WHITEWASH AVOIDED!

There is no worse situation than starting a test match 0-3 down in a 5 match series with the possibility of whitewash looming in sight. Joe Root couldn't have started the day any worse than by losing the toss and having to field first on a belter of a pitch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Cameron Bancroft complemented an attacking David Warner brilliantly​ as they put on more than 100 runs in the first session. Warner reached his hundred before he was given a life after getting caught off a no-ball by debutant Tom Curran. Shaun Marsh joined Steven Smith at the crease as they batted right through the day. What happened on the second morning came as a lovely Christmas gift for England as Anderson and Broad range through the remaining batting line up after Tom Curran managed to get Steve Smith out off an inside edge on to off stump. After Stoneman and Vince had failed to get going it was left to Joe Root and Alastair Cook to revive the innings with a big partnership. English skipper and England's leading run getter then put on almost 150 runs before Joe Root mishit a hook in the hands of deep square leg. Alastair Cook notched up his 32nd test ton but kept losing partners regularly at he over end. With a lead of less than 50, Cook found an ally in Stuart Broad and they put on 100 runs to take England to a secured position from where for the first time in the series they could hope to beat Australia. Alastair Cook carried his bat through with an unbeaten 244. It was a very emotional moment for him and England because of all the talks about his retirement. My eyes were literally covered with tears when arguably England's greatest cricketer raised his bat to the Barmy Army at the end of Day 3. England kept believing till they again saw Steve Smith at the crease. Warner played very patiently for his 83 after a couple of wickets fell for not too many. Steve Smith looked in no mood to accelerate after almost two full sessions were washed out of the penultimate day. He along with Mitchell Marsh ensured that there was only one result possible. I do think that England's strong batting performance had as much to do with their technique and mental strength as the absence of Mitchell Starc. Starc has been outstanding in this series but this shouldn't take a lot of credit away from the English batters especially Alastair Cook. England can take a lot of heart and pride from this performance just because of the fact that at least once in the match they looked to be dominating this Australian unit. All four of their match winners Cook-Root-Broad-Anderson stood up but they have missed the services of a quality spinner very dearly. They considered Moeen Ali as their premier spinners on the back of his performances in England where pitches are very different and also the Dukes ball keeps its seam intact for a little longer than the Kookaburra ball. Anyways a draw is not a bad result from England's perspective by looking at the wounds which were inflicted upon them in the first three matches. Australia will be looking to bounce back and take the series 4-0 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

BOXING DAY FOR THE POMS!

Another stern test awaits England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as rampaging Aussies will be looking to blast England out on the Christmas Eve. With Ashes already done and dusted, England will be playing with nothing to lose. Any team is even more dangerous when they have nothing to lose. I am afraid to say the same about this English side though. The only respite for England before the match even starts is that they know that Australia will be playing without Mitchell Starc. But the only hit-the-deck bowler Craig Overton has also been ruled out for England which will force them to bring young Tom Curran in. I don't think it will do any harm to either him or the England team. Young blood always brings excitement and a bit of energy to the team. I think Tom Curran will be a more like to like replacement for Ben Stokes than Chris Woakes. Quick, sharp bowler and also more than handy with the bat. Mitchell Starc will be replaced by Jackson Bird who was pretty good in the last summer against Pakistan. I don't think there will be any other change in either teams. Now I think it is more mental strength than skill for England. You can't reach this level of cricket if you don't posses the required set of skills. It is all about the mindset and adjusting to the situation. I completely agree with what Ricky Ponting said about Alastair Cook. Cook's mind is just not allowing him to move his feet. He sees the ball and instead of going forward at the ball, he is going straight back. And therefore he has hardly yielded a run on this tour. Rest of the batting looks pretty good without any significant results. Australia will be hoping for a Warner special on the Boxing Day in front of 80000 Aussies and a box of evergreen Barmy Army in the big 'G'. England will be hoping to win the toss and bowl under overcast conditions and bowl Australia out cheaply just like they did in 2010. But the way in which England are playing and the mindset which they are in right now, I can see nothing but a huge Australian victory.

ASHES REGAINED IN 14 DAYS....

