The Hindu : Sport : Sustained excellence needed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 01, 2005

Sport

Sport

Sustained excellence needed

PETER<132> ROEBUCK

England is in trouble. Heavy defeat at Lord's has left the home side resembling a deflated balloon. It did not take long for the excitement to die down. A single spell from Glenn McGrath, a few wiles from Shane Warne, a couple of innings from unconsidered batsman and England was in disarray. Now Michael Vaughan and his players must fight back in Birmingham or long held hopes will have been extinguished like a candle at bedtime. Another defeat and everyone will be talking about Chelsea.

Like the curate's egg, England was good in patches. It is not enough. Both in their first innings and between lunch and tea on the second day the Australian batsmen faced the sort of physical challenge commonplace in the 1980's but hardly seen these days. Chests were thumped, heads cracked and whiskers singed as England's fast bowlers took their chance on a parched pitch (it hasn't rained for a fortnight so a drought has been declared). Hereabouts England looked formidable.

But it was an illusion. It did not last. Tiger Woods cannot be beaten by a man playing well in fits. Did Muhammad Ali cower before a few blows? Sustained excellence is needed to bring down a champion and England did not provide it. Strong teams hold together when things are going awry. England fell apart, bowling dreadfully after tea on that second day and batting with the timidity of men scared of making a mistake.

Can England square the series? It is unlikely. Apart from its Africans, the batting looked frail. Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss were raised in a demanding culture that taught them to endure hardship and to work hard. It is the same in India. Virender Sehwag's father made him swing the bat countless times using only his top hand. Yuvraj Singh's dad forced his boy to practise endlessly upon a concrete surface. England's great batsmen came from Spartan private schools or mining towns. Comparatively, the current lot are pushovers.

England's bowling is lively but unduly dependent on raw pace. Most of the wickets were due to over ambitious shots by the Australians. Only Adam Gilchrist was beaten in both innings, and that will not happen again. Matthew Hoggard holds the key. If he produces the combination of swing and control shown by Ajit Agarkar in Adelaide then England has a chance. Committed to attack, these Australians tend to play the first line of the ball and accordingly are vulnerable to late movement.

Weaknesses have been exposed in Vaughan's side. England has a spinner who does not turn the ball, a keeper who misses chances and a shaky young batsman in Ian Bell. It does not bode well. Nor was that the only problem. England batted without conviction, especially against Warne and McGrath. Other batsmen have scored runs against these fine bowlers and their methods can be copied. McGrath cannot be played from the crease. Warne must be played with the bat, not the pads.

Contrastingly everyone in the Australian side looked comfortable in this company. Brett Lee returned with a bang and amongst the bowlers only Jason Gillespie did not find his best form. Indians rightly hold Gillespie in high regard and his bad spell may be temporary. Struggling older men are routinely written off. Youngsters are given more grace. Yet the leader-board at the British Open was dominated by men over forty.

Fewer than 90 overs a day were bowled at Lord's because television did not want to upset fans of The Simpsons. Effectively, Australia won by 200 runs in three days. England had its chances and did not take them. It's going to be a long way back.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport