The Times - UK (2022-01-01)

As bowlers, we talked about sticking

to a good length and getting the

batsman defending off the front foot.

Ricky Ponting was very particular

about the lengths we bowled. It may

look good when it’s short but you

have less chance of getting the

batsman out. Because the Kookaburra

ball stops swinging quite quickly, you

need more energy behind the ball,

so it’s demanding on your body.

You need to be fit to bowl in

Australia, as Dale Steyn and Morne

Morkel were when South Africa won

here. You also need a high-quality

spinner. Even if they fail to take a lot

of wickets, they will maintain the

pressure and give the fast bowlers a

rest in the heat. England had one in

Graeme Swann in 2010-11, when he

WEEKENDQUIZ

How many games

have Bath lost,

out of ten, in the

Gallagher Premiership

this season?

Which Australian

took six for seven

on debut to skittle

England in the third

Ashes Test?

The England

captain Joe Root

finished 2021 third for

the most runs scored

in a calendar year.

Who holds the record?

Name this

England Women

and Loughborough

Lightning rugby

centre using the

following anagram:

Clarity Master.

Who scored a

stoppage-time

equaliser for Brighton

& Hove Albion against

Chelsea to earn a 1-1

draw on Wednesday?

How many golf

majors has Phil

Mickelson won?

Who saved

Mohamed Salah’s

penalty to help his

side beat Liverpool

1-0 this week?

Which India

batsman scored

123 en route to beating

South Africa in the

first Test at Centurion?

Who scored a

hat-trick for

Harlequins in Big

Game 13 against

Northampton Saints

at Twickenham?

Name this

England and

Hampshire cricketer

using the following

emojis.

Who is the top

points scorer

in the Gallagher

Premiership?

Who

won the

women’s

100m final

in Tokyo in

the summer?

Which

Blackburn

Rovers striker

this week

equalled Alan

Shearer’s record of

scoring 20 goals in a

season before the turn

of the year?

Who did John

Isner beat in the

longest tennis match

of all time at

Wimbledon in 2010?

Which American

female golfer is

the world No 1?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

11

12

13

14

15

ANSWERS

1. Ten; 2. Scott

Boland; 3. Mohammad

Yousuf (Pakistan, 2006);

4. Emily Scarratt; 5.

Danny Welbeck; 6. Six;

7. Kasper Schmeichel

(Leicester City); 8. KL

Rahul; 9. Alex

Dombrandt; 10.

Liam Dawson; 11.

George Ford

(Leicester Tigers); 12.

Elaine

Thompson-

Herah

(Jamaica); 13.

Ben Brereton

Díaz; 14. Nicolas

Mahut; 15. Nelly

Korda.

Guess the Star

Lee Westwoodanswer

FOR THE WEEKEND

FILM

TIN CUP (1996,

AMAZON PRIME)

On one level it’s a

cheesy rom-com with

stock characters and a

hopelessly implausible

plot (Alasdair Reid

writes). However, it

rises above with sharp

dialogue, a superb

performance by Kevin

Costner and a few

dashes of authenticity,

with appearances by

the leading golfers

Craig Stadler and

Peter Jacobsen, plus

real-life commentators

such as Gary McCord,

Jim Nantz and Ken

Venturi. Costner, above

right, plays washed-up

pro Roy “Tin Cup’”

McAvoy, who has been

reduced to running a

Texas driving range.

He meets Dr Molly

Griswold (Rene Russo),

a therapist who

happens to be dating

a top pro. To woo her

away, McAvoy decides

to try to qualify for

the US Open.

BOOK

RUGBY HAS F***ING

LAWS, NOT RULES

BY PAUL WILLIAMS

Paul Williams takes a

light-hearted, jeering

tour through the

nuanced rules — sorry,

laws — of rugby union

(Jessica Hayden

writes). It is as fun for

the lifelong rugby fan

as it is a genuinely

helpful resource for

someone new to the

sport and its many

law interpretations.

14 1GS Saturday January 1 2022 | the times

Lack of plan

and patience

can be fatal

in Australia

wide. He was either letting the ball go,

or cutting. He wasn’t trying to defend

with a straight bat, unless the ball was

dead straight. As a bowler, the room

for error was tiny. If the ball was too

full, he was driving through the

covers. Matt Hayden never really

tried to hit the ball off the back foot

through the off side or to play a cut

shot, because of the bounce. He

regarded it as too risky.

It’s difficult to come to Australia

and win if you’ve not been here

before. South Africa are better

equipped than England to deal with

bouncier conditions, because they

are not dissimilar to those at home,

but it took some of the India players,

such as Virat Kohli and Pujara, a

couple of series to learn and find a

method to score.

In 2010-11 England had a number

of world-class Test batsmen, such as

Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan

Trott (the latter two having learnt

the game on South African pitches),

who all fired at once. Since then

England haven’t had that expertise.

You’ve got to score runs to keep

yourself in the game.

If the England batsmen are now

able to learn as they go then they

will be better for it next time they

come — if they’re still in the team.

That’s the challenge of being an

international cricketer. You’re

exposed to so many different

conditions that you just hope you get

a long enough run to develop the

necessary skills and come back next

time and do yourself justice.

I did not score many big runs in

England in Ashes series, but I scored

a few runs in my first few Tests there,

partly because I’d played county

cricket with Hampshire, including a

fair bit of white-ball cricket, so I had

more of an understanding of what

conditions would be like and what

may work.

When I was opening in India it was

OK, but when I came in lower down

the order I found it difficult against

the spinners, no matter how many

times I went back.

In many ways, Test cricket in

Australia is a game of patience. As the

Kookaburra ball gets older it doesn’t

move much, but it doesn’t get soft

either, and a lot of runs are scored in

the last session of the day. By then the

bowlers are tired, temperatures have

dropped and the wicket is flatter. The

ball is coming on to the bat nicely.

That’s when batsmen capitalise. It’s all

about getting through those first two

sessions. We saw that with Travis

Head in Brisbane, when he scored a

century in the last session of day two.

From a batting perspective,

our plan was always to keep the

bowlers and fielders out there for as

long as we could, especially when it

was hot, to tire them out. Australian

grounds are bigger than English ones

and the fielders have to chase a lot

more balls.

I

t is hard to overstate how

different Test cricket in Australia

is from Test cricket in England,

or how harsh an environment it

can be. It is no coincidence that

England teams find it difficult to win

here. Most of the time it’s not about

technique, but rather about having

game plans for which balls you have

to play at, and which balls to let go.

Of course the flip side is that

when Australians go to England we

find it equally challenging to face a

ball that can swing all day under

overcast skies.

On home soil, Australian cricketers

do not try to defend balls outside the

line of the body. They leave well.

They bat for the third session of the

day when heat and fatigue have taken

their toll on the fielding side. As

bowlers, they focus on sticking to a

good length. They are patient and

strong. They have a good spinner who

supports the seamers. