years’ ahead of England throughout the series
Defeats in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth had already ensured the Ashes would return to Australia and while a draw in Melbourne canada goose jacket uk ensured England avoided another whitewash, normal service was resumed in Sydney as the hosts completed a comprehensive innings victory.
Bob Willis gives his verdict on a „chastening” Test debut for Mason Crane at the SCG, „once in a generation” batsman Steve Smith and why, ultimately, it was „men v boys” for so much of the series on Australia’s dominanceThere have been three big differences between the sides, really. Apart from Alastair Cook, the lack of big innings from individuals in the England side, the lack of pace in the England attack and the paucity of spin in England’s bowling as well.
canada goose clearance It was great to see Mason Crane make a debut but on a turning pitch he got 1 193, so that’s about the top and bottom of it. They were completely outplayed from start to finish. canada goose clearance
People said that England got themselves into matches but when they were getting 320 or 340, the opposition were getting 200 more than that.
It was men v boys, at the end of the day.
Bob on the Marsh brothers, Usman Khawaja and England’s „ineffective” bowlingIf you think that the likes of Usman Khawaja and the Marsh brothers were all walking the Test match tightrope coming into this series, it shows how ineffective England’s bowling attack was canada goose outlet in toronto when guys who hadn’t really proved themselves in all conditions in Test matches were suddenly scoring runs for canada goose outlet woodbury fun.
cheap canada goose uk I canada goose outlet shop suppose that they’ve had five or six goes but the England bowling attack was so friendly that they were able to make hay at different times; in Adelaide and Melbourne, in a defensive mode, canada goose outlet in usa and both of them in a reasonably aggressive mode although the run rate wasn’t all that scintillating until the final overs at Sydney. cheap canada goose uk
They played responsible innings and England couldn’t do anything with the ball so the players who hadn’t really shone before were able to show all their talents.
canada goose factory sale The senior England bowlers couldn’t get the ball to swing or seam, the back up seamers Craig Overton, Chris Woakes, Tom Curran and Jake Ball tried their hearts out but they were completely ineffectual on the Australian surfaces with the Kookaburra ball so life was sweet for the Marshes and the other, you might say lesser, Australian batsman after David Warner and Steve Smith. canada goose factory sale
Bob on Joe Root’s conversion conundrum and captaincyFifty after fifty but not going on to make a big hundred is a little bit of a concern for him. I don’t think that’s got anything particularly to do with the captaincy although I know from personal experience that when you’re on the know side of an Ashes defeat in Australia, these things do get to you mentally.
People have said that he hasn’t sought advice from past captains like Mike Atherton or Ian Chappell but he wanted to plough his own furrow, he knew how difficult it was going to be.
buy canada goose jacket From a batting point of view, he’ll be particularly disappointed not to have registered a canada goose outlet lot more runs on those pitches, which, for the most part, were ideal for batting. He never looked in any real trouble, he just found ways of getting out which was very unfortunate for him, as the leader of the pack. buy canada goose jacket
I don’t think his head dropped at any stage and he tried everything he could as captain. I’m sure he will have learnt valuable lessons from the experience and he’ll be hoping for a quieter time back in England against Pakistan and India. Although I’m not sure against India that’ll be the case!
canada goose black friday sale I think it is true of all the England players: they gave all they had to give but there was absolute light years between the teams in terms of quality. canada goose black friday sale
canada goose uk outlet Bob canada goose clothing uk on the „phenomenal” Steve SmithHe very much proved himself to be the best batsman in the world in this series. It is amazing to see that unorthodox technique being so successful. He’s scored runs everywhere now and his returns are just phenomenal, averaging mid 60s in the modern game is just amazing. canada goose uk outlet
canadian goose jacket It was interesting watching the coverage when Hot Spot was on, canada goose outlet in vancouver every time you saw him play a shot it was hitting the middle of the bat perhaps apart from a couple of drag ons at Adelaide and Melbourne. Every other shot seemed to hit the middle of the bat! canadian goose jacket
He is a once in a generation player, maybe even a once in a century player and the likes of Virat Kohli, Root, Kane Williamson and Cheteshwar Pujara have got a very tough act to follow if they want to rub shoulders with him at the top of the batting tree, worldwide.
Canada Goose Coats On Sale Bob on Australia’s bowling attackThe quality of the bowling attack has made captaincy pretty simple for Smith. He ran out of ideas on the porridge pudding that was Melbourne, nobody was going to get 20 wickets on that pitch in a hurry. Of course, he was without Mitchell Starc in that game too. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
I’ve always been quoted as saying a captain is only as good as the bowlers he’s got. Mike Brearley went down in English cricketing history as one of the great captains; he had Botham and Willis at their absolute peak!
So it is a big help to any captain and, although I thought Jimmy Anderson was outstanding in terms of effort, consistency and accuracy, when Root’s two senior bowlers aren’t taking wickets then it’s a devils own job to captain a side well.
Whereas in the four Test matches Australia won, all the pieces fell into place for Smith: Starc, left arm pace and swing, Pat Cummins with exceptional pace and Josh Hazlewood with nagging accuracy but at good pace all three of them capable of bowling fearsome bouncers as well and they really decimated the England tail match after match.
Bob on Mason Crane’s Test debutHe did not bowl badly by any means, it wasn’t like Adil Rashid on flat pitches where there is a four ball every over. There wasn’t that much help for him in the pitch and the Australian players basically waited on the back foot and played either defensively forward or waited for a ball of lesser merit and put it away.
Canada Goose Outlet He went for about four runs an over, which isn’t bad if you’re picking up wickets but he wasn’t able to do that. Canada Goose Outlet
England have always had this incredible romanticism about leg spinners, we’ve seen Rashid, Scott Borthwick, Chris Schofield, Ian Salisbury and none have them actually cut the mustard for any length of time.
We wish Mason well but is he going to feature in an English summer on English wickets? One would rather doubt that he would play against Pakistan in late May and early June but there are signs that there is plenty of talent there but that is a chastening experience to start your Test career with those bowling figures.
It is unlikely that the pitches in New Zealand are going to be spinner friendly but I think he would probably be worth another go. As with a lot of the selections, you could say that half of the 16 man squad had a poor series, but who are you going to replace them with?
I don’t think Crane was a major culprit, by any means, but as I said canada goose outlet in uk at the beginning, I think England tried their guts out and they never gave up, they kept on fighting cg-jacketsale but they just couldn’t get any wickets on those surfaces with seam or spin.
Bob on whether Cook, Anderson and Broad have played their last Test in AustraliaI think the most disappointed of the three will be canada goose outlet vip Stuart Broad. He came back with a bit of a bang at the MCG, but his return will have disappointed him and it must have been galling to see the Aussie bowlers make hay where he couldn’t make any impression at all.