Published: Jul 31, 2015, 12:11 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 31, 2015, 10:09 AM (IST)
Suffering a collapse is a generally a one-off occurrence in cricket; good teams recover quickly and make amends. But Australia, after a horror show with the bat in the first innings at Edgbaston, showed absolutely no intent in the second innings and ended up kicking themselves in the back so hard, it will take some serious healing to recover. Devarchit Varma tries to determine exactly what went wrong with the Australian team which came into third Ashes 2015 Test with a 405-run win behind them and are now staring at an embarrassment by 10 wickets.
“He has Test cricket written all over him”, ESPNCricinfo quoted Australia’s chief selector Rod Marsh saying about Adam Voges, who has cut a sorry figure so far in the Ashes 2015 and has also ended up raising serious questions over his selection. Despite having an in-form batsman in Shaun Marsh, Australia opted to persist with a man all at sea against swing and seam. If Shane Watson has the ill-habit of poking his front foot in the line of the ball, the 35-year-old Voges has the tendency of bringing his bat in front on deliveries that should ideally be left alone. And he paid the price for doing that more than once. READ: Steven Finn fifer ensures England advantage over Australia
Michael Clarke might have travelled to England with this touring party, but it seems Clarke the batsman was left behind somewhere. This is not the Clarke who would suffer blows on his body to play an innings of a lifetime, inspire his troops to put the body on line to do whatever it would take to win. Instead, this Clarke bats deep in the crease, tries to chase the ball outside off and edging towards slips. This is certainly a different Clarke who looks feebler and frailer than a toddler who has just begun to learn how to bat. Live Scorecard: England vs Australia 2015, 3rd Test at Edgbaston
This Australian team cannot retain The Ashes unless they show real intent to win and bat out of their skins. The top-order has done their bit, but it is their middle-order’s poor show that is the reason for their downfall in Ashes 2015. Australia cannot win the series going ahead into the remaining two Tests with such glaring shortcomings. READ: Michael Clarke’s captaincy in Ashes 2015 lacks flexibility
Clarke is the captain, and hence cannot be axed despite poor form with the bat, especially during a series as important as The Ashes (though there is precedence of captains dropping themselves mid-Ashes, Mike Denness in 1974-75, for instance). Voges should have been dropped for Shaun Marsh, but Australia’s faith in the man who has been in terrific form in their backyard remained unshaken. In the end they paid the price for selecting a man out of sorts instead of someone who guaranteed runs on English wickets. READ: James Anderson shows pace and bounce is not the only way to take wickets
The top order did really well in the first two Tests, and a poor show was certainly around the corner. The reason why England have been able to do well in Test cricket in the past couple of months is because they have men to fall back on in dire need. Joe Root, Ben Stokes, a little bit of Jos Buttler and rearguard actions from Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad have been the reason they do not collapse as often as Australia do. READ: The Ashes 2015: Where have all the batsmen gone?
England will aim to finish the game off in the first session on the third day and enjoy a few extra days off. In all likeliness, the defeat will be of a huge margin for Australia, who cannot term it just another ‘kick in the backside’. It is not the bowlers who have let them down; the batsmen are to be blamed.
Australian batsmen, with Clarke being on top of the list, have let them down. One can only hope Clarke and his men show some fight from here.
(Devarchit Varma is a reporter with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)
