Before they even got on the plane at Heathrow, England’s Ashes campaign was in danger of careering off the runway.
Little has gone to plan since either. From Ben Stokes’ arrest to Jonny Bairstow’s greeting-by-headbutt to Ben Duckett’s decision to pour a drink over James Anderson, we’ve seen one sorry headline after another. And that’s before you even factor in heavy defeats in the first two Tests, with Australia winning all the pivotal sessions.
But heading into the third and potentially decisive clash at the WACA in Perth, which gets underway tomorrow, we look at why it need not be all doom and gloom for the tourists.
PERTH IS NO FORTRESS
There was a time during the glory years under Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting when only West Indies — back in the day when they had a scary phalanx of fast bowlers — got any joy out of the trip to cricket’s most remote outpost. The other teams, and especially England, just got thrashed, routinely caught out by the lightning-fast pitch made from Waroona clay, its snaking cracks and trampoline bounce, not to mention heat that has ruined many a laptop in the open-air press seating. But unlike the Gabba in Brisbane, where Australia haven’t lost in nearly three decades, Perth is no longer a citadel. Instead of obsessing over having been beaten in their past seven Tests there, England should look at Australia’s 4-4 win-loss at the WACA during the past decade. South Africa have won each of their last three matches there, starting with a remarkable game in December 2008, when they chased down 414 for victory.
DON’T GET CARRIED AWAY
Australia had not lost in Perth in more than a decade when India journeyed there in January 2008, after the ugliness and controversy of “Monkeygate” in Sydney. Like England now, they were also 2-0 down in the series, and given no chance. And while it is Mitchell Marsh who has been drafted in for this Test to give Australia a fourth pace option, back then it was Shaun Tait, the Wild Thing, who was called up to supplement the trio of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark. Tait had match figures of nought for 92 in 21 overs as India won by 72 runs. India’s pace attack comprised RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma. They ceded a few yards in pace to the Aussies, but were relentlessly accurate while not getting carried away with the bounce on offer. They pitched it up often and used the short ball judiciously to account for 14 of the wickets to fall. Anderson and Stuart Broad need to bring all their experience to bear to make sure England do the same.
GO WITH THE RUN FLOW
Perth is one venue where it is almost impossible to stem the flow of runs. The run rate there over the years (3.35) has been far more than at the other established venues in Australia. But to score runs, batsmen need to trust in the horizontal bat shots.
This is one ground where you need to dust off the cut and the pull, and employ them wherever possible. Ranged against that is the reality that Australia will try and set you up with the short-ball trap. On the last Ashes tour, one of the few saving graces for England was Stokes’ century in Perth.
His 195-ball 120 contained 18 fours and a six. In his absence, and after the meek batting of the first two Tests, England will need to find some feistiness and fast.
LAW OF AVERAGES
David Warner averages 59.15 on Australian soil, and just 36.81 away. Perth is an especially happy hunting ground, with three centuries and a 97 in five Tests there. The average? A Bradman-like 89.22. England can either be intimidated by those numbers, or believe that it’s time for the law of averages to kick in. The same goes for Steve Smith, who once said of his Ashes century there in 2013: “To get that hundred (his first in Australia) gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can do it. I guess since then it’s been quite a nice little ride for me.” Smith has scored two centuries in four Tests at the WACA, but has been dismissed for under 40 in six of eight innings.
IGNORE THE HYPE
Yes, the WACA was once a scary place. In the first three decades of Test cricket there, a total in excess of 500 was registered only four times. Since then, in 16 years, there have been nine such scores. The quicker bowlers still have their moments, but this is no longer the venue where Curtly Ambrose terrorized the hosts during a spell of seven for one (1992-93). England need to play the ball, and not the WACA’s reputation