Will the Phoenix rise?

By Rahul Patil

“In order to rise from its ashes, a phoenix first must burn” – Octavia E. Butler. England called all the shots in the first test until the final hour. They won the toss on a flat pitch. Smacked the first ball of the series to the boundary. Declared with Joe Root batting like a dream on 118*. Managed to get a tiny first innings lead. Dangled the carrot of a realistic fourth innings run chase of 281 in front of Australia and at 227 for 8 they had them on the ropes. Yet England lost. Innings defeats are sometimes easy to digest, it’s the close ones that hurt for longer.

It’s not a secret that England have asked for flat wickets. It was a surprise that they decided to go in with the trio of Anderson, Broad & Robinson at Edgbaston. All great bowlers, but all require the pitch or conditions to offer them something to be highly effective. Anderson has already admitted that the Edgbaston pitch was “like kryptonite” for him. He also added that if such surfaces continued in the series then he will be “done”. Mark Wood offers a point of difference. Pace is pace yaar (a hindi slang meaning mate). When you can bowl at 155 kmph it takes the pitch out of the equation. Could he have been the man to clean up the Australian lower order in the second innings?

When Jack Leach was ruled out of the series England decided to go back to Moeen Ali. Rekindling a romance with an ex has its advantages. You know exactly what to expect and because its round two both try harder to make it work. The only problem is that white ball cricket doesn’t train your spinning finger for the rigors of red ball cricket. Moeen tried his best but the injury clearly hampered his craft.

A lot has been said and written about that first innings declaration. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if England had picked up a couple of wickets in those four overs we would have all raised our glasses in praise of Stokes and McCullum. England have worked so long and so hard creating brand “Bazball” that sometimes it feels like they make decisions just to keep the brand alive. It was fine to declare at Mount Maunganui against the blackcaps because it was a pink ball test and the floodlights had started taking full effect. At Edgbaston their own no 10 was batting comfortably against the second new ball apart from Root looking in ominous touch.

 

I grew up watching Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting’s Australian teams dominate world cricket for about fifteen years. I learnt two things from that phase; 1) Aussies never give up until the last run has been scored or the final wicket falls 2) If you ever get an opportunity to bat them out of the game, keep them in the field for longer or come back for that one extra spell – do it! Because they don’t give you those opportunities every day.

While all the talk has revolved around England and Bazball, Usman Khawaja batted like a monk and resisted all the temptations thrown at him. 206 runs in the match at a strike rate of 38.46. An old fashioned innings in the era of ripped jeans and tank tops. Call it defensive, boring or anything else, ultimately it was his contribution in both innings that proved to be a huge factor in Australia winning.

Nathan Lyon will be remembered for his cameo with the bat but his match figures of 53-3-229-8 also tell a story. England don’t have a spinner to match Lyon’s skill set. Which is why they need to be careful with the surfaces they dish out in this series. Lyon is currently sitting on 495 test wickets. Lyon is a prime example of the fact that good spinners can be effective regardless of the surface. How I wish India had realized this at the Oval in the WTC final.

So what can we expect at Lord’s? Well for starters the pitch has a lot more live grass on it. England have already announced their playing XI and replaced the injured Moeen Ali with Josh Tongue who had an impressive debut against Ireland. Mark Wood left out once again. Joe Root’s part timers will be the solitary spin option. England have already said that they will likely “ramp up” the aggression for the second test. Get ready for some more scoops, ramps, reverse sweeps and switch hits. I would have tried to explore the possibility of both Bairstow and Foakes in the playing XI. I love the returns Bairstow offers with the bat but I also love the security of Foakes behind the stumps. I am just a normal investor.

Australia on the other hand have kept their cards close to their chest. The only real decision for them will be to choose two from the trio of Hazlewood, Boland and Starc. It is unlikely that Labuschagne and Smith will miss out in consecutive tests. Warner at the top of the order is the only other talking point but he did enough at Edgbaston to warrant his selection at Lords.

 

The war of words between Ollie Robinson and ex Australian cricketers is an interesting one. In their playing days’ followers of the whole “mental disintegration” theory hunted in packs. The Robinson vs ex Australian cricketers is taking us back into time for sure.

On the other hand, it was during the Brendon McCullum and Mike Hesson era that the blackcaps decided that they wanted to play their cricket a certain way. No sledging on field and no trash talk outside it. Focus on your game and let your bat and ball do all the talking. It was a philosophy that reaped rich rewards for New Zealand Cricket and it didn’t take time for kiwi cricketers to be loved and appreciated all over the world.

Ollie Robinson has had a great start to his international career. It’s all well and good to talk a big game but you have to back it up with performance as well. Cricket is the best teacher of life lessons. Many before Robinson have learnt these lessons. Once the umpire says “play” it’s what you do with that red cherry in your hand that matters.

The first test definitely lived up to all the pre series hype. If Australia win the second test, England will need a miracle to come back into the series and boy wont that be a mouthwatering prospect. It brings us back to the first line of this article; Will the Phoenix rise? We should know by the end of the week.

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