The success of the subsequent performance is another matter,it depends a lot on how well the opponent allows you to play,and Australia have been very good. Chris Silverwood,Ashley Giles and Joe Root have leant towards top-order batters with modest first-class records who carry defensive techniques that make Novak Djokovic’s visa application look rock solid.
Losers go in search of answers but,with each personnel change,England oozed knee-jerk desperation,relying on reserves with similar faults. The winners reckon they already have plenty of options,and so it was. Australia’s reserves have been forced upon them by injury and unusual events rather than poor form. The only potential problem Australia had before Saturday was Cameron Green’s batting. Green’s bowling value reminds me of Steve Waugh early in his career. He seemed on the Waugh trajectory,his bowling keeping him in the team until his batting finds a way. Having been given time,the timing of the innings was,again,impeccable. Meanwhile,England’s changes seem panicked and,apart from thegutsy,aggressive hundred on Friday from interchange wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow,led to even more uncertainty.
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On a tour of Australia,a visiting team might get away with introducing one top-six batter of high potential and limited experience,and they might get better – if they aren’t marking guard at four-for-very-few every innings. You can’t buy experience,it takes time – hence the verb becomes the noun. England have ignored their elder players at great cost. Haseeb Hameed looks young and plays very young. Rarely have I seen a technique so etched in confusion. Surely the MCC coaching manual doesn’t suggest stepping back,lunging and then thrusting your hands gropingly forward? There is plenty of timing in that set-up,it just happens to be more akin to croquet than cricket.
The Australians have had the right people in the right place at the right time – serendipitous maybe,good planning perhaps,but magnificently effective. England have selected,coached and played in another time zone altogether.