The 2009 Ashes: An English View
August 25th, 2009 by Gideon Haigh in The Ashes 2009
All was quiet at the Grange Hotel in Tower Hill first thing yesterday morning. No enraptured throng or retinue of dolly birds awaited Andrew Strauss’ Ashes-winning team; the players were abed, or abar; the media stood around basically interviewing one another.
Behind closed doors, the celebration was undoubtedly more raucous. But the subdued note struck was probably no bad thing, for England remain a modest team with much to be modest about – something, to his credit, that Strauss seems to grasp.
‘When we were bad, we were very bad,’ acknowledged Strauss in victory. ‘When we were good, we were good enough.’ The Saatchis would have admired such crisp phrase-making. England were minutes and inches from going one-nil behind at Cardiff, and stuffed so completely at Headingley that it almost counted as two defeats.
In three sessions, bowling talent met ideal conditions: at Lord’s, England took six for 69; at Edgbaston seven for 77; at the Oval eight for 72. Otherwise, only Flintoff on the last morning at Lord’s rose above the circumstances, and the performance left him spent for the rest of the summer. England’s top order, meanwhile, looked counterfeit without its Kevin Pietersen watermark. Vice-captain Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara all averaged less than 30.
Perhaps the most intriguing is Ian Bell. In mathematics, a Bell curve describes the graphical depiction of data clustered round a mean. In cricket, an Ian Bell curve describes a tendency in scores to produce an average of 40 while nonetheless remaining largely devoid of character or authority.
It’s a cliche to say that Bell is hugely skilled while lacking temperament. But executing a cover drive is not a skill – it is a proficiency. Innings are not static exercises in stroke production; they need to be organised. And at this, five years and nearly fifty Tests into his career, Bell remains a novice, a curiously passive batsman, with strokes to make a purist swoon, but so grooved in his own game as to seemingly forget the game he is playing.
Fortunately, the captain himself is in his batting prime, game refined and rationalized, limits understood and explored, his 474 runs at 52.66 at the top of the order securing him the Compton-Miller Award previously won by Flintoff and Ponting. Like one of Napoleon’s lucky marshals, too, he enjoyed good fortune, with the toss, with the umpires, with the pitches.
Above all, he radiates a priceless sang froid in action. To watch him on the second evening, hemmed in by close fielders but enjoying the contest enough to smile, was to see a man in harmony with his task. His task now is clear: to do rather better as a custodian of the Ashes than the England of four years ago.
At the time, it soon became clear that England had geared themselves to beating Australia and…errrr….that’s it. After going on their bus-riding bender, they learned there was a little more to cricket than a single series, and looked as confused as Kevin Pietersen on meeting Cherie Blair.
Never quite absorbing their new discovery, they were duly humiliated in Australia. Thus Strauss’s comment on Sunday: ‘Last time we had not won the Ashes for 18 years so it was a step into the unknown. To a few of us this time it is familiar. We have to be conscious that this is a stepping stone, not the end.’ The next stepping stone is South Africa this winter; it will also be a considerable step-up. No wonder nobody’s getting carried away.
Posted in The Ashes 2009 | 4 Comments »
August 25th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Strauss is a good skipper and a great player, England are lucky he was the right age at the right time to take over captaincy and steady what was a very unstable ship after short stint from a certain arrogant yet brilliant batsman. Collingwood- what do we think of him- has he earnt his MBE yet? As they say in computing circles LOL. I once read, I think in Truemans autobiography, that the selectors would always choose a southern player over a northern one, well now its the other way around and northern players are being selected over southern one. Harmison was a liability yet again for england and I dont know what people see in him. The best player for england was broad now there is a talent for the future. And what about Trott hes come in and done a splendid job , that certainly wont be the last test he takes part in. Swann is much better that Monty Don and is very underrated in cricket circles.
August 25th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
As Gideon suggests, England’s low-key celebrations in regaining the Ashes are well judged after what happened (or rather what didn’t from an English perspective) after 2005.
Even Struss’s cautionary statements look positively euphoric next to Andy Flower’s responses in yesterday’s press conference(“We’re still only number five in the world and a long way off number four” was his reaction to being fed some ridiculous tabloid guff about ‘world domination’).
Keeping it real.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:33 am
For England to build a sustained assault on the top 4 positions I think a reform of domestic cricket is urgently required. At the very least the County Championship should be 3 divisions of 6 (not 2 of 9) with each county playing just 10 games (not 16). Less quantity more quality.
There are also far too many rain forced draws, a reserve day in case of a day lost through rain is required.
Overall the counties and England play too much cricket. When is there time to prepare and rest for maximum performance? The injury issue is a serious problem.
Finally, it looks as if the counties will vote to keep 40 over cricket next year and drop 50 over cricket (see Telegraph). Yes, admittedly 40 overs is more popular with the fans, but it doesn’t bode well for England’s chances in ODIs.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
To ignore Bell’s outstanding 72 in the first innings at the Oval, now generally regarded as the finest innings of his career in importance, is to completely misrepresent his contribution to winning the Ashes.
To concentrate on his stats instead of his gutsy 53 at Edgbaston and 72 at the Oval is to completely misunderstand how a game of cricket is won and lost.
Bell was under enormous pressure when he came in at 12-1. If he had cracked then the Ashes were lost. He and Strauss had to build a partnership on a very helpful wicket to bowling.
He was the only one at the end of the day to say 350 was a par score and that the wicket played like a day 2/3 wicket. Ricky Ponting said Bell was the only one who got it right.
Colourless? Astute might be a better adjective. Perhaps Haigh can’t bear that we won without that colourful character KP. We won the little urn with Bell’s help, the man he chooses to sneer at for his so called lack of personality.
Bell has a reputation for being a nice guy. He is also a wonderful batsman who is still young and yet to be in his prime. He’s not been managed well by England and not supported enough. But Strauss, Flower and the England selectors are now backing him again.
40 Tests is one thing, Bell was a year too young when he came into Tests against Australia’s best side ever at 23. He had a lot of catching up to do after Ashes 2005. Just as Bopara will have to do who also was put in too early. Sensibly Australia dropped their young rookie Hughes to protect him.