Australia have regained the Ashes in only 14 days and that pretty much sums up England's horror show. Centuries from Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow had put England in a commanding position at 378/4 before familier frailties of English lower order resurfaced as they lost the last six wickets for 25 runs. 403 was not a bad total though but England were brought to realise that no total is good enough when you have Steven Smith in the opposition batting line up. England were right in the game untill the fall Shaun Marsh's wicket but a mammoth partnership between the skipper and returning Mitchell Marsh took the game completely away from England. English bowling looked toothless. Too many similar bowlers were very easy to handle as Steve Smith scored 239 runs to pile on the misery. James Anderson bowled well on the fourth morning but it was a bit too late as Australia declared with a lead beyond 250. Alastair Cook's disastrous series continued with another low score to his name. After a few glorious shots, England captain Joe Root fell to Nathan Lyon which even made The Barmy Army to go quite for a bit. James Vince scored a fluent fifty and then got an absolutely unplayable delivery from Mitchell Starc. Starc bowled the ball form around the wicket on the good length at 145 kph, it looked to be going towards wide leg slip but suddenly changed its direction and hit the top of off. They generally say that when the ball hits one of those cracks you have a very acute chance of getting out because it deviates so much that it misses the bat by a good foot and a half. This time though, it missed the bat by a foot and sent the off stump for a walk. Rain ended fourth day's play and there was a possibility of more rain on the fifth day as well. English players looked at the heaven and it stopped the play for 3 hours. Now it was upto English batsmen to bat out the remaining three and a half hours. When Hazlewood got a straight one to keep low and go past Bairstow's defence, England's hope of retaining the Ashes doomed to a great extent. The tail was long and it could not resist for more than 34 overs on the same pitch where Australia made 662. England gave a masterclass of how to lose grip on the match and get hammered in whatever time is available. This series has so many similarities to the one we had in 2013 and I am afraid the result is also going to identical as well.
    English batting looked very good in this match. Malan and Bairstow converted fifties into big ones which is a very good tick in the box. Root again failed to deliver in a must win game and Cook is looking to be in the twilight of his career. The concern to me is the fast bowling. Anderson, Broad and Woakes are all typical English bowlers. Craig Overton is the only hit the deck kind of a bowler who showed some promise. But I think England need a bowler who can extract a bit of zip from the wicket with some express pace. Someone like Mark Wood would be very effective or at least he will add a new dimension to the side. Moeen Ali has looked ineffective as ever in his career. While England have a lots of issues to address, Christmas has come early for Australia as they will look to make it 4-0 in the traditional boxing day test at MCG.

FROM '22ND CENTURY' FOLKS!

The famous catchphrase -
"Ashes to Ashes
Dust to dust
If Lillee doesn't get you
Thommo must"
should be rephrased as -
"Ashes to Ashes
Dust to dust
If Smith doesn't get you a double
A hundred is a must"
According to me, 'Only the second exception to the Law of Averages' can be the only appropriate adjective to Steven 'The Alien' Smith. From scoring his slowest hundred to his fastest within a span of 2 weeks, Smith has been a very painful headache for England. If a grinding  hundred in 261 balls at the GABBA was not enough, the modern master put on a wonderful exhibition of a very high quality batsmanship at the WACA and went on to make it a double while extending the marathon innings to 239. It was the second double hundred of his career and against England. In the process, he became the third quickest to 22 test tons only behind Sir Donald Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar. The Aussie skipper is currently averaging above 62 which is unprecedented in the modern era.
   If you want to decode his technique, it's quite an easy job as he basically plays only a handful of shots. Majority of his runs come through the on side especially in the region between fine leg and mid wicket. He starts his stance well wide of leg stump and then the shuffling ends up having him in front of the wickets when playing shots. Many bowlers have tried to trap him in front of the wickets thinking that he will miss a straight one but he simply doesn't. As he shuffles across to the off stump, the flick becomes a very easy option to him and it makes him easily accessible to mid wicket and square leg. His backlift is also very interesting. A moment before playing any shot, his bat is generally pointing towards gully or even point. So his bat comes down in a very wide angle and therefore playing through the off side especially the cover drive becomes very difficult. Steve Smith doesn't have any problem with short balls. He pulls and hooks them for breakfast everyday and when the ball is slightly outside the off stump, he jumps all over it and cuts it behind the wicket. And how can we ever forget his characteristic leave which has him shouting at the bowler going a couple of steps down the pitch! Very seldom would you see him play a perfect cover drive or even an on drive for that matter. To make it simpler, Steve 'The Alien' Smith scores at an average of 62 playing only Flicks of his pads, Pulls and hooks which go racing away to the fence and fierce square cuts which literally get a slice of the red leather.
    Everyone talks about technique which I  think should not matter as long as someone is scoring as many runs as Smith is. I am sure that there will be a lot of talk about his 'unusual' technique as soon as bowlers find out some 'non-existant' weakness to get him out. This guy has shown that you can get runs everywhere without being technically perfect but having a very strong mind and as Geoffrey Boycott says, having the mentality that the bowlers can not get you out.
   Steven Smith has achieved so much and he is still only 28. Who knows, may be his best years are still ahead of him. From being an ordinary leg spinner who could bat a bit to the number one batsman in the world who is put next to Sir Don in every single list, what a romantic journey this has been!

DECIDER AT THE WACA...

