England's perpetual woes in Australia [a few notable exceptions aside]
all appear to stem from an inability to hit the ground running in the
first test of each series. Or, if that sounds too simplistic, then
there is a massive body of evidence that reinforces the apparent fact
that England go missing at the business end of the Ashes which is
actually the first three tests and then only arise from their slumber
when a series is done and dusted, and the Poms proceed to console
themselves with triumph in a so-called 'dead rubber'. To be slightly
fair to England, there is no Australian cricket XI past, present, or
future that will happily concede defeat to England in any test match,
irrespective of whether the Ashes is still at stake or not.
However, the horrendous truth prevails that England simply do not
excel at the outset of many overseas test series, and this is patently
the case in Australia. If one looks back [in anger] at England's last
nineteen test series in Australia, the tourists have dismally only
recorded a victory in two opening tests in a spell dating back to
1945. This shocking statistic needs to be addressed and remedied
sooner rather than later, or Australia can look forward to re-visiting
their growing tendency of settling an Ashes series at the third
skirmish in Perth, long before the tests arranged for the hallowed
venues of Melbourne and Sydney even appear on the horizon.
Furthermore, equally of grave concern for the English cricketing
contingent is that since 1900, the English visitors have only twice
lost the first test of an Ashes series in Australia and bounced back
to win the series, achieving this cricketing equivalent of Halley's
Comet in 1911 and 1954 - and not since! In future England needs to
face up to the perils of the first test and recognise that
historically when they go behind in a series in Australia, they stay
behind, and indeed go further behind.
Whether this all indicates a lack of preparation ahead of the first
contest is open to question. Surely if England are flopping in the
first battle in Brisbane, the logic must be to begin in Australia one
week earlier the next time. Regrettably, England's hapless cricket
warriors are all too often engaged in one-day internationals for much
of September or first-class fixtures at the tail-end of the County
Championship. This leaves our weary troops only a few weeks in October
to recover. Is this adequate? History would suggest otherwise.
Alternatively, there ought to be an argument proposed for England
playing a pre-Ashes warm-up test in New Zealand or the Indian
sub-continent en route to their Ashes commitments. If England are
going to maintain their time-honoured bad habit of being all too rusty
at the start of a winter's test series, then let that
under-performance be exposed in a pre-Ashes test, before the main
course is served, and England end up well and truly cooked in Perth,
long before the Christmas turkey.
ENGLAND'S RECORD IN THE FIRST ASHES TEST IN AUSTRALIA SINCE 1945:
The following is an appalling chronology of 11 defeats, six draws, and only two wins!
2013 Lost
2010 Drew
2006 Lost
2002 Lost
1998 Drew
1994 Lost
1990 Lost
1986 WON
1982 Drew
1979 [non-Ashes series] Lost
1978 WON
1974 Lost
1970 Drew
1965 Drew
1962 Drew
1958 Lost
1954 Lost
1950 Lost
1946 Lost
all appear to stem from an inability to hit the ground running in the
first test of each series. Or, if that sounds too simplistic, then
there is a massive body of evidence that reinforces the apparent fact
that England go missing at the business end of the Ashes which is
actually the first three tests and then only arise from their slumber
when a series is done and dusted, and the Poms proceed to console
themselves with triumph in a so-called 'dead rubber'. To be slightly
fair to England, there is no Australian cricket XI past, present, or
future that will happily concede defeat to England in any test match,
irrespective of whether the Ashes is still at stake or not.
However, the horrendous truth prevails that England simply do not
excel at the outset of many overseas test series, and this is patently
the case in Australia. If one looks back [in anger] at England's last
nineteen test series in Australia, the tourists have dismally only
recorded a victory in two opening tests in a spell dating back to
1945. This shocking statistic needs to be addressed and remedied
sooner rather than later, or Australia can look forward to re-visiting
their growing tendency of settling an Ashes series at the third
skirmish in Perth, long before the tests arranged for the hallowed
venues of Melbourne and Sydney even appear on the horizon.
Furthermore, equally of grave concern for the English cricketing
contingent is that since 1900, the English visitors have only twice
lost the first test of an Ashes series in Australia and bounced back
to win the series, achieving this cricketing equivalent of Halley's
Comet in 1911 and 1954 - and not since! In future England needs to
face up to the perils of the first test and recognise that
historically when they go behind in a series in Australia, they stay
behind, and indeed go further behind.
Whether this all indicates a lack of preparation ahead of the first
contest is open to question. Surely if England are flopping in the
first battle in Brisbane, the logic must be to begin in Australia one
week earlier the next time. Regrettably, England's hapless cricket
warriors are all too often engaged in one-day internationals for much
of September or first-class fixtures at the tail-end of the County
Championship. This leaves our weary troops only a few weeks in October
to recover. Is this adequate? History would suggest otherwise.
Alternatively, there ought to be an argument proposed for England
playing a pre-Ashes warm-up test in New Zealand or the Indian
sub-continent en route to their Ashes commitments. If England are
going to maintain their time-honoured bad habit of being all too rusty
at the start of a winter's test series, then let that
under-performance be exposed in a pre-Ashes test, before the main
course is served, and England end up well and truly cooked in Perth,
long before the Christmas turkey.
ENGLAND'S RECORD IN THE FIRST ASHES TEST IN AUSTRALIA SINCE 1945:
The following is an appalling chronology of 11 defeats, six draws, and only two wins!
2013 Lost
2010 Drew
2006 Lost
2002 Lost
1998 Drew
1994 Lost
1990 Lost
1986 WON
1982 Drew
1979 [non-Ashes series] Lost
1978 WON
1974 Lost
1970 Drew
1965 Drew
1962 Drew
1958 Lost
1954 Lost
1950 Lost
1946 Lost
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