Scyld Berry
CRICKET JOURNALIST
OF THE YEAR
at HeadingleyIST
Conditions are likely to
favour bowler’s weapon
Umpires under scrutiny
after series of mistakes
It is not an anticlimax. Only six
weeks ago England were about to
meet Australia in the World Cup
semi-final, and yet many of the
same actors are now serving up
another feast – what looks as though
it will be one of the most exquisitely
close Ashes series.
At Edgbaston, Australia knocked
out England. At Lord’s, England
pinned Australia against the ropes.
At Headingley – which deserves its
first Ashes Test since 2009 after
rebuilding the Rugby Stand –
nobody, in truth, has any idea what
is going to happen.
England, in theory, can still
regain the Ashes if they only draw
the third Test, but in practice they
have to strike back now that the
force is with them. Jofra Archer’s
arrival, Steve Smith’s absence,
David Warner’s waning and Aus-
tralia’s startling reluctance to use
Mitchell Starc, who could decide a
match in one new-ball spell: in such
a volatile series England have to
strike when these four factors are
working in their favour.
Only once before have England
come from 1-0 down after two Tests
to win an Ashes series. That was in
1956 and largely the work of Jim
Laker. Archer’s intervention so far
has been almost miraculous but he
cannot be expected to take 19 wick-
ets in one of the three remaining
Tests, and 46 in the series, as Laker
did in 1956.
Archer, however, has yet to
unleash another of the arrows in his
quiver: reverse swing. This week’s
forecast is far better than last, and
with sunshine around, a used pitch
on the Headingley square for field-
ers to land the old ball on when
returning to Jonny Bairstow, and
the ground’s reputation as being
second only to Old Trafford as areverse-swinging venue – is there a
northern capacity for abrasiveness?- Archer could further surprise. So
far it has been a poor summer for
mulberries, and reverse swing,
owing to the dampness. It hardly
featured in the World Cup as quali-
fying games were washed out, fol-
lowed by more rain in the knockout
stages. Pace bowlers relied on their
newish knack of wobbling the ball
by placing their first two fingers
across the seam, not along it.
But Archer – while earning his
keep in T20 franchises on dry
pitches in hot places, which could
include Hove – has mastered the
craft of making a white ball reverse
swing during its 20-over existence,
and the yorker with it.
This series could be only the sec-
ond in the Ashes to finish 2-2 – 1972
the other – but England could still
win 3-1 as they have yet to explore
all the options in Archer’s armoury:
form as Essex’s Peter Siddle or Not-
tinghamshire’s James Pattinson,
who returns after resting in the sec-
ond Test. There could be no closer
like-for-like replacement than
Labuschagne for Smith, except in
the matter of technique.
They are both No 4 batsmen who
field at second slip and bowl a bit of
leg-spin, but the similarity goes fur-
ther. Smith, who has an English
mother, could have qualified for
England, spent a summer playing
for Kent seconds and was offered a
three-year contract by Surrey, but
went back to his native Sydney, and
there proved himself more Austral-
ian than Australian by going the
extra miles, not yards, in training.
Labuschagne emigrated as a
child from South Africa to Brisbane.
As he bounced back from the hit on
his helmet by Archer – his second
ball in Test cricket – and doggedly
got into line thereafter, and soaked
up more punishment, he radiated
the same zeal to be more Aussie
than Aussie.
What may not be world class in
the third Test is the on-field umpir-
ing. In the first Test at Edgbaston,
Joel Wilson was very reliable: if he
thought it was out, it wasn’t, and if
he thought it wasn’t, it was. The
second on-field umpire is Chris
Gaffaney, so we have two of the
least experienced members of the
International Cricket Council’s
elite panel, which is inappropriate
for such a fixture.
In the second Test at Lord’s, Wil-
son did a much better job as the
third umpire, by the sound of his
decision-making on air – and it is a
completely different job. On-field
umpiring requires excellent man-
management skills, and plenty of
experience as a player or umpire,
and preferably both. Not so TV
umpires, who need plenty of expe-
rience of TV umpiring.
Neutral on-field umpires – those
from third-party countries – are still
essential in international cricket,
because perceptions are so impor-
tant.
But not TV umpires: they should
be a separate body, and could come
from any country, as their objectiv-
ity can be constantly monitored by
all. May the best, or better, team
win – not the team who are best at
reviewing.Pattinson set for recall at expense of Siddle
By Tim Wigmore at Headingley
James Pattinson, whose older
brother Darren played a solitary
Test for England against South
Africa in 2008 at Headingley, is
poised to be recalled by Australia for
the third Test today. It is most likely
that Peter Siddle will drop out.
Pattinson bowled with impres-
sive pace and hostility in the first
Test at Edgbaston, and was unlucky
to claim only two wickets. He was
left out of the second Test, withAustralia managing the workload of
their pacemen. Before this series,
Pattinson’s previous Test was in
February 2016; he has suffered five
stress fractures since, and Australia
always planned that he would be
likely to miss Tests this summer.
The recall of Pattinson will also
strengthen Australia’s lower-order
batting. He has a Test average of 29.
During his Test here, Darren, the
older by 11 years, recorded two for
96, claiming Hashim Amla as his
first Test wicket. His selection was
controversial: he had only played 11first-class games, and had not been
based permanently in England
since leaving Grimsby aged six.
With Pat Cummins and Josh
Hazlewood expected to retain their
positions, left-armer Mitchell Starc
may be left out for the third Test in
a row. Starc has been omitted with
Justin Langer, the head coach, pri-
oritising bowlers who can maintain
control. “We haven’t got a team
yet,” Tim Paine, Australia’s captain,
said. “We’ll probably announce it at
the toss. We’re looking at a bowling
change at this stage.”the toe-crusher as well as thigh-
bruiser, rib-tickler – or breaker –
and helmet-cracker. It could have
been another of the all-time duels if
Smith had not been concussed and
ruled out of another round.
But this is the beauty of a five-
Test series, and what makes a two-
Test series so unsatisfactory. In the
course of five Tests the strength of
cricket in each country is tested,
whereas a two-Test series is just a
contest between the best 22, or 23,
or 24 players. England, when forced
to dig deep to replace James Ander-
son, struck gold in Archer; and Aus-
tralia have not done badly in
unearthing Marnus Labuschagne:
one of the many well-prepared Tro-
jan horses this summer, fresh out of
Glamorgan’s stable, as ready to per-Full stretch: Jofra Archer is treated by
England physio Craig de WeymarnArcher’s reverse swing
could draw hosts level
The Daily Telegraph Thursday 22 August 2019 *** 3
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