Australia - Road to Redemption post the Ashes

A gloomy Australian dressing room after the 4th Ashes Test

After a somewhat impressive performance at Old Trafford, where Australia came mighty close to upsetting their hosts in the 3rd Ashes Test, only to be thwarted by rain, most cricket enthusiasts were thrilled at the prospect of the Aussies finally “turning up”.

After all, it’s very rare these days that words like “declared” or “big century” are associated with the Australians. But they played their hearts out and almost caused an upset, leading many to believe that they could still draw the series and possibly win the return series at home.

But before any further improvements could be made, the Aussie batsmen were back to their “usual” at Chester-le-Street, losing 5 quick wickets in the first innings when they could have easily taken a healthy lead and then collapsing in the second, ensuring that their hosts had beaten them in the 3rd consecutive Ashes series.

With the urn lost, at least till the return series in Australia during year end, I’ll try and analyse what exactly has gone wrong with the Aussies and what lies ahead for them in the near future?

First and foremost, though the scoreline reads 3-0 in England’s favor, the series has been closely contested and the major difference maker has been one man and one man only – Ian Bell.

The English top order has struggled against some quality pace bowling by the Aussies, led by Ryan Harris. The likes of Alastair Cook, Joe Root, save one innings, and Jonathan Trott haven’t really clicked while Kevin Pietersen has blown hot and cold. Jonny Bairstow and Matt Prior too are out of form, but Bell has stood like a rock.

Having become only the third English batsman to have scored three home Ashes tons, after Maurice Leyland (1934) and David Gower (1985), he is in the form of his life. On more than one occasion, England have been three-four wickets down for not too many and Ian Bell has bailed them out. While it does take two (batsmen) to tango (form a partnership), Bell’s contributions have been immensely important to his side.

The other difference maker has been (no, not DRS, I’m not talking about technology here), the Australian batting. Prone to catastrophic collapses time and again, things have been pretty much similar for them.

Barring the Oval Test and few individual contributions here and there, the batting has been a complete flop. Yes, there have been some impressive bowling performances by the likes of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, but collapses at such an alarming frequency are not at all acceptable.

Yes, they did get close at Trent Bridge, but it was due to Ashton Agar’s unlikely heroics in the first innings followed by the fightback by Brad Haddin and James Pattinson in the second.

If bowlers are there to bat, will the batsmen bowl?

Barring Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke, the likes of Steve Smith, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Ed Cowan, Shane Watson and even Brad Haddin have failed to get going. Matthew Wade, who expressed a desire to play as a specialist batsman before the third Test, failed in the tour game.

While improvements can be made and will be made, why were they not made before a series as big as the Ashes? The bowling is impressive, if not imposing and if they want to pose some serious challenge Down Under as hosts, they will have to come up with something big.

Now coming to their future, the Ashes may already be lost (for not too long ?), but another one is scheduled for the year end as England travel to Australia to retain the urn.

So, in order to earn redemption, Australia are not going to have to wait for too long. But there is still one more Test left to be played on the English shores before the hosts become tourists and vice-versa.

Australia need to give a final push in the last Test to achieve some kind of momentum to get back to track

Going by current form, it will take a miracle for the Australians to pull off a win and end their current losing streak, which stands at 7 in last 8 Tests. If they could somehow win at The Oval, they will avoid falling below Pakistan to No.5 and get that much needed morale booster that they need desperately.

Post the Ashes, there will be a limited-over leg of the tour as the two rivals would battle it out in two T20s and 5 ODIs plus a one-off ODI between Scotland and Australia.

This is where things could get interesting as despite all their recent troubles, Australia is more than capable of beating England on their own turf in ODIs. Yes, England were runners up in the last-ever ICC Champions Trophy while Australia went out winless in the same tournament but when in one-dayers, even a depleted Aussie side can give their full-strength English counterparts a rude awakening.

And yes, the last time Australia lost an Ashes series in England, they routed their hosts 6-1 in the one-day series, then went on to win the Champions Trophy, and defeated India in India even with a second-string side. And once again they are scheduled to travel to India for a one-day series with an almost second string side.

Does everything not sound eerily similar to what transpired four years ago? Plus, most members of the limited overs side won’t be short of match practice with the majority playing the Ashes and some having played the ‘A’ team tri-series in South Africa where they finished as runners-up to India A.

Although the two T20s precede the Scotland ODI, this is where, as I like to put it, ‘Road to Redemption’ starts for Australia.

I may be looking too much ahead. But at the time of writing, Australian batsmen have unsurprisingly, failed to impress against the England Lions.

One more Test is left to play, and they will have to reproduce their Old Trafford magic to stand any chance of winning. And if they can’t, this ‘Road to Redemption’ will end in disaster for sure.