The 'Gabbatoir Rolls On: Ashes 2021/2022 follows old plans
Ashes 2021/2022 follows old plans
[Image: a frame from the Cricket Australia video published on youtube which is included below. Perhaps even a non-cricketer can see the amount of energy tensed, about to be delivered on that ball by the batsman.]
Publication date: 2021-12-11
Day 1
Standing beside a visibly green pitch, beneath leaden skies, with rain on the meteorologists' horizon England's Captain, Joe Root, won the best of tosses to lose and chose the only defensible option, to bat.
To signify the power of the vice into which Root had been placed, the first delivery of the match and series by Aussie quick Mitchell Starc swung back towards the leg stump behind England opener Rory Burns' back leg. Burns was burnt by trying to leave the pitch too quickly, with his front leg having prematurely begun the boundary walk which the umpire was about to require. Rattle go the stumps, all commentators exceed the voltage allowed on their pacemakers, and Ashes 2021/2022 is under way.
[Note: the 'match' link is to the ad infested but excellent 'cricinfo' site, which has "all the details" of the match. I recommend the ‘Scoreboard’ and ‘Commentary’ sections].
For the voltage problems, I thank Damian Tardio (@damiantardio),
Team England (hereafter lovingly referred to as Eng) tried to reset their pacemakers while Australia's team (equivalently labeled Aus) ignored all medical advice and felt that this was how things were ordained. BBQs were lit, beers opened, the TV commentary muted and an Australian Radio station or the BBC's commentary pumped into the house's PA. This was gonna be a good 'un!
All discerning Test Cricket lovers know to not get carried away by a single delivery, but to wait for an extended period of play to gauge the pitch and conditions, just as England's openers would have. The gentle gauging was rudely interrupted by 4 wickets in under an hour, less than half way through the first session of play:
The Precursor
1-0 (Rory Burns, 0.1 ov), 2-11 (Dawid Malan, 3.2 ov), 3-11 (Joe Root, 5.5 ov), 4-29 (Ben Stokes, 12.4 ov)
At this point all voltage guards on commentator pacemakers had been disabled, and it was ON. However, the calming vicissitudes of Test Cricket would not be denied, and events settled down a little before the nourishing influence of the lunch break arrived.
The Calm
5-60 (Haseeb Hameed, 26.4 ov), leading to 5/112 with a creditable 50-odd run partnership in difficult conditions
Normality reigned for a while before the green pitch, grey skies and the COVID-19 tempered rage of a very skilled Aus bowling attack broke all restraint and sent the visitors collectively back to the dressing room:
The Storm
6-112 (Jos Buttler, 40.3 ov), 7-118 (Ollie Pope, 43.1 ov), 8-122 (Ollie Robinson, 44.3 ov), 9-144 (Mark Wood, 48.3 ov), 10-147 (Chris Woakes, 50.1 ov)
At this point the hidden sun, the seas, El Nino and the meteorologists' clairvoyance intervened with even heavier skies making conditions so dark that the last session of play was abandoned. The doom of the skies were laid as a funereal shroud over the corpse of the Eng innings.
Grandstand At Stumps: Captain Cummins' day out and Joe Root's failure at the Ashes Gabba Test, Grandstand at Stumps, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 2021-12-09
England blown away as Captain Cummins takes five, Test Match Special, BBC, 2021-12-08
The Final Word Ashes Daily - Brisbane, Day 1, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins, The Final Word, 2021-12-08
Day 2
The new day dawned with sunny skies to salve the sorry stain of day 1 and allow a bit of batting. But, the romp of Aus's bowling attack on day one would not carry into their batting. Aus's opener Harris was removed early, and Warner and Aus' number 3 "Laboosh" Labuschagne grafted and grafted through the majority of the first session before the new ball had lost most of its hardness and sheen.
Australia: 50 runs in 21.3 overs (131 balls), Extras 3
Many claim that Aus' opener Warner was "lucky", but two thirds of that luck came from human hands, Warner's knowledge of the 'Gabbatoir's pitch and Eng's lack of ability to capitalize on the few errors he made. He was bowled off a no ball, but that is a bowling error, not luck. The Warner and Laboosh partnership put on 156 runs for the second wicket, outscoring Eng’s first innings in a single partnership. Why? You be the judge, but it seems knowledge of the ground and pitch, better batting conditions, and patience were key factors. The importance of this partnership cannot be understated. Notwithstanding the devastating bowling performance on day 1, there are two periods of batting play which create the ensuing Aus victory, and this is the gritty first.
Excellent bowling during the second session, particularly by Eng’s Robinson and Wood create sufficient pressure for Laboosh to have a brain fade. He “left runs on the pitch”.
The Foundation
1-10 (Marcus Harris, 5.2 ov), 2-166 (Marnus Labuschagne, 47.2 ov)
As is pleasurably often the case, a wicket raises spirits, esprit de corps, and energy in the fielding team. Eng grabbed the opportunity of a new batter at the crease with all hands and went at 'em.
