Fixing Brittle Batting Key to Ashes Winner

Australia and England will head for Perth with the home team taking an unlikely and unimaginable 2-0 lead into the 3rd Test. For all the frivolity and excited fist pumping that has taken place over the first two Tests of the Australian summer, one has to ask "how far has England fallen in just three months?" as well as "can Australia maintain the rage on and off the field?"
The bare statistics tell the story of a pummeling over the course of those two Tests, one that under normal circumstances you would have to think would be impossible to recover from. But it wasn't that long ago that Australia was blitzed 4-0 in India, and then 3-0 in England, though perhaps that series deficit was not as wide as it appears. And the same could be said here, because 2-0 could just as easily have been 1-1 or at least 1-0, if just a few things had gone in a different direction. Believe me, no one is happier with the current scenario than myself, but to suggest the series, and the Ashes, is already over would be a grave error in misjudgement.

England's grip on the 2nd Test could have key moments in many areas, but none moreso than the three lives Brad Haddin received in scoring his magnificent 118 in the first innings. Any could be held as the point where England lost their grip - Monty Panesar dropping a tough caught and bowled, the sitter Michael Carberry put down in the 89th over of the first day at gully, or Ben Stokes ditching his first Test wicket by being called for a belated no-ball. Any of these would have halted Australia's momentum, and restricted their first innings tally. Instead, Australia went on to 9/570 declared, and from that point was certainly not going to lose the match.
Given over three days to bat to save the Test, the English batting was again ripped apart by a rampaging Mitch Johnson. In nine overs England lost 6/24, falling from 3/111 to 9/135. From that point on, only the weather could save them and it refused to be drawn into the equation.
So is the series over? Australians would love the answer to be yes, the English would love the answer to be no. Both sides have good cause to feel they are correct. Perhaps the single most important point at this stage is that England only need to draw the series to retain the urn, while Australia must win the series. Any slip from Australia would let England right back into the series. Any further mishaps from England will mean the Ashes will be lost before Boxing Day.

The same problems beset both batting line-ups still, though Australia has been saved by her brilliant captain and vice-captain, and the dream run of form from opener Dave Warner. Michael Clarke has been superb, for a long time now stretching back three years. He averages 64 as captain, an amazing statistic. His form and performance over the past two years is the equal of any of Australia's recent past champion batsmen, including Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, David Boon, Allan Border and Greg Chappell. While overall he may not be quite in the same class as these gentlemen, he is fast approaching parity. Like these five recent legends, Clarke has had to carry this team on his own shoulders at times, and he has done so with aplomb and with style. Nor has it affected his captaincy, which continues to be fresh, thoughtful and at times outside of the box. Brad Haddin, as well as being excellent with the gloves and in helping his captain on the field, continues to do his job at number seven. It is an amazing fact of his Test batting career that in a majority of cases when Australia is in trouble he scores runs, and if they are a mile in front of the game, he is happy to sacrifice his wicket in the best interests of the team. His glove work has restored the faith of his bowlers when in the field, and he is a natural leader. Dave Warner has re-emerged from the dark twelve months that beset his career in 2013, and built his form through the domestic one day competition to the point that he is again in control of his own destiny. He threw his wicket away in the first innings when a huge score beckoned, but he showed in the second innings he still had the ability to come back and start again. Perhaps he is finally at the point of his career where he can harness his obvious talent and make the most of it - though the lack of any movement of the ball through the air or off the seam so far in this series has obviously benefitted him greatly.
Australia still has its batting woes though. Chris Rogers is still just a fill-in, holding his spot until someone younger comes along and nudges him aside. Phil Hughes' form in the Sheffield Shield would be his greatest concern at the moment, and despite an good 72 in the first innings here he will know he can't afford many more failures like the second innings. Shane Watson just doesn't seem to have it in him to fight for his wicket. A complete lack of options at number three and his sporadic bowling stints seem to have him ensconced for the time being, but if there is anyone in Australia apart from himself and the selectors who think he deserves his Test spot then I don't know of them. Steve Smith ended the English summer looking to have sewn up number five, but his form is still worrying. George Bailey looked better in Adelaide than he did in Brisbane, but he still doesn't look like a long term prospect.
In essence, Australia's batting is still not a lock to make the scores of 350-450 that it needs to keep itself in games on a consistent basis. Many are questioning England's ability to score runs on the bouncy W.A.C.A pitch - if England's bowlers click in Perth then it would not surprise to see Australia's batting crack at the seams.

