England failed to capitalise on Australia vulnerability

There were some pretty big Australian voices still calling it as advantage England in Perth on Friday night. Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, guys who aren’t normally given to offering encouragement to tourists.

Yet it still felt like an opportunity missed. If there has been a difference between the teams in this series it is that Australia capitalise on moments, on strong positions, on times when the opposition is vulnerable. England do not. 

They set off well in Brisbane, soon fell apart; had the Test in the balance on day five in Adelaide, lost it before lunch; and on day two in Perth, magic numbers were being considered only to be rounded down quite spectacularly.

Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow got England into position by each scoring superb hundreds

But England failed to take advantae of Australia's vulnerability and the hosts soon hit back

But England failed to take advantae of Australia’s vulnerability and the hosts soon hit back

At 368-4, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow going strong, there was talk England might post a score of 500 on a wicket that has been a brutal adversary through many decades now. 

Five hundred is the holy grail in Test match cricket. Score 500 and it is highly unlikely you will lose; score 500 and there is a real chance to place Australia under pressure like at no time in this series so far. And if England had added a mere 132 for their final six wickets, they could have done just that. 

Instead, they fell apart, as English visitors do far too often in Australia. Six wickets, 35 runs, 51 balls, 48 minutes. They moved from 368-4 to 403 all out. 

So while the professionals would still rather be Joe Root than Steve Smith with two days gone, if Australia’s captain can hang around on day three, there is a decent chance Australia might match England’s total, if not surpass it. And then it is anybody’s game, but probably Australia’s.

And it shouldn’t be anybody’s game. It should be England’s game, had they shown sufficient discipline to apply pressure when it mattered. Root, the great batsman now struggling to turn 50s into centuries, has become a symbol of England’s malaise, of good players failing to take advantage. 

Australia won’t quite know how they got back into this day, and won the morning session. At the first drinks break, Malan and Bairstow were in imperious nick. The WACA surface was rewarding them with runs, Australia’s bowlers were looking tired, for the first time in this tour. It was all, at last, coming up England.

Malan fell on 140 trying to take the game to Australia - he was caught driving Nathan Lyon

Malan fell on 140 trying to take the game to Australia – he was caught driving Nathan Lyon

Moeen Ali fell was out for a duck - the batsman is having a tour to forget in Australia

Moeen Ali fell was out for a duck – the batsman is having a tour to forget in Australia

And then Malan got out, which can happen when batsmen are in charge and trying to take the game on in an aggressive fashion. Back home, it was 3.52am. Those determined souls who are staying up through the night could not have imagined that less than an hour of playing time later, Australia’s openers would be at the crease. It was a great catch that took Malan on 140, driving Nathan Lyon, caught by a diving Peter Hanscomb, on as a substitute fielder. 

And moments like that will happen, too. In Ashes cricket there will be displays of great skill, athleticism and dexterity, because the quality is high. Those are the breaks. England, however, tend to compound these moments with rash shots, calamitous decisions and general slackness. So they turned the drama of Malan’s impressive dismissal, into a batting crisis. 

Wickets tumbled, starting with the wretched Moeen Ali, who is having a tour to forget, apart from when fronting up on disciplinary issues. Put it like this: he is proving a more valuable moral compass than a batsman or bowler so far.

Root’s late decision to promote Ali to six and bat Bairstow at seven may one day be looked upon as one of the key decisions of the tour. The logic is that Bairstow is better coming in later, as he marshals the tail. If the tail was good for a hundred or more, that might have worth. As England’s tail can be discarded in fright as quickly as the tail of some species of lizard, Bairstow’s stewardship was a complete waste in Brisbane and Adelaide. 

Ali lacks the determination under the pressure of Ashes competition to be an all-rounder and the woeful shot he played here showed why promoting him above Bairstow previously was an error. 

For 368 runs and the best part of four sessions, most of England’s top order had already shown how to play Australia’s quicks. It was a war of attrition at times, but they had ducked, swayed, weaved and, for much of it, kept out of the way of the short stuff. Ali delivered an object lesson in what not to do. He edged a bouncer to slip for a duck as if giving catching practice, stranding Bairstow with the weaker batsmen in the process, and offering Australia hope that 400, not 500, might be the number of the day. As it proved.

With wickets falling around him, Bairstow lost concentration and was bowled by Mitchell Starc

With wickets falling around him, Bairstow lost concentration and was bowled by Mitchell Starc

Stuart Broad made 12 - including a huge six - but England's tail needed to offer more resistance

Stuart Broad made 12 – including a huge six – but England’s tail needed to offer more resistance

Chris Woakes was caught in the deep and Bairstow, perhaps startled to see the innings disintegrate so quickly, lost concentration and played on. There were moments of high comedy when Stuart Broad and James Anderson, the tenth wicket, took extreme evasive action – although Broad also hit the biggest six of the day off Josh Hazlewood – but England’s innings deserved more than a lively highlights reel. 

This could have been a momentous session, maybe even the turning point in the series Root was hoping for coming to Perth. Trevor Bayliss, England’s coach had been talking of the need to make centuries on this tour, yet despite delivering two of them in an innings at the WACA for the first time since 1986, England still couldn’t amass a total to put Australia away.

Psychologically, that could prove key. Australia expected to be wrapping up the Ashes here, and to suddenly be required to match 500 might have rocked that confidence. Instead, they ended the day in a familiar position: hunting down the first innings total, Steve Smith at the controls. If Ponting and Warne would still rather be England by close of play tomorrow, it will have been a most surprising day indeed. 

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk