New talent can dominate the Ashes series

From Times Online
May 20, 2009

Richard Hobson, Deputy Cricket Correspondent

Seven weeks remain before the start of the Ashes. Part of me thinks it a shame that we don't have a year and seven to go. England may be on their uppers after demolishing West Indies, but they are unproven against the best, while the squad announced by Australia this morning also reflects a group in transition.

The series is coming earlier than both sides would like, but this creates an opportunity for new talent to dominate the summer. Nothing invigorates quite as refreshingly as young players free of baggage blowing away the older generation.

England's 2005 success arrived on the back of results stretching back more than a year. Duncan Fletcher, then the coach, insisted that he needed that year to build. This time, players have been thrown together in the direst circumstances and emerged under Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower not only as skilled operators but as strong characters and a genuine team. It often takes adversity for that to happen.

Australia at least saw a situation coming and could plan for the loss of senior players. But it is one thing to foresee the retirements of the McGraths, Warnes and Gilchrists, quite another to identify their replacements and have to courage to back them through the inevitable decline. A few have come and gone - there cannot be many uncapped spin bowlers left in Australia - and doubtless more will come and go before they settle.

The exciting part is not so much that the teams have young players, more that they are filling such critical roles. Phil Hughes and Mitchell Johnson for Australia, and James Anderson, Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad for England are all likely to be significant players over the five Tests; three are new ball bowlers and two designated to bat in the top order. All should have the best of their careers beyond 2009.

True, Anderson made his Test debut as long ago as 2003, but his re-introduction in New Zealand last year clearly represented a defining point, a new start. He was given to believe that he was in for the long haul and told to become the leader of the attack. It has taken a year or so to grow into the role and acknowledge his status without worrying that he may look big-headed or, worse, delusional.

Johnson has taken such strides forward over the same period that he, too, is a kingpin. But this will be his debut Ashes series and ought to be the first of many. Like Broad, he could be a fully-fledged all-rounder by the time of the next series in 2010-11. Hughes, his unorthodox style self-taught in the outback, and Bopara, with his whippy bottom hand and endearing self-confidence, have knocked out hundreds without making batting look a grind. Both can score thousands of Test runs well beyond the immediate contest.

England just about have the capacity to regain the Ashes, especially if it boils down to a contest between the respective spin attacks. But Australia must be favourites. Working back, they have just beaten South Africa in South Africa; the same South Africa who beat England in England in 2008. And history warns how foolish it can be too under-estimate Australia simply because a few names are relatively unfamiliar.

Twenty years ago they arrived with a squad gleefully described in England as the worst ever sent. Bookmakers offered odds of 11-4 against their winning the first Test at Headingley. Australia not only triumphed by more than 200 runs but took the series 4-0. Looking back you ask how a team including Mark Taylor, David Boon, Steve Waugh, Allan Border, Dean Jones, Ian Healy, Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson was dismissed so arrogantly. Actually, it is obvious: in 1989, Boon, Healy, Waugh and Taylor were young and unproven while Border and the bowlers were supposedly scarred by previous losses.

Somewhere in the Bradman Archive is a recording of the great man reflecting on a similar theme. When The Don brought his 1948 team to England (which included Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller and Arthur Morris among others) he was told that they weren't as strong as the 1930 vintage. In 1930, his first Ashes tour, he was told that the squad could not have competed with their 1921 predecessors. Bradman delved deeper and discovered - doubtless to little surprise by now - that the 1921 party was thought inferior to the group of 1902.

Australia were seemingly not as good as they were, and never had been. But they were still plenty good enough for England each and every time.

ECB must follow Australia's lead on IPL

Andrew Flintoff was allowed to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), got injured and now appears likely to miss the ICC World Twenty20. The ECB believes it had little option except to grant Flintoff his passage to South Africa, no matter the constant fitness issues around the key all-rounder. But Cricket Australia (CA) has had no compunction about laying down the law to their own players, even those on the very outer fringes of their plans.

Take the case of Shaun Tait. Tait was refused permission to play for Rajasthan Royals following a long recovery from hamstring trouble. He was said to be "very disappointed" - understandably given the $375,000 fee he had commanded at the IPL auction. But at least he could think that the protection meant he was in the thoughts of the selectors. Not so. Last week, CA opted against renewing his central contract. He has been overlooked for the Ashes.

In a sign of the times, Tait, one of the fastest bowlers in the world, believes his future may lie as an itinerant Twenty20 player. "There are franchises all over the world, so hopefully I can align myself to a couple of those," he said. "Being dropped off a contract probably frees me up a bit more to do that." Tait stressed that he wants to fight his way back into the national team. But how much does the loss of a central contract hurt these days?