preparation was the main reason why Australia spurned tour games this time round and opted for a 25-man,
Hunger Games-style shoot-out at the Ageas Bowl last month.
It was also the impetus behind the introduction of the Dukes ball in the Sheffield Shield, in the aerial
bombardment of county cricket with Australian players, in the experimental selections of the last year: a
move partly forced by suspensions but also made with the aim of expanding the talent pool ahead of a series
that has been double-ringed in the calendar for years. No wonder, at the end of the last Australian summer,
when Tim Paine was asked when he would begin his Ashes preparations, he answered: “Six months ago.”
For England, could you make remotely the same claim? This is a team still high on the bubbles of their
World Cup triumph, whose all-consuming obsession for the last four years has not been the defence of their
proud Ashes home record, but with white-ball cricket and all its trimmings. Many of their players have
barely hit a red ball in months, and it shows. Did they have a plan to Peter Siddle, whose 44 when Australia
were 122-8 on the first day could end up being one of the low-key turning points of the series? It certainly
didn’t look like it.
Perhaps it’s a stretch to suggest that England thought they could beat Australia simply by turning up. But
from Jason Roy’s flight of fancy against Lyon on day five, to the selection of a clearly undercooked James
Anderson, to some of the brainless lines to Smith, to Joe Root’s dismal field settings, England have simply
not looked like a team with their wits about them. It’s no coincidence that their only two red-ball specialists
- Rory Burns and Stuart Broad - have been their outstanding performers.
Unless England can summon some Test match nous in the next couple of weeks, this series could be over in
a hurry. Australia have simply been smarter, slicker, more clinical, and the reason for that is that while
English cricket was consumed with kit launches and death over strategies and whether to pick David Willey
or Tom Curran, Australia were quietly touching down in England, putting down roots, plotting their Ashes
campaign with military precision. Perhaps, ultimately, the difference comes down to this: England’s World
Cup is over. Australia’s is only just beginning.