5th Test: Australia v England at the SCG - 3-7 Jan

[cricket_online]

I bet England team can't wait to get on the plane back home. It almost looks like they have the tickets booked on a plane about to take off in a couple hours.

 

[cricket_online]

That's it folks. Thrashing's complete and it's 5-0 Australia.

 

[asprin]

It's done and dusted. Congratulations Australia. They deserve every bit of the accolades coming their way. England on the other hand, well, have some serious postmortem to do.

I have to say, as a neutral, I was a bit disappointed with the way England capitulated. I was anticipating a better show from them after the first test. Something really happened within the first two tests with Trott leaving the tour and Swann retiring after the third.

Anyways, loved Mitchell's bowling, Haddin's rearguard action, the crowd, the atmosphere and the passion/hunger shown by the home team.

MJ is my choice for the Man of the Series and though Haddin is a good contender too, I think Johnson was the man who really made the difference. He put fear into the minds of the batsman and I don't think I can recall a scenario in the last 5-6 years where one man has had such a huge impact on the opposition.

 

[War]

Both Johnson & Haddin should have got MOS. In the 05 Ashes & famous IND/AUS 2001 series; Warne/Flintoff & Hayden/Harbhajan shared the awards.

 

[Epic]

Neither Warne/Flintoff or Hayden/Harbhajan played for the same side though.

 

[zeustrojanstark]

Very happy for the Aussies. Finally new year starts off with a bang for an Aussie fanatic like me.

I don't think two players from the same side can share the man of the series.

 

[ferg512]

Congratulations to the Aussies, were pretty hard done by in England, could well have been 2-2. Will be interesting to see how Johnson does in South Africa, he has been very hot and cold in the past. For me the MOTS was a no contest, bowlers win test matches so Johnson gets it.

 

[Owzat]

Well that completes a set of rubbish scores, England 'win' 6-5 on the below 200 scores in 0-5 whitewashes down under, compared to 06/07

Lowest England scores 13/14 (sub 300)

136 : 1st Test, 1st innings
155 : 5th Test, 1st innings
166 : 5th Test, 2nd innings
172 : 2nd Test, 1st innings
179 : 1st Test, 2nd innings
179 : 4th Test, 2nd innings
251 : 3rd Test, 1st innings
255 : 4th Test, 1st innings


Carberry rewarded his retention with another score of 30+ that was about it, 13 more runs added. What is most shocking is that not one batsman in the England side made a hundred, Stokes counted as an all-rounder.

What is most ironic is the scorer of England's second highest score was dropped (Root with 87) TEN fifties between the batsmen and keeper, no one went beyond said 87.

Some of the shots were awful, the big guns fired blanks most of the series and the batsmen averages were feeble

Pietersen : 294 runs @ 29.40
Carberry : 281 runs @ 28.10
Bell : 235 runs @ 26.11
Cook : 246 runs @ 24.60
Prior : 107 runs @ 17.83
Trott : 19 runs @ 9.50

Stokes managed a very handy 34.88 average, but mainly thanks to scores in the second innings when the game was over - 120, 28, 19 and 32 making up 199 of his 279 runs. Ballance made 25 runs @ 12.50 in his only Test, Root 192 runs @ 27.43 but unsurprisingly given he isn't one of the favoured players, was singled out for replacing although surprisingly dropped before Carberry.

As for bowling, well Broad stood out as the only bowler performing consistently well enough.

Borthwick : 4 wkts @ 20.50 (SR 19.50, ER 6.31)
Broad : 21 wkts @ 27.52 (SR 46.24, ER 3.57)
Tremlett : 4 wkts @ 30.00 (SR 54.00, ER 3.33)
Stokes : 15 wkts @ 32.80 (SR 46.73, ER 4.21)

Bresnan : 5 wkts @ 41.20 (SR 75.00, ER 3.31)
Anderson : 14 wkts @ 43.93 (SR 81.64, ER 3.23)

Swann : 7 wkts @ 80.00 (SR 121.71, ER 3.94)
Rankin : 1 wkt @ 81.00 (SR 125.00, ER 3.89)
Panesar : 3 wkts @ 85.67 (SR 141.67, ER 3.65)


Borthwick rescued himself with some cheap wickets as the aussies pushed on to set a target, that they were pushing on at about 4.5 runs an over should say all that needs to be said.

Interesting that in a series where England scored under 200 SIX times, they used NINE different frontline bowlers and yet the only top six batting change that wasn't forced upon them came in the last Test...................... In fact the only top seven changes :

- Stokes for Trott who went home
- Bairstow for Prior as Prior was woefully out of form, but which batsman who played five Tests wasn't?
- Ballance for Root, not in my book helpful to either player

All over the place in selection, XIs and the performances were poor. Not sure what England expect when the likes of Cook, Pietersen, Bell, Prior, Anderson, Swann et al play regardless and the probability of them being dropped is remote.

Sure Prior did get dropped, guaranteed the others listed wouldn't be. If I told you Pietersen only averaged 38 in the last Ashes with Root a run less, Cook 28, Trott 29, Prior 19 then you needn't wonder why Root and Prior got axed, Trott had to walk and the others would have to be banned to be dropped.

Since the end of the India tour of England in August 2011, Bell, Cook and Pietersen's averages have all dropped by three runs

Bell 49.29 (69) > 45.43 (98)
Cook 49.73 (72) > 46.51 (102)
Pietersen 50.48 (78) > 47.29 (104)

That may not sound a lot, but it means Bell has scored 1695 runs @ 36.85 in that time, Cook a better 2179 runs @ 39.62 and Pietersen 1820 runs @ 38.72 and despite playing West Indies, New Zealand (x2) and a toothless Sri Lanka in that time it is well below their norm and their capabilities

 

[angryangy]

It's definitely a mental thing. If you think too much when a ball is coming at you at 90 mph, you're boned. At that level, you have to be able to pick the ball before its even bowled. And it's also not enough to just block everything out and concentrate. Sustained concentration will almost always fail too soon; that's why batsmen wander off to square leg in between balls, so they can relax and concentrate for longer. So clear heads are important. And especially in the modern game, muddled thinking snowballs. Everyone will tell you what you should do. There are people employed specifically to do that!

I found particularly from the batting of Ian Bell that there was some notion, whether internal or otherwise, of needing to take the bowling on, to manifest the ego. And that also appeared endemic at Adelaide, a team unified in their determination to go down by holing out to long leg. And others, such as Cook, looked clearly rattled about the existence of their off stump. In fairness, Cook copped some of the most absurdly good bowling; but surely the rest of the team were watching and thinking things like how they would play such a ball better, or how could they play it at all, if even Cook is brushed aside like an ant.

Part of the problem stems simply from planning, or simply failing to plan well enough for the first game. When your plans are smashed up front, it's reasonable to doubt them. But if you see enough pressers you will know how much "execution" is stressed. Carrying out the plan is key and low confidence or confusion relating to the best course of action will prevent good execution.

It's especially laughable that England went with the tall fast bowlers and in the end, Bresnan was called up from outside the squad to bowl 75 mph, while Steve Finn did not even play a game. It's not that the bowling was especially rubbish, but it really tells a story of how England placed their steps.

 

[puddleduck]

So now we can get down to the serious business of the ODI series.

That one's a joke for anyone who knows my general opinion on ODI cricket.

 

[PackenHols]

This was the only time the England batsman tried to attack Lyon from the start. On the last day when the test is lost.

 

[midgetwars]

Congratulations to the Aussies, were pretty hard done by in England, could well have been 2-2. Will be interesting to see how Johnson does in South Africa, he has been very hot and cold in the past. For me the MOTS was a no contest, bowlers win test matches so Johnson gets it.

He has. But his hot and cold were in between a span of 10 matches or something.

This time, it's nearly all matches and when he's cold now he doesn't go 10 an over.

 

[barmyarmy]

Well done Australia. Your excellent bowling made up for your ropey batting.
I don't feel that we could beat anyone right now. Good time for a Bangladesh series; certainly can't see us beating India or Sri Lanka.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Finally it's all over, although I am a bit surprised that we didn't make it into day 4.

 

[Dutch]

I sure do wish all the so called ex England captains and players would STFU. They knew hard times and how it is. To come out as an England player and call the current players the things they have been called by ex-players is a disgrace and unworthy of all the achievements this team HAS done over the past four or five years. Shame on you Hussein and Vaughn and Boycott and Botham and Agnew. Agnew is the worse: what did you achieve Johnathan. Stick the knife in while they are down. Shameless.