They are 2-0 in the five-match Ashes series but comeback chances seem miniscule for the Australian team currently having a miserable English summer. Krishnaraj Singh Jasana has a look at the current Aussie predicament
More than 10,000 miles away from london, when a certain Michael Hussey was reported to have been a little uneasy at being unveiled by Sydney Thunders as their star player for Australia’s domestic Big Bash Twenty league, it was a strong indication of the tremors being felt almost halfway away from the world where his team is trailing 2-0 in a five-match Ashes Test series against England. Since his retirement, the Australians have lost all Test matches they’ve played, four in India and two in England, and are still to play three more Test matches in a series which is reminiscent of their condition today, the Ashes.
They lost the second Test in lord’s by a humungous 347 runs, it was their second biggest in terms of runs against the opponents. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as statistics are concerned. They make for pity reading. In the two Test matches played, highest from their top-six has been 81 not out by Phillip Hughes at Trent Bridge, therefore no batsman out of the group has scored a hundred as against England’s three in four innings, hosts’ highest being 180 by Joe Root.
In both innings of the second Test, they could manage an aggregate of 393 runs (128 in first while 235 in the second). In fact in both Tests, the visitors have been dismal in the all-important first innings of a Test match even after not having been under pressure of burden of runs. In both Test matches, England have batted first and their first innings scores have not been challenging — 215 in first while 361 in second — but the Baggy Greens have squandered the chances created by bowlers.
In the first Test at Trent Bridge, they were 117 for 9 before 19-year-old Ashton Agar, batting at number 11, made a spirited 98 to bail the team out. They did take a 65-run lead but 215 in the first innings of that Test was there to be overhauled and to stamp their authority on the series. Instead they ended 14 heartbreaking runs short of the target. In their second innings, the Australians scored 296 but it was evident in the end that it was the first innings that made the difference.
But the team that went into the second Test at lord’s wasn’t the optimistic lot that one would have expected after coming close in the first, and shoddy 128 was enough to lose them the game. The bowling unit, which uptill now was their strength, also lost some hope, giving away 349 for 7 which meant the hosts had set a 582-run record-breaking target.
Meanwhile, rift in the team was also wide open with former coach Mickey Arthur stating that captain Michael Clarke thought Shane Watson was like poison to the team while Watson’s opening partner not so long ago, David Warner’s, brother calling the right-hander selfish.
Clearly nothing is going right for the Australians and the doldrums, both off the field and on it, seem here to stay. A decade back, the Aussies might have had their problems between players but the team was winning everything and so nothing else showed.
Can they rise from the AshesIJ Odds for now are strongly against it.