a good level and want to remain involved.  At the present time, the Aussies seem to have developed some outstanding bowling stocks with players like Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and the previously unknown Ashley Agar, who is now the greatest number 11 batsman in test history.  There are also numerous others waiting in the wings.

But the Aussies’ batting stocks have not fared so well. Headlines like”…As the Aussies Fold Again” would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Numerous players have been tried and quickly discarded – it’s only a couple of years since Usman Khawaja was touted as the next big thing. And several of the current crop, for example Ed Cowan, must have serious question marks hanging over their calibre at this level. 

In the meantime the English team has developed into one of, if not the best in the world. Their recruitment drive in the African continent has been combined with resurgence in their county game that has resulted in a high number of excellent players coming through. Names like Bairstow, Root, Cook, Broad and Swann complement ‘imports’ like Trott, Pietersen and Prior superbly.  England has built a superb central core around which the rest of the squad is built. They just need to ensure that, when the time comes, they make the tough calls and, unlike Australia, don’t let the superstars hang around just that little bit too long.

Americas Cup

A quick summary of recent events;

Officials say: “You can’t have those innovations on your boat – we’re changing the rules”.

‘Luna Rossa’ team’s response: “OK then, we’re going to protest and we won’t race until we get an answer”.

Team “New Zealand”: “Fine, then we’ll race against an imaginary opposition”.

TVNZ: “That sounds great, we’ll broadcast that”.

Race Committee: “Innovations are all good. Luna Rossa – get back in there”.

Conclusion: The whole thing is a farce. Even if we did win, what does that mean? There are only three challengers, each having spent hundreds of millions of dollars to be there. Each team consists of a conglomerate of highly-paid yachting mercenaries from numerous different countries.

Winners: Lawyers and already-wealthy yachties.

Loser: Sport. What started as a keenly-contested test of sailing skill between representatives of different countries racing identical boats has turned into nothing more than a debacle and an embarrassment. It’s hard to see how the Americas Cup will ever recover from this. People just don’t care about this ‘sport’ anymore.

Solution: Put everyone back into identical 12 metre boats and just let them race. That doesn’t seem too difficult does it?

Till next time,

SG