The Ashes Test Series 2013 - What a start !
An Ashes test series between traditional rivals England and Australia is always interesting . And when conditions favour the bowlers ( which happens more in the English Counties ) , watching the batsmen struggle can be great viewing pleasure.
The First test between the two teams brought out all ingredients that the Test Cricket needs-Intensity of the battle , surprises , Technology controversies , skillful bowling , odd bits of extraordinary batting and every session swinging from one team gaining to other losing control.
On day 1 , as I exchanged views with few people , I concluded that the match will be over in two days’ time. I made this assessment based on the playing conditions. Day 1 England had lost all their wickets and Aussies in reply lost four and by lunch time on Day 2 , the Aussies had lost five more. The bowlers had a whale of time. The ball as they say was doing the” talking”. It was swinging , seaming , moving both ways and sideways, bouncing and when the ball beat the bat ( which was quite often ) , the groans from the players and the public ( there was good attendance as well on all the days ) was loud. The conditions tested the batsmen’s technical ability and which is what Test Cricket is all about. None of the batsmen showed the ability to deal with the conditions except for some who choose to hit their way out of trouble and had tons of luck going their way. Aussies last wicket pair in the first innings was a revelation. Ashton Agar only 19 and on his test debut found form , luck and sound technique battled the English to give Aussies a vital innings lead. It was the best ever effort by a No 11 batsmen in test cricket.
England in their second innings saw the day off with some resolute defending by Cook and Pietersen. I think this was a key session during the whole match. Had England lost more wickets on Day 2 , they would have potentially lost the match. Conditions improved dramatically on Day 3 and it looked a normal pitch. England got to a total that set up a par score for a win to the Aussies. The Aussies were untroubled as well in their chase until a heap of wickets fell and then it was left to the last pair ( again ) to give nerves to the English. Haddin and Pattinson batted with flair and aplomb to get to within 14 runs and then it was Technology that gave the verdict to a English win. Aussies batted poorly in both the innings and that must a big cause for worry for the balance of the matches.
While the match held its intensity , the key question going forward is the use of Technology to review Decisions. I am a big supporter of using technology in reviewing the decisions. I am also surprised that Captains are allowed to use the review process only twice in an inning and for a change England played this card well in this test. I do not subscribe to the fact that review has to be restricted. When Umpires can refer “ run outs” and “stumpings”, N number of times, why there has to be a restriction to the captains . I think this gives unfair advantage to either captains. We have data that says the umpires made seven mistakes out of the decisions they handed over in this test and four of them got corrected through use of the DRS ( Decision Review System ) and the ICC confirms the use of DRS meant 95.8 percent of umpiring decisions were correct as opposed to 90.3 percent before reviews. . If the intention is to get the right decision , my view is a 100 % support to use Technology and get the right decision – and no restrictions .
I hear people saying this may delay the game but that is part of the changes that are happening. The crowd and viewers get in to this process and so there is value and entertainment in doing this , in addition to getting a right decision.
I am sure , the day is not far off , when technology will improve more , give accurate results and we will have matches played with only TV Umpires ! Imagine a bowler appealing at the Camera !
Anyone betting on that ?
The First test between the two teams brought out all ingredients that the Test Cricket needs-Intensity of the battle , surprises , Technology controversies , skillful bowling , odd bits of extraordinary batting and every session swinging from one team gaining to other losing control.
On day 1 , as I exchanged views with few people , I concluded that the match will be over in two days’ time. I made this assessment based on the playing conditions. Day 1 England had lost all their wickets and Aussies in reply lost four and by lunch time on Day 2 , the Aussies had lost five more. The bowlers had a whale of time. The ball as they say was doing the” talking”. It was swinging , seaming , moving both ways and sideways, bouncing and when the ball beat the bat ( which was quite often ) , the groans from the players and the public ( there was good attendance as well on all the days ) was loud. The conditions tested the batsmen’s technical ability and which is what Test Cricket is all about. None of the batsmen showed the ability to deal with the conditions except for some who choose to hit their way out of trouble and had tons of luck going their way. Aussies last wicket pair in the first innings was a revelation. Ashton Agar only 19 and on his test debut found form , luck and sound technique battled the English to give Aussies a vital innings lead. It was the best ever effort by a No 11 batsmen in test cricket.
England in their second innings saw the day off with some resolute defending by Cook and Pietersen. I think this was a key session during the whole match. Had England lost more wickets on Day 2 , they would have potentially lost the match. Conditions improved dramatically on Day 3 and it looked a normal pitch. England got to a total that set up a par score for a win to the Aussies. The Aussies were untroubled as well in their chase until a heap of wickets fell and then it was left to the last pair ( again ) to give nerves to the English. Haddin and Pattinson batted with flair and aplomb to get to within 14 runs and then it was Technology that gave the verdict to a English win. Aussies batted poorly in both the innings and that must a big cause for worry for the balance of the matches.
While the match held its intensity , the key question going forward is the use of Technology to review Decisions. I am a big supporter of using technology in reviewing the decisions. I am also surprised that Captains are allowed to use the review process only twice in an inning and for a change England played this card well in this test. I do not subscribe to the fact that review has to be restricted. When Umpires can refer “ run outs” and “stumpings”, N number of times, why there has to be a restriction to the captains . I think this gives unfair advantage to either captains. We have data that says the umpires made seven mistakes out of the decisions they handed over in this test and four of them got corrected through use of the DRS ( Decision Review System ) and the ICC confirms the use of DRS meant 95.8 percent of umpiring decisions were correct as opposed to 90.3 percent before reviews. . If the intention is to get the right decision , my view is a 100 % support to use Technology and get the right decision – and no restrictions .
I hear people saying this may delay the game but that is part of the changes that are happening. The crowd and viewers get in to this process and so there is value and entertainment in doing this , in addition to getting a right decision.
I am sure , the day is not far off , when technology will improve more , give accurate results and we will have matches played with only TV Umpires ! Imagine a bowler appealing at the Camera !
Anyone betting on that ?
Comments
Australia continue to struggle with a shaky and brittle middle order that haunted them during the 4-0 loss in India early this year.
The last pair added 230 runs for Australia in a low scoring match and that explains everything.
Much has been said about DRS but Cook was smart and used them appropriately while Aussie messed the DRS use.
The media back 'down-under' criticised Broad for not walking and also the umpire. Did they forget what happened at Sydney 2008 -- Symonds didn't walk when he edged one that everyone in the stadium heard, and Ponting said he caught one that didn't carry to him.
The media was more emotional about the loss and personally I was -- the way Agar / Huges counter-attacked, it changed the course of the match in less than two hours. Pattinson and Haddin were brilliant in the 2nd innings and were never looking like getting out and the lunch break did them.
We also need a little bit of errors and controversy to spice up the game of cricket. That's what is cricket all about.
Thanks - Radha V
Partha