England's batting has been unsure, inept and undeniably passive. Their failure to combat Australia's aggressive bowling tactics is truly deplorable. The wickets in England were designed to nullify Australia's pace attack, and did their job superbly. However, did they expect Australia would serve up the same pudding wickets? If the English coaches and management did not prepare for fast, bouncy wickets - which it appears they did not - then they should all be sacked immediately for gross incompetence. None of the batting line-up looks to have been prepared for the searing onslaught of pace and bounce that has been thrown at them, and for a team that claims it is one of the best two teams in Test cricket it is a massive hole in their lead-up to this series. The loss of Trott is a major one for the team to combat, but given his gun-shy approach in Brisbane it doesn't appear as though he would have had any answers either.
Alastair Cook is spiralling down the same well as his predecessor as captain, one that saw him forced to retire before his time due to poor form and insipid results. His peerless work to defeat India at home twelve months ago, as well as contributing heavily with the bat, is now being eroded as first his form, and then his team's form, is dwindling. He struggled against Australia at home, and is facing the same crisis here. His captaincy appears less forthright. It's a tough school. He made a thousand runs here in 2010/11 when it never appeared likely he would get out. he needs to find that same mindset again quickly if he is to turn around his tour by leading from the front. Andrew Strauss would tell him that is a very difficult thing to do from the position he currently finds himself in.
Kevin Pietersen is a front-runner. He loves being in a position where he can turn a game, not save one. So far this series he has been offered the chance to bat to save a Test for England, and he has shown he is not up for that fight. Ask him to win a game from nothing, and he is a better than even chance to do it. Ask him to save a game by batting for a day or more, and he doesn't appear able to mentally do this. Perhaps his chance to win a Test will come in Perth, by playing an extraordinary innings that everyone will say "only KP could do that!" This could happen, but if he is again faced with a situation where he needs to survive to save his team, then you would bet big money against him being able to do it.
Joe Root has showed good spirit and fight, and a desire to dig in for the situation he is in. His aberration in the first innings against Lyon was somewhat offset by his second innings 87, although he received a lot of short of a length deliveries in that innings. Surely come Perth the Australian bowlers will refocus on where his strengths and weaknesses are. From afar, it would appear that a length that tries to tease him forward rather than allowing him to sit on his back foot is the preferable option in trying to gain his wicket. Ian Bell has again been solid and not afraid to take on certain bowlers to get on top. His dismissal to Steve Smith on day four was a fillip that boosted Australia onto victory. He is the one English batsman who appears to be in control at the crease. Michael Carberry still has some questions to answer, while all rounder Ben Stokes is an unknown quantity. Whether Matt Prior's pugilist 69 yesterday can revitalise his batting form and career) may be the most interesting part of the Perth Test.

Australia will likely go in with the same bowling attack, though there is a chance Nathan Lyon will sit out for another pace bowler. Despite the hierarchy praising Lyon's contribution, he has been largely ineffective, and certainly has gotten away with too much short bowling that has been of no danger to the batsmen. He just isn't asking enough questions of batsmen on days four and five of Test matches. He doesn't have to take big five wicket hauls like the guy Australia had for 15 years, but he does need to be an influence and be taking more than 1/68 off 26 overs. I still think seeing Fawad Ahmed walk out on the M.C.G on Boxing Day would be a great thing for Australian cricket, and an attacking option. In Perth it would not surprise to see a horses-for-courses selection in Nathan Coulter-Nile making his Test debut.
England will no doubt bring in Tim Bresnan for one of their spinners, while they may even go in with four pace men themselves, and unleash one of their seven foot tall attack. The form of Tremlett, Finn and Rankin has been average, but given a fast and bouncy surface in Perth may be the best thing that could happen to them. At 2-0 down, it is probably worth a shot.

The series isn't over, and Australia will know that over-confidence such that England probably had going into the 1st Test could bring it all undone for them. England will look to the fact that they have won the last three Ashes series, and convince themselves that they can still make this a close series. History is now against them - they have won only one Test in Perth over 42 years, and only Bradman's 1936/37 team has come back from 2-0 down to win a series. However, they do only need to draw the series to retain the Ashes. Whether that is still possible this time next week is a question that almost everyone is asking themselves.