Another grueling battle of Ashes Cricket awaits at the WACA, Perth. Australians are a clear favourites from what we have seen in the last couple of matches. They are just doing three things better than the Englishmen and that's batting, bowling and fielding. English batting looks a bit too much fragile and inexperienced. Mark Stoneman has produced a couple of solid innings at the top but hasn't gone on to make a big one and so has James Vince. So much was talked about James Vince and he did play a scintillating knock at the Gabba in the first innings but has got out to some very poor shots. Nathan Lyon seems to have got better of both of them. Dawid Malan also looked good for one innings he played on that fourth evening at Adelaide. The dependable lower middle order is not firing one bit. Though Jonny Bairstow has looked one of the best on display for England so far, there is a criticism that he comes in too late down the order. Experts say that he should bat at number 4 in order to stop the crisis that has been taking place in the middle order. While batting has got so many issues, the bowling looks quite settled and they have shown that they can get 20 Australian wickets. Moeen Ali is the only one who has failed to deliver with his off spin but I don't think you have to make crucial changes ahead of such a big game because you surely don't want a young English leg spinner like Mason Crane making his debut in an Ashes test at the WACA. But let's be realistic about it, Alastair Cook and Joe Root must fire and get big hundreds in the first innings because that's what they have lacked so far. They have played on two absolute cracker of tracks and haven't got a massive first innings total yet.
    Australians though are enjoying their time off field with families and friends. I don't expect any change in the Aussie XI. They will be looking to get out on the field as soon as possible and get the urn back and inflict some more pressure of the speculated whitewash just like they did in 2013. Everybody has scored runs except Peter Handscomb. English bowler seems to be looking at him and assume him as their easiest wicket and you can not have that especially with someone batting at number 5. That is the only spot where Aussies might have some discussion on but not sure he will be dropped though. As said earlier, Aussies have behaved themselves much better than the visiting poms. What Michael Vaughan said on English player blaming social media was 100% true. ' Social media didn't pour drink on someone's head, social media didn't punch someone in the face on the streets in Bristol, social media didn't introduce himself with a headbutt, it is an easy excuse!! ' What England should worry about is not these off field scandals but the suspensions that are inflicted because of these incidents.
    This test will be the last one at the historic WACA in Perth. England don't have a great record here. The pitch is not as fast as it used to be a couple of decades back but if it is anywhere close to as it usually is, I am afraid England are going have a hell of a lot of problems to deal with. If Starc-Hazlewood-Cummins stay fit as they have, we will probably watching them bowl at their fastest! No English team has come back from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series in Australia and I don't see how this English team is going to pick themselves up and produce a better performance.

A SPECTACLE AT THE ADELAIDE OVAL

Test cricket is alive and it was dazzling under lights at the Adelaide Oval when two of the best sides in the world and certainly the oldest rivalry in the history of test cricket dished out a wonderful exhibition of test match cricket. Joe Root won he toss and to everyone's surprise, decided to field first. We all thought there goes another 500 for Australia but English bowlers kept it really tight to keep a check on the scoreboard. Shaun Marsh finally had his moment as he smashed 126 to help Australia reach 442 when Steve Smith decided to declare to have a few overs at English top order under lights. Starc got Stoneman before rain ended the day's play. Third morning was a disaster for England as not one of their top six could go on and make a big one against a very high quality bowling attack. England lacked patience and ability to cope with pace and bounce. Having talked a lot about Starc-Hazlewood-Cummins, I thought Nathan Lyon was the best bowler on display because of his variations and a probing length. Steve Smith decided not to enforce the follow on which according to some people was a horrific decision given that the last session was going to be played under lights which is a huge advantage to the seamers. I thought that he made the right decision taking into consideration the availability of four bowlers and idea to bat England out of the game. But the plan was nowhere near to be followed as Australia lost 4 wickets in the twilight of day 3. Jimmy Anderson was at his very best along with Chris Woakes and Aussies had no idea which way the ball was going. Australia were skittled out for 138 giving England an outside chance to chase down 354 in about five sessions. 354 was never going to be easy by any stretch of imagination as the history suggests and Nathan Lyon was going to be even more threatening. But England found a positive start in Mark Stoneman while Alastair Cook was steady at the other end. Aussies could get only 3 wickets in the best part of two sessions while Lyon was too good from the other end. After top three had got out for not too many, Root came in at no. 4 and looked a class apart with a number of fluent drives off his New Balance willow. Meanwhile Smith lost both the reviews in the span of three balls and Barmy Army was in full swing in letting Smith know his bizzare decision. Finally Smith could feel a sigh of relief when a super hostile Patrick Cummins went through the defence of Dawid Malan who promised so much with his technique. England ended the day at 176/4 needing another 178 to pull off a dramatic comeback. Adelaide Oval was packed in anticipation of an Aussie victory and lots of English fans came in with a very little hope an English triumph. But all the anticipation was put to bed by Mitchell Starc as he produced a five-for in a fierce spell of fast bowling before Josh Hazlewood had removed Chris Woakes and Joe Root early in the first session. Tail enders went back as fast as they came in.
     It is looking doom and gloom for England as they have a lot of issues to address in a week's time. Converting 50s into big ones is still an unsolved problem. The only positive out of that game is that they found some ways to get Steve Smith out pretty cheaply. Bowling unit showed that they can take 20 wickets but batting is a serious issue and make no mistake about it, this is by no means a great Australian side. Adelaide was the best chance for England and to be honest, the next three pitches are not going to be suitable to England. If pitch is hard, it's gonna suit Aussie pace trio and if it's spinning, Nathan Lyon will be able to extract a lot more than Moeen Ali who hasn't quite shown his potential in this series. No English team has ever come back from 2-0 down to win an Ashes in Australia. I am afraid the dreaded word 'Whitewash' has started to spread in the media because it has to!