The big question: Can England win the Ashes series?
There is a saying that success breeds success - this will certainly be playing on the minds of the England players preparing for the huge summer that lies ahead. Four series wins on the trot is something that is virtually unheard of in recent years. The English players are no doubt brimming with confidence after their latest triumph over Sri Lanka and will be very keen to make it six on the trot. Recently the Indian team knocked the wheels off the seemingly unstoppable Australian bandwagon in spectacular fashion, condemning them to a series defeat and ending their amazing sequence of sixteen Test victories. India proved to all the other Test playing nations that the Australians are indeed human and can be beaten. So yes, England can win the Ashes trophy.
This statement is one, shall we say, with several strings attached. It is imperative that the core set of England players, the ones with contracts, stay fit. If any of the ‘inner twelve’ get injured, Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher will face a huge battle looking for replacements who can compete with the quality that the Australians offer. England can only really compete with the likes of McGrath, Warne the Waughs if their elite set of players are in the side and playing well. The senior players like Atherton, Thorpe, Hussain, Stewart, Gough and Caddick must all play to their full potential if England are to succeed. Realistically, England can forget about the Ashes if more than one of these players has a poor series. There is absolutely no margin for error with Australia, a team of such flair and calibre.
England, at present, do not have the luxury that the Australians and the South Africans possess – a wealth of quality players waiting in the wings if a top player does not perform or gets injured. The Australian selectors face a dilemma every time they pick the side over who to play and who not to play, a stark contrast to England whose team selection at the moment is virtually automatic. Unlike Australia, the competition for places in the England side is not as great as it could be. At the moment this is not a problem, as the team are playing positively and firing on all cylinders. But if the team ran into poor form, there are not that many candidates outside the team who look like they could compete in a Test environment.
This fact is all too apparent in the spin-bowling department. Take Ashley Giles for example. A revelation in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he is the person that England have been seeking for years – someone who can turn the ball and take wickets at the same time. However, if he were to get injured, there is nobody waiting to fill his boots. Robert Croft, it has to be said, performed beyond expectations in Sri Lanka, but his inability to perform on English tracks is a widely publicised fact. He has never been the greatest turner of the ball either, which is something the Australians will ruthlessly exploit if they get the chance. As for Chris Schofield, it is unlikely that he will feature this summer due to his vast inexperience. The only way to get experience is to play, but throwing him into the cauldron that a Test match against Australia is would be too much of a risk. The word ‘Tufnell’ always springs to mind at this point in a debate such as this. Well, it appears that he has finally been overlooked by the selectors and he is probably now in the ‘Played last Test match’ group along with Graeme Hick. Although a turner of the ball, the Aussies know him and his game far too well for him to pose a realistic threat this time around.
Although England succeeded in Pakistan and Sri Lanka without Dominic Cork, he is a player that England can ill afford to leave out. He is a talented all-rounder and is a match-winning cricketer on his day. His ability to grab a game by the scruff of its neck is something England will need when facing the combative Australian team. He is not the fastest of the England seamers, but his mean outswinging deliveries have the potential to cause the Australian batsmen all sorts of problems. We all witnessed what he is capable of when he turned the match and guided England home in the thrilling Lord’s Test last summer. England are not good enough to exclude a player of his quality, especially at home where he invariably brings out his best performances on the seamer friendly tracks.
Mark Ramprakash, once formidable and respected England middle order batsman, now a mere county campaigner without a lucrative ECB contract. Fed up with the underachievement of Middlesex, his move to Surrey will no doubt have grabbed the attention of the selectors. If he performs well in the new environment of County Championship Division 1, there is every chance his name will find itself back on to the England teamsheet, particularly if Michael Vaughan fails to find his feet against the likes of McGrath and Warne. His ability is unquestioned, the Australians will if anything be pleased if he is excluded. During the Ashes series of 1998 - 1999, Ramprakash was definitely England’s shining light, so it remains a mystery why he is not a regular in the team. Ever since David Graveney declared that he ‘needed a rest’ as the reason for dropping him for the winter tour to South Africa in 1999, he has bounced back by making over 1000 runs last domestic season, the benchmark for a top performer. Given a contract and recalled to the side last summer against Zimbabwe and the West Indies, he was experimented with in the opener’s berth. Admittedly he did not seize his chance with open arms, but if he is given a chance again at number five or six, it would take a brave person to bet against him making runs. England are be a tougher proposition with him in the team, so he must play a part in proceedings this summer.