3-189 (Steven Smith, 52.6 ov), 4-195 (David Warner, 55.2 ov), 5-195 (Cameron Green, 55.3 ov)
With Aus on 189 just 42 runs in the lead, Travis Head, selected just ahead of seasoned and skilled Aus batter Usman Khawaja, arrives at the crease to see three wickets fall within four overs for 6 runs, including two wickets in two balls by the indomitable Robinson. "Something must be done", as the saying goes. What follows is a fairy tale, with a little sprinkling of luck, and a lot of making.
Head starts the next over on a score of 1 run, which is infinitely better than 0, but a very long way from what the team needs. Two overs later the pixie dust is sprinkled with an edge between the slips and gully and a ball that falls short of second slip. Next over, Head sweetly times a slightly over pitched delivery from Robinson down the ground. Nerves settled, its time to "get focused".
By the end of the day's play Head has scored 112. Although he came to the crease at the end of the second session, he did not score in that session. He has thus scored one of the most difficult and rarest feats for a batsman in Test Cricket, a century in a session. Not only that, Head has batted with the lower order to take Aus to a close of play score of 7/343, which is a 196 run lead. Recall, Head came in at a 42 run lead and watched a dramatic collapse of wickets at the other end.
Highlights of Head's Century in a Session (and some of the next morning), Cricket Australia
Here is a follow up to the title image of Head square cutting to the boundary. The ball has disappeared to the right of frame after the bat has put it there. This is THE NEXT FRAME at highest resolution from the video. Marnus “Laboosh” Labuschagne described this as the best of Head’s shots, comparing it with (RIP) Phillip Hughes’ square cuts. The shot can be seen in the highlights video above at 01:24 (min:sec). Head is only on 36 at the time. The title image of the highlights video is the follow through of this shot (well played, Cricket Australia’s video team).
The initial stand by Warner and Laboosh created the opportunity for Aus. Head's efforts with the lower order cemented it, in emphatic style.
Earlier in the day, late in the Warner/Laboosh partnership, Eng had brought on their spinner, Leach. The team plan was to smack the crap out of his statistics, which Warner and Marnus duly did. Leach returns later in the day and is met with the same treatment by Head. Referring to my earlier article on the intricacies of Test Cricket, there is more method than madness in this. Whacking Leach out of the attack forces the pace bowlers to take the load, and thus tire them. Nuanced observers of Test Cricket always keep three levels of perspective on the game; the battle between ball and bat that is happening at the moment, the phase of play being executed and how that relates to the greater picture, and the game perspective itself. In the demolition of Leach we see all three facets in action.
Grandstand at Stumps Day 2: Head accelerates Australia's charge, Grandstand at Stumps, ABC, 2021-12-09
Australia Head and shoulders in front, Test Match Special, BBC, 2021-12-09
The Final Word Ashes Daily - Brisbane, Day 2, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins, The Final Word, 2021-12-09
Day 3
At 7/343 and with a new ball in hand, one should have expected Eng to get rid of the last 3 wickets quickly. It was not to be.
Head in combination with Starc and Lyon, with the smallest of help from Hazlewood, pushed Aus to a total of 425 for the first innings. This was the darkest hour for Eng.
Head managed to achieve 152 runs off 148 deliveries faced putting him in lights for the fastest 150 in Ashes history next to the player that revolutionized the ‘keeper/batsman role who scared the living daylights out of all comers, Adam Gilchrist. This was a monumental achievement for the under pressure Head.
A very important But must be added. The real damage that Head delivered was on the afternoon before; that century in a session. The 152 looks great, and it did help, but it was really the 112 on day 2, on top of the second wicket stand by Warner and Laboosh, that doomed Eng.
Aus leave the pitch, heads high.
Day 3, Part 2
Following the loss of both Eng openers, not too quickly, Eng's middle order Malan and their captain Root produced the second best partnership of the match. It had all of the hallmarks of dogged determination and defiant resistance that any team supporter could ever want.
1-23 (Rory Burns, 8.6 ov), 2-61 (Haseeb Hameed, 20.6 ov), 3-223 (Dawid Malan, 73.4 ov)
Why do supporters of Eng lament post game about "their useless team" when they have seen this? A century and a half stand by the third wicket partnership has been made, undefeated! Malan was there when Burns was removed, and stuck it out, played his shots, teamed up with his captain, and pushed and stood, and pushed and gritted and just kept supporting his team and captain, while Root himself did the same. 53 overs by some of the best bowlers in the world were thrown at them, to no avail. Determined, dogged, persistent belief in the face of calamitous odds to plant a flag and say "We will not give up". It was a magnificent stand. It did not change the outcome, but that was not their fault. Without them the outcome was certain, but with that stand even the partisan media needed to hold the opportunity of a draw, or even a win, as possible.
From efforts like this are wrought the fabric of Test Cricket, and be damned all of you English griefers. It was a defiant stand, and if the lower order could have stood up, the outcome of the game was still in the balance.
Root and Malan left the field, not out, with the score at 2/220, still in arrears, but still there.
Grandstand at Stumps Day 3: England claws back off Root and Malan, with question marks over Hazlewood, Grandstand at Stumps, ABC, 2021-12-10
Root and Malan revive England's hopes at the Gabba, Test Match Special, BBC, 2021-12-10
The Final Word Ashes Daily - Brisbane, Day 3, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins, The Final Word, 2021-12-10
Day 4
It was not to be.
Root well understood the challenge; to not lose a wicket during the 10 overs before the new ball may be taken, and then to survive the emerging greater challenge.
Australia's all to often maligned off spinner, Lyon, had done his job earlier in the match, holding an end and protecting the run rate. He had not, however, achieved a wicket, and that wicket would have been his 400th in Test Cricket.
While Lyon has engaged himself in pre-series media circuses some 4 to 8 years ago, he has matured since. He speaks his mind, with always a view towards the team. People who take him otherwise, as conniving or deceitful, miss the point. He is a team man, and loved by the team for it. His decade in the team, following a series of desperate attempts to replace a once in several lifetimes spinner, Warne, were shadowed by a collection of initial series in which he could not do that which was expected; to close out a second innings on a degrading pitch. Having proven his ability in Adelaide god knows how many years ago, still his critics persisted. His dogged determination never wavered. Keeping down an end and allowing the pace component of the attack, from which he sought recognition, to rotate at the other, he slowly but surely built his wickets tally. Finally, denial was futile; he was the leading off spinner for Australia in Test Cricket having surpassed greats before him, and was accepted as the "GOAT" (greatest of all time) that he had become.
The Lyon griefers were baying about the 400th wicket during day 3, missing the whole time what Lyon and his captain, Cummins, were doing. That earlier article on Test Cricket highlights the constant tension between runs, wickets and time. Aus had runs, wickets and time. There was no need for risky maneuvers or crazy plays. What was needed was calm, concentrated dedication. Cummins rotated his bowlers, Lyon kept an end, and the partially injured Hazlewood was kept in the wings. Within is revealed the fourth tier of Test Cricket appreciation; the series. The Ashes is a five Test series, and preserving the health of one's best players is important, especially when risking injury to them is not required. Risking players would have been folly, and Lyon did his job to help the captain avoid having to take that risk.
In the end, it all comes down far too quickly. Lyon makes the breakthrough to remove Malan (happily caught by Laboosh), and before long its all over bar the shouting.
3-223 (Dawid Malan, 73.4 ov), 4-229 (Joe Root, 76.1 ov), 5-234 (Ollie Pope, 77.3 ov), 6-266 (Ben Stokes, 88.4 ov), 7-268 (Jos Buttler, 91.1 ov), 8-286 (Ollie Robinson, 97.5 ov), 9-296 (Mark Wood, 101.4 ov), 10-297 (Chris Woakes, 102.6 ov)
Lyon collects 3 more wickets, taking 4 of the last 8, and Cameron Green gets two also. In this delivery it is Lyon, not Starc that beats the bat:
With 20 runs required, and a bruised Warner relieved of openers duty, a change in the top order is made. Alex Carey, who had been touted as a potential Aus 'keeper some 4 odd years before as Aus went through a change in team structure, had now become the national team's 'keeper. His performance behind the stumps during the match is, by metric of catches, the best of any Test 'keeper on debut. He was also almost unseen, the highest accolade for a ‘keeper. He wanted bat in hand to contribute to a win, and perhaps be there at the end, for a most memorable of first Tests.
It was not to be, or perhaps the ancient Greek female Fates' had a hand in his dismissal. In comes the local lad Laboosh to replace him, at the strikers’ end at the end of an over. Following his early departure in the first innings, Harris square cuts the next ball to the boundary to score the winning runs. He stands proud, a little timid, but undefeated, as the stadium erupts.
Grandstand at Stumps Day 4: Australia cleans up England to lead Ashes 1-0, Grandstand at Stumps, ABC, 2021-12-11
England collapse to heavy defeat to give Australia Ashes lead, Test Match Special, BBC, 2021-12-11
The Final Word Ashes Daily - Brisbane, Day 4, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins, The Final Word, 2021-12-11
Post Script
As the Ashes series approached, a change of captain occurred for the Aus men’s team.
The new man, Cummins, is a bowler and a bowling captain is just below hen’s teeth for frequency as an Aus’ captain. Here we see a fifth level of cricket analysis. Above and beyond a series, is team leadership. Just as we should not judge a Test by a delivery, we shall not judge Patty Cummins by this Test.
But, the omens auger well.
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