English cricket fans who favor gallows humor — and there have been plenty of occasions for it in recent years — will point to progress. After all, it took Australia a full 15 days to regain the Ashes this time, as compared to the 14 they needed on their way to a 5-0 whitewash in 2013-14. Again, England had their moments. Again, Australia won the ones that mattered. We look at the five things we learned from Australia’s innings victory in Perth.
The worst No.6 in history?
When a sore shoulder ended his participation halfway through the series in India earlier this year, Australian tabloids ran a story which said that Mitchell Marsh was, statistically speaking, one of the worst No.6 batsmen in Test history, with just 473 runs at an average of 19.7 from that position. It started off with the line: “Mitch Marsh fans (all three of you) look away now.” When he was called up for Perth, in preference to Peter Handscomb, the pre-match chatter focused once again on the old boys’ network, and how Geoff Marsh’s sons always got chances no one else did. Whatever be the truth of that, Marsh the younger seized his opportunity with what could well be a career-defining innings. When he came to the crease with Australia still 155 behind, the game was still finely poised. By the time he exited, having contributed a whopping 181 to a 301-run stand with Steve Smith, Australia had nine fingers on the urn.
England have a No.5
Perhaps the most important innings played by a cricketer representing England this century came from No.5 – Kevin Pietersen’s magnificent 158 at The Oval in 2005 that wrested back the Ashes after 16 years in Australian hands. The last Ashes series in Australian saw England draw a line under Pietersen’s career, and since then, there have been a few games of musical chairs for middle-order batting places. But for the moment, England seem to have found a dependable No.5. Dawid Malan, who like Pietersen has South African roots, is already 30, but in the midst of a drubbing, he has shown both skill and fortitude that augur well for the days ahead. Having started the series with a half-century in Brisbane, he followed up with 140 and 54 in Perth. Unflustered against the Australian pace attack, he showed that he could defend and attack in equal measure. It was telling that England’s slide to defeat, in both Brisbane and Perth, began with his dismissal.
Cook plus one?
Ever since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012, breaking up an opening partnership with Alastair Cook that had realized 5,253 runs and 14 century stands, England have searched in vain for someone to give Cook similar support. The scenario is rather different now. Mark Stoneman has seen off 444 balls while grinding out 193 runs and two half-centuries in this series. Cook has faced just 215 — Smith saw off more than that on the third day in Perth – for an abysmal aggregate of 83 from six innings. He turns 33 on Christmas Day, and given that he managed just 246 as captain in 2013-14, it is not a stretch to imagine that this is the last time he will be on the hop down under.
WACA magic
One of the highlights of Australia’s last home Ashes triumph was a peach of a delivery that Ryan Harris bowled to Cook in the second innings of the Perth Test. It slanted across him, straightened, and hit the top of off stump. This time, the magic ball at the WACA came from Mitchell Starc, bowling round the wicket to the well-set James Vince. Angled in toward his pads, it then shaped away to make a mess of the stumps. Wasim Akram, the most skillful left-arm pacer of them all, was moved to tweet: “That’s called a JAFFA! What a delivery @mstarc56 you reminded me of my bowling days and I enjoyed it to the hilt! You made left armers proud! @CricketAus”. Such deliveries don’t always win matches, but they do invariably deflate those watching from the dressing room.
No Boxing Day for Ali?
Moeen Ali has taken 82 Test wickets in England, at a very decent average of 33.47. Once he goes past the emigration desk though, his fortunes nosedive. After 10 wickets at 48.5 in South Africa and 10 at 64.9 in India, Ali’s limitations have been cruelly exposed on the bone-hard surfaces in Australia. In 96 overs across the three Tests, he has managed 3 for 316. When Smith spoke of Malan’s leg-spin posing greater questions, he wasn’t just trying to score a psychological point or two. It was a fact. Battling a side strain and having suffered a finger injury in Brisbane, Moeen has been one of the biggest disappointments of this Ashes misadventure. With the urn now lost, expect Mason Crane to get his opportunity.
