ASHES: The Ashes stress is here to stay
Trent Bridge, Nottingham - At lunch we veterans of England’s astonishing two-run win against Australia at Edgbaston in 2005 were wilting – suffering intolerable stress brought on by the Ashes again, only seven years after the last time. The relief of Trent Bridge finally happened shortly after lunch. Aleem Dar had rejected an appeal for a catch behind the wicket. England held a quick meeting, and although they did not seem entirely convinced, they asked for a review. All 13 players were waited tensely while the off-field umpire contemplated the various technological aids at his disposal. Their angst had spread to a capacity crowd.
When he got the message from high in the pavilion and Dar was informed he could reverse his decision and give Brad Haddin out, England’s players leaped in the air and ran towards mid-on to form a tight huddle, leaving Haddin and Pattisnon standing forlornly having lost by a mere 14 runs. No one from the England team came to console them, as Andrew Flintoff had done in 2005 in a moment that seemed to define the spirit of cricket. The teams will not be particularly chummy in the next Test as they were then. The decision review system has tended to erode trust between Test teams.
What had made it a great game was that when one side established a grip, the other found a means of breaking it, and none had done so as effectively as Australia’s two last-wicket partnerships. First Ashton Agar with Phil Hughes broke a world Test record for the last wicket, and on the last day at Trent Bridge Haddin and Pattinson steered Australia from 231 for 9 to the brink of an unlikely victory. These two last wicket partnerships had added 228 of Australia’s total runs. That comes to 39.96 per cent, and must itself be a world record of some kind.
Both the captains, Michael Clarke and Alastair Cook confirmed the greatness of this tight Test. Cook described it as the most topsy-turvy Test he had ever played in; anyone who thinks Test cricket is boring ought to be made to watch a reply of the whole thing, and recant. It had taken five days, but Trent Bridge has shown that this Ashes series can produce cricket of the highest quality. The Australian team had to bear some contemptuous criticism in both hemispheres and they have already proved that wrong. They now know they need not be outplayed.
This will cause some relief at home, but it is good news in England too. The series now promises to be another decent contest, like 2005 and 2009. This is the first time England have won the first Test in an Ashes series in England since 1997, and it has put Australia in the unusual position of having to chase to catch up. Darren Lehmann promised afterwards that they would come up punching, though he probably did not mean it quite like that.
James Anderson was named Man of the Match, an inevitable decision after he took all four of the wickets to fall on the last day. The first three had been caught by Cook at slip to dismiss Agar after another composed display of stout defence, then Starc who seemed uncommitted, and finally Peter Siddle with a fine two-handed diving catch. After a couple of disastrous overs from poor Steven Finn, who gave away 24 runs in two overs and allowed Australia a sniff of victory, Anderson was brought back and duly took the last wicket. His match figures were 10 for 158 off 55.5 overs.
Contestants for the Man of the Match award would have included Ian Bell for his best hundred for England – the 109 runs that became the difference between victory and defeat. For Australia Agar, Haddin with his second innings 71, and Peter Siddle were outstanding. Pattinson would deserve an honourable mention. But there are other players who will be conscious of underachievement, Clarke Cook and Kevin Pietersen among them. Finn, who also dropped a vital chance off Haddin and must have been immensely relieved by the final victory since he would have been a natural for fall-guy had England lost. Finn and Ed Cowan, Australia’s No. 3, may not appear in the second Test.
Back-to-back Test cricket is simply too demanding. The players are on duty again next Thursday and some, such as Anderson, may find they do not have enough time to recover. Australia have experimented with a rotation system, picking eleven players from a larger squad. But television companies do not like this. They want the top team on the screen all the time, which is one way of insuring that that top team will not be fit enough to be on the screen all the time.
But the schedule is inflexible. It will be Lord’s on Thursday. Happy days. Hard days.
Stephen Fay is a former editor of Wisden and author of books about the Bank of England and the collapse of Barings.