This series is one where the pace bowlers are going to grab the headlines. Of all the Test venues, Old Trafford is the only pitch judged as a slow, spinner friendly track. However, performances of spinners there in recent years hardly supports this judgement. In 1998, Ashley Giles and Robert Croft, despite bowling 87 overs between them, made absolutely no impact at all on the South African batsmen, who ran riot and eventually put England out of their misery by declaring at a hefty total. It is quite likely that in at least one match, probably the Headingley Test, the spin element is excluded altogether. We saw this last summer, as England played four seamers against the West Indies and cruised to victory inside two days. So if the English pace attack, ideally consisting of Gough, Caddick, Cork and White and possibly Hoggard, perform well and get their line and length right, they will do England’s chances a great deal of good. With any luck they will find assistance from the pitches, so there is no reason why they cannot bowl Australia out for competitive totals. The groundsmen at the Test venues must be asked to prepare pitches which will suit the faster bowlers. Obviously this will suit the bowlers well, but it will also help the batsmen by reducing the threat of Warne and Macgill, arguably the two most dangerous leg break bowlers in the world.
The question begs to be asked: What kind of summer lies ahead for the English spin pairing of Giles and Croft? The early indication is that Giles will be the main spinner who can expect to feature in the majority of Tests. This is due to the ECB recently granting him a twelve-month contract. Giles must not expect to work miracles against the Australians as he did against Pakistan. However, if he sticks at it and bowls sensibly with variation, he will surprise a lot of people this summer. As for Croft, he remains contractless, and will probably remain wicketless if he plays at all this summer. His lack of turn on unresponsive English pitches is not the greatest combination, particularly against the quality batsmen he would be facing like Hayden, Slater, Langer, the Waughs and Ponting. To be brutally honest, playing Croft would be a very, very bold move.
Without a doubt, the seamers in the Australian side collectively constitute what is the most dangerous pace attack in the world. The accuracy of Glenn McGrath complimented by the pace that Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee offer would have any batsman trembling. So the pair of Atherton and Trescothick, England’s new and exciting opening partnership, must make sure that by the time the middle order arrive at the crease, the ball has lost its shine and is not coming on to the bat at an incredible pace. To do this, they must play cautiously and try to slowly accumulate their runs. If they achieve this, this will maximise the chance of Thorpe, Hussain, Stewart and Vaughan building a score that will trouble the Australians.
The Australians will want to show everyone that their defeat in India was just a minor ‘blip’ in concentration and further reinforce their supremacy. How fitting is it that England, the old enemy, are the ones to face eleven rampant Australians all out to prove a point. With a reliable opening partnership, world class middle order batsmen and three formidable pace men complimented by the best leg spinner in the world, it is not surprising that they have dominated the world game for so long. The general mood surrounding the English faithful is one of cautious optimism. Everyone is hoping that England will silence their critics once and for all which defeating the Australians would bring. All the factors that will maximise England’s chances are obviously easier said than done, but if they play to their potential and believe that they can win, we have a series on our hands. Make no mistake, it will be tough. Very tough indeed.
Possible England squad for 1st Test against Pakistan: MA Atherton, ME Trescothick, N Hussain*, GP Thorpe, AJ Stewart+, MP Vaughan, C White, DG Cork, AF Giles, AR Caddick, D Gough, MJ Hoggard.
By Jeremy Lloyd (12.4.01)
