he starts his spell somewhat rustily, but produces a really good ball to the Australian dashing opener, Phillip Hughes, which the left-hander edges straight to Strauss at first slip. Tremlett bowls Cameron White, and then has Tim Paine and O’Keefe caught at the wicket – although there is an element of good fortune about both of these dismissals – and his figures of 4 for 54 are the best of the day. But he still seems to lack a ‘presence’ on the field. He runs up and bowls then immediately turns and walks back to his mark. I’m not suggesting he should indulge in sledging or silly things like that, but the odd moment of eye contact with the batsman or any show of emotion will help convince the spectator he really means it. Tremlett’s approach contrasts sharply with that of Shahzad who scurries in, glares at the batsmen and bristles with aggression. For my money, with 3 for 57, he is the bowler of the day, and because of his confidence would also be my first reserve if a pace bowler suddenly needs to be drafted in.
Bresnan dismisses test-hopeful Ferguson with a beauty, which is edged to Prior and then watches in stunned amazement as Monty Panesar flings himself full length to his right to pull off an astonishing reflex catch at mid-wicket. Wide-eyed and jumping about in celebration, Monty seems as surprised as everyone else that he has held on to it. Further credit to the skill and fielding drills devised by Richard Halsall (as experienced by the press pack on Monday). It is not long before the catch is available on YouTube and my delighted listeners are soon logging on for a look. Later, in the hotel lobby, I tell Monty that he is trending on Twitter and receive a delighted high five in return. Monty Rhodes!
Meanwhile we are all keeping an eye on the Australian squad players who are appearing in the first day of the latest round of Sheffield Shield matches – and it has been a disaster. Hussey 0. Watson 6. Katich 1. Ponting 7. North 17. Bollinger 0. Haddin 10. Hauritz 0. Only Mitchell Johnson, who is 81 not out overnight, has made a score at all and without him, the tally is 41/8. In reality, scores in Sheffield Shield matches should be largely irrelevant, but it does underline the problems the Aussies have going into the First Test.
DAY 16: 18 November 2010
I arrive at the ground to discover that Swann’s latest video diary on the ECB website is the talk of the town and that the Sprinkler is clearly the team dance. The video is brilliantly put together and it is hilarious to watch every member of the team – even Mushtaq Ahmed, the heavily bearded (‘black and grey stripes, so sponsored by Adidas’) spin bowling guru, performing the ‘Sprinkler’. The tabloids are onto it and Twitter has gone into meltdown. A new craze has been created by, it later turns out, Paul Collingwood.
On the face of it this appears to have been a really good day for the batsmen. England are already 105 runs in the lead at the close, with Bell having hit the most stylish hundred I have seen by an Englishman for a very long time. But look below the surface at the close of play scoreline, and you see the problem: England were 137 for 5 until the stand of 198 between Bell and Collingwood salvaged the situation and, on closer inspection still, every one of the four batsmen that perished today (Strauss was caught in the gully yesterday) got themselves out. This is precisely the sort of casual batting that has to be eliminated if England really are to win the Ashes here for the first time in 25 years, and while the team PR machine prefers to dwell on the strength of the recovery from England’s poor position, England should not have got into such a mess in the first place. It is all about discipline and there has not been enough of that in the approach of England’s batsmen in recent years. Dashing half-centuries are not what is required. The batsmen have to play the long game.
Even Monty, the nightwatchman, is out hooking. Cook and Trott then add 87, but Cook hoists a catch to mid-on off the left-arm spinner O’Keefe for 60, and Trott miscues a pull shot off Mark Cameron so badly that he gives a flat catch to mid-off for 41. Pietersen hits O’Keefe for 4, but then completely misses what appears to be nothing more than a dead straight delivery that rattles his middle stump. From KP’s reaction at the time, he seems to think that he is the victim of an unplayable hand grenade and departs the crease slowly as if has been betrayed. In the media centre we watch replay after replay trying to work out how he has made such a misjudgement, and, frankly, it is difficult to make sense of it. Is it that Pietersen really does have an issue playing left-arm spin bowlers, who have now dismissed him fifteen times in Tests?
Bell plays fluently from the outset. He and the bottom-handed Collingwood are an interesting combination and there really are shades of Geoffrey Boycott in the way, in particular, Bell drives: it is the perfectly bent left elbow that does it. He absolutely destroys Smith, the leg spinner, endorsing the majority view that there is no way Smith could play for Australia as the main spinner – he simply is not good enough.
I interview Colly at the end of play and feel I have no choice but to ask him about the Sprinkler. “Wait ‘til you see the Lawnmower,” is his cryptic reply.
It’s dinner with Graham Gooch and Derek Pringle [former England player and now of the Daily Telegraph] in a Greek restaurant close to our hotel. Gooch really seems to have found his niche now – he is on call with England as and when Flower wants him and will stay with the tour until the end of the Third Test. He is a hugely respected batting coach, and this role enables him to focus purely on that without having to worry too much about running team affairs. He insists we drink Greek wine to accompany the meal. It is very good but, as usual, Pringle has a damaging impact on the bill by ordering an expensive bottle of Tasmanian red at the end. I’m trying so hard to stick to my beginning-of-the-tour fitness resolution, but discovering that (as Emma would no doubt have forecasted) my willpower really is non-existent.
THE PARADOX OF SHANE WATSON
Oliver Brett | 18 November 2010
How England fans sneered when they saw a familiar blond all-rounder walk out to open the batting for Australia in the Edgbaston Ashes Test of 2009. Here was a man who had produced one solitary fifty in 13 previous Test innings. He apparently had few credentials as an opener, and was more adept, surely, at batting at six or seven and bowling a few overs of fast medium pace. Besides, he seemed to be injured most of the time.
Shane Watson, for he was the man in question, ignored the naysayers, striking 62 and 53 while James Anderson and Graham Onions were swinging the ball sideways. He has played every Test bar one since then, forming a formidable opening partnership with the crab-like Simon Katich, hitting the ball merrily here, there and everywhere with little ceremony spared. Katich has been Australia’s top scorer in all Tests since Edgbaston 2009, but only by five runs. Watson has amassed 1,261 runs in that time at an average of 50.44, leaving Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey trailing in his wake. Whatever your allegiance, it is easy to admire Watson’s second coming.
He could have been a hero in the 2006-07 Ashes, when England were swept aside 5-0, but unrealised potential is often a recurring characteristic of the Watson story. His was then a career mired in uncertainty, notably because of injuries afflicting every part of an ironically powerful physique, with hamstrings, calves and hips taking a battering. So inevitably he was unfit and missed Australia’s glorious summer. Even though he enjoyed the considerable consolation of appearing in the 2007 World Cup-winning side, his Test career appeared in danger of remaining forever unfulfilled.
Now, at 29, he is one of the first names on the Australia team sheet, filling a dual role as Katich’s more effusive foil at the top of the order, while also sending down some handy overs as the fourth sea mer. He proved particularly effective with the ball in the Tests with Pakistan at Lord’s and Headingley in the summer of 2010. The oddity is that many Australian cricket fans find it difficult to admire Watson. There is a view that Watson should not open the batting, despite his success in that role. Former Australian captain Ian Chappell disagrees: “He might have become an opening batsman by accident but he’s quite happy opening and I look upon him as a very effective opener.” An old-fashioned biffer of the ball, he may lack some of the finesse of others but nevertheless has a sound enough defence. The overall package suits Chappell fine.
“If
