England’s cricket team endured a confidence-shattering two-day defeat in the first Ashes test match in Perth, with a miraculous knock by Travis Head seeing the hosts to victory by eight wickets.
On the first day, England won the toss and elected to bat first, initially hailed as a wise decision by pundits. Stokes’ England were nonetheless blown away by a brutal bowling display led by Mitchell Starc, who took career best figures of 7-58. Ollie Pope (46) and Harry Brook (52) provided the resistance for England on a lively deck which favoured the bowlers.
Earlier, Zak Crawley’s much anticipated start at the top of the order in Australian conditions proved an anti-climax as he nicked off to Starc on just the fifth ball of the series. Although Crawley had been touted as a player whose height and attacking batting style would favour Australian pitches, he has demonstrated a temptation to throw his hands at balls which he really ought to leave — some critics have labelled his approach careless.
Soon after, Starc had removed Duckett and Root in quick succession to leave England 39/3 — the worst possible start for the English batsmen.
The middle order fight saw England to 160/6 by the time Harry Brook was removed by Aussie debutant Brendan Doggett, but England’s tail failed to wag their way to a respectable total. Coming undone to the short-ball ploy, they contributed just 12 runs for the last four wickets.
Bowled out for 172 in a meagre batting performance and with the infamous prediction of Glenn McGrath ringing in their ears, fans could be forgiven for thinking the fate of the series had already been sealed if it hadn’t been for such a stellar bowling performance.
It seemed as though England’s pace quintet of Archer, Wood, Carse, Atkinson and Stokes had come out all guns blazing with a point to prove. Archer, who is so exciting to watch when at his rapid best, slammed into the pads of debutant opener Jake Weatherald to remove him for a duck before seeing off in-form Marnus Labuschagne. Chaos had been caused amongst the Australian top-order owing to Usman Khawaja’s back spasms, meaning that Labuschagne was promoted to open the batting. Steve Smith, elevated to third, was exposed to the new ball, battered by England’s pacers, and removed for just 17 by an absolute snorter from Brydon Carse. Looking like a real threat on Perth’s notoriously bouncy wicket, he had the struggling Khawaja caught behind soon after. Stokes, as he often does, grabbed the headlines with a terrific 5-fer including the scalp of the dangerous Travis Head.
Head, Cam Green and Alex Carey all made starts but ultimately the Australian batters failed to amount any tangible partnerships — they were removed for 132 all out, handing England a sizeable lead for such a low-scoring match.
Day Two, however, was when disaster struck for England. Having dispatched Nathan Lyon early to end the Australian innings, Crawley secured an unwanted pair after being caught and bowled by Starc in an excellent piece of athleticism. Although Duckett and Pope managed to compile a 50-run partnership (a rare commodity in this two-day thriller), England suffered a nightmare post-lunch collapse, losing five wickets for just 39 runs and completely handing momentum to the Aussies.
Starc and Boland (much improved from the first innings) took seven wickets between them. Root, Brook, Stokes and Smith collectively made a staggering 25 runs, and if it hadn’t been for cameos from Atkinson and Carse with the bat, things could have been a lot uglier for England.
As it happened, they managed to set Australia 205 runs to win, which, at the time, seemed like it would take some chasing. Unfortunately for England, a moment of brilliance from the Australians saw Travis Head promoted to the top of the order to replace the recovering Khawaja. The rest is history: Head swashbuckled his way to 123 off just 83 balls in an innings which included 16 sixes and 4 fours. Marnus Labuschagne was more than adequate in support, providing a run-a-ball 50* which should not be overlooked in the context of both this series and his career.
Ultimately, in a rollercoaster encounter, it was two individual displays of excellence — Starc with the ball and Head with the bat – that undid a sorry England. After all the anticipation in the build-up to this series and the claims that they had moulded a team to win in Australia, there is a sense of complete deflation around English cricket.
Many questions have been asked of England’s preparation, or lack thereof, in the build-up to the series. Journalists and pundits alike deemed their practice match at Lilac Hill against the England Lions an insufficient replication of the cauldron of that first test match. Furthermore, following their humiliation in that game, there have been calls for the team to play in a pink-ball warm-up in Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI prior to facing the music again at the Gabba. Stokes is adamant that his team will not go.
Here we are again, then, or so it seems. England are up against it Down Under — humiliated in the first test match, both the Australian and English press seem to be against them. On the pitch, it will not get any easier as they head to the fortress that is the Gabba, a ground where England haven’t won since 1986.
Their opposition continue to pose questions which a side low on confidence has no answer for. Brisbane seems to be a make-or-break moment for English cricket: a chance to learn from Perth and exploit a still imperfect Australian lineup before the return of Cummins and Hazlewood.
One thing is for certain: if any regime in English cricket could overturn a deficit in an away Ashes series (a feat which hasn’t been achieved since the days of Len Hutton, whose side travelled to Australia by boat) it is the groundbreaking Stokes-McCullum era.
The Brisbane Test will be the toughest challenge of technique, skill and character that this England side have faced — an opportunity to write their legacy on their own terms or else have it evaporate against the backdrop of more Australian success.
Image credits: “17 July 2018 – Gate 3 & 4 entrances to the West Australian Cricket Association (WACA) ground at East Perth, Western Australia, Australia” by aussiejeff is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.