The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

the times | Saturday December 18 2021 1GS 5

Sport

DANIEL KALISZ/GETTY IMAGES

So much for planning...

James Anderson, Stuart Broad and

Chris Woakes posted remarkably

similar figures in the first innings of

this Test to their previous

appearance at Adelaide in 2017.

Anderson, Broad and Woakes at

Adelaide

1st Innings, 2017

Overs Maidens Runs Wickets

88 20 230 4

1st Innings, 2021

Overs Maidens Runs Wickets

78.4 22 234 4

Lengths they bowled in 2017

Lengths they bowled in 2021

Anderson Broad Woakes

Full toss

Yorker 2% 1%

Half volley 2% 9% 8%

Length ball 69% 62% 45%

Back of a

length 28% 17% 37%

Short 1% 10% 9%

Yorker

Full toss 1%

Half volley 1% 2% 5%

Length ball 69% 77% 65%

Back of a

length 30% 17% 27%

Short 4% 2%

T

he Ashes plan was simple and

had been long in the making:

England’s seamers would bowl

with great discipline and give

Australia nothing to hit, just as they

did so successfully in 2010-11. What

the strategists did not take into

account when devising their strategy

was that the players would bowl 17

no-balls, let alone drop nine catches,

in three innings.

For bowlers armed only with an

undeviating Kookaburra ball on

unforgiving pitches in 40C heat,

wickets are hard to come by,

especially when they fail to adhere to

the simple rule of keeping their front

foot behind the line.

To dismiss Marnus Labuschagne

and David Warner once is difficult, let

alone twice. In Brisbane, Warner was

bowled by Stokes for 17 off a no-ball

and went on to make 94. In Adelaide,

Ollie Robinson overstepped against

Labuschagne. What is especially

worrying is that the technology for

calling no-balls did not work in the

first Test at the Gabba, where

England often strayed over the line.

In contrast, Australia have not

bowled a single no-ball or dropped a

catch. This has not only helped them

to build momentum and give them

added energy in the field but has also

put the England batsmen under

greater pressure.

Better habits needed in the nets to

ease agonising epidemic of no-balls

England’s sloppiness in the field has

drawn little sympathy in some

quarters, especially from Sir Ian

Botham, who attributed England’s

rash of no-balls to poor

discipline in the nets.

“You do not have to

push the line like this, it’s

ridiculous,” the former

England all-rounder

said. “You should be

half and half, at most.

The problem is these

guys go and bowl in the

nets from 16, 17, 18 yards

and when it comes out

here, they get it wrong. This

is not the first time in this series

— and if they keep pushing the line it

won’t be the last.”

When England arrived in Australia

last month they had not played a

first-class game since September and

were hampered further when their

two warm-up games against the

England Lions were badly affected by

rain. No England side have been as

underprepared for an Ashes series as

this one. The platform for the 2010-11

success was laid during the three

first-class matches they played down

under before the first Test.

Bad habits, therefore, seem to have

crept into England’s game, which is

not helped by bowlers often paying

little attention to the mark left by

their front boot in the nets. The

common excuse for this is that they

do not bowl no-balls in a match so it

does not matter what they do in

practice. That defence, though, carries

little weight when net sessions are the

sole preparation for a Test

match.

However, that is not

the only reason for no-

balls. They are often

the result of bowlers

being out of rhythm,

lacking in confidence

or simply trying too

hard in search of a

wicket on the harder

ground in Australia.

It would be easy to think

that it should be impossible for

the modern fast bowler to overstep

given that they use tape measures to

mark their run-ups and rely on

muscle memory to perform an action

they repeat almost every day. The

problems, though, often exist in their

minds at the top their marks, where a

lack of confidence, injury or nerves

can affect the rhythm they strive for.

These most basic of errors are

hurting England, not only in the

extras column but also in terms of

their morale. With every expensive

mistake made, the job of taking 20

wickets gets harder. While injuries

and a lack of preparation have been

beyond the England players’ control

in this series, eradicating no-balls is

one aspect of the game that is entirely

in their hands.

Elizabeth Ammon

17

No-balls bowled by

England in the two

Tests so far. Australia

have not bowled a

single no-ball