England domination, Aussie Capitulation.

When looking at this Second Test and attempting to make sense of what appeared to be an annihilation 3 letters and 3 numbers go a heck of a long way to doing so ; 180 and DRS.

One will be talked about as one of the great innings of the modern era by an Englishman that took the prospect of a result, from an Australian perspective, from difficult to downright impossible, and the other is a system that has proven controversial and has been more bamboozling to the Australians than a Shane Warne flipper.

Joe Root has had a rapid rise since making his debut in November last year. His Yorkshire form and pure batting talent carrying on in the international stage where he has looked at home. Thrust into an opening berth after the, very unfair in my opinion, dropping of Nick Compton the young Yorkshireman still had the question of weather he can be a Test opener surrounding him when he and Alistair Cook walked out in the second innings after the decision not to make Australia bat again and you could hear fans and experts alike saying “he’s got no pressure on him here, he can make a score”.

And he did, he showed all the attributes needed from a Test Match opener. He showed a solid defence, he didn’t flinch when the ball started whistling around his head and resolutely stood his ground when the Aussie bowlers used the verbals. Then, when the bad balls arrived he made sure he scored from them with some cracking shots off both front and back feet. His straight drives were something you could show to aspiring cricketers the world over as the perfect way to play such a shot.

Ably supported by Ian Bell and his fellow Yorkshire colleagues Tim Bresnan and Jonny Bairstow, England tried in vain to drag him to a double century but that moment should arrive sooner rather than later in Roots career. The Third Test perhaps?

On the flipside, the Australians lack of tactical nous when needing to decide when to use the DRS system has become a feature of this series, a feature that became obvious in the early stages of the tourists 1st innings. Opener Shane Watson was adjudged to be LBW and it looked plumb with the naked eye but Watson referred the decision. The replays confirmed the on-field verdict and Watson was out. Not long later his fellow opener Chris Rogers was hit in the midriff by an atrocious ball from Graeme Swann and was given out, it looked odd from all angles and perhaps because of the previous wasted referral Rodgers trudged off. Had he asked for it to be looked at again he’d have remained at the crease as it turned out the ball was missing the off stump by a fair margin and perhaps things may have ended better for the Baggy Green than they ended up at 128 all out.

Steve Smith can also be guilty of wasting reviews as just before tea on the eventual final day he drove at one, Matt Prior and the England fielders went up for the catch that was given. Smith immediately referred it but Hotspot showed a thin edge. Hotspot was then in the hot seat with the dismissal of Ashton Agar. This time, on an England referral for a caught behind, there was no apparent mark on hotspot but there was enough evidence, in this case a clear sound on the stump microphone for it to be given out. Note that in both cases the correct decision was made, regardless of what was claimed to be an erroneous tweet from Cricket Australia said of the Smith dismissal.

However, when you get down to the crux of the matter its boils down to a simple fact as to why England won this by 347 Runs and lead 2-0, a lead only once surrendered to lose a Test series and that was in 1936/37, and that fact is this;

Man for man England are, on paper and on the pitch, just simply better than the Australians. Batting, better, Pace bowling, better. Spin bowling, better. DRS-ing, better.

Certainly there have been flashes of what the tourists can do. Agar’s stunning 98 on debut, the bowling of Ryan Harris in this Test and Peter Siddle in the previous one but you get the feeling that this is a team divided into little groups rather than a cohesive unit. I imagine Siddle, Pattinson and co are getting a bit bored of having to not only take 20 England wickets but having to bat to try and keep them in the match aswell. This needs to be addressed if the Australians are to go home ready for their home Ashes series with any confidence either within or from their own fans.

So there’s another phrase to consider when looking forward to the next Test at Old Trafford. Crunch Time.

 

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