Observations from the Boxing Day Test

Boxing Day saw a world record attendance at the MCG

The Ashes series saw the teams head to Melbourne for the traditional Boxing Day test. After being behind by 51 runs of the first innings, Australia won by eight wickets with more than a day to spare. England missed an opportunity to salvage some pride in the series and would be very disappointed with the result. It has been a woeful Australian summer for the English and they have more soul searching to do before the Sydney Test.

Anyway, here are some observations from the Test:

• Nathan Lyon captures 100 Test wickets - Since the great leg spinner Shane Warne retired, there have been no fewer than 12 spinners tried in the Australian Team. Lyon is not Shane Warne and bowls “offies” rather than leg spin; however he has now taken 100 Test wickets which is a remarkable achievement in itself. In England’s second innings Lyon took five wickets including wicket No. 100 (Stuart Broad caught at slip) and you would expect that he now feels that he is finally (and firmly) established within the Australian team. Lyon is the first off-spinner to take 100 test wickets since Bruce Yardley who snared 126 wickets between 1978 and 1983.
• Poor shot selection from England – The England batting line up continues to find ways of dismissal through poor shot selection. Ben Stokes, Tim Bresnan and Kevin Pietersen all played poor shots which caused their dismissal in the second innings. Pietersen has probably raised the ire of his team by stating that he does not trust the English tail to stick around once Bresnan is dismissed so he starts playing more aggressively. This probably leads to......
• England being mentally fragile – In addition to winning the Ashes back and leading 4-0 in the current series the Australians have forced Jonathan Trott to return home through a stress related illness and brought about the premature retirement of Greame Swann. It has exposed the short comings in Matt Prior’s game and he was dropped from the Melbourne Test. Alistair Cook is under real pressure as captain as well. The impact of Mitchell Johnson’s pace on the batsmen has resulted in them not wanting to spend time out in the middle. 
• For me, this Ashes series shows a stark cultural difference between the two teams, if not the two countries as a whole. There is no doubt that the Australians would have been subject to a large amount of torment and abuse in England during the English summer. On the field England have world class sledgers in Prior and Anderson and the sledging by the fans would have been intense. The Australians under their own turmoil continued to fight on the field and although England won the series 3-0 it could possibly have been a 3-2 result. 
• Part of the Australian psyche is that there is a point in time when “enough is enough” and they become very determined (and even aggressive) to rectify an adverse situation. That point in time occurred in the England summer and very few people outside of Australian cricket realised it. England were not prepared for this onslaught and when confronted they backed into their shells (with the exception of Bell and Broad) rather than fight. It is a classic example of the hunter becoming the hunted.

• Graeme Swann’s retirement – in the lead up to the Boxing Day test Graeme Swann retired from Test Cricket with immediate effect. This was premature and probably highlights the above point regarding the mental fragility of the England team. Yes, it is possible that this was always going to be Swann’s last test series. However, if that was the case why not play out the entire series. Especially given that these tests are in Melbourne and Sydney. The atmosphere in these tests is incredible and worth the life experience alone. To pull up stumps in the middle of the series was soft and Swann retires with the knowledge that his last over went for 22 runs. Furthermore, the Sydney pitch tends to suit the spinners, which makes his decision even more bewildering.
• Who said that Test Cricket is dead? – Test Cricket may be suffering a slow death in many countries, but try explaining that to an Australian. The traditional Boxing Day test in Melbourne attracted 271,865 over four days with a world record 91,092 on Boxing Day. Unfortunately the play was slow at times during the afternoon session on Boxing Day. However there was a fantastic atmosphere and it was worth the attendance money just for the experience.

England still have more soul searching to undertake before the Sydney Test, it is difficult to imagine that they will win given their best spinner Swann has now retired. While a whitewash 5-0 series result would be good for Australia, the work still has to be done to achieve it. This will be an interesting match to watch and a great way to bring in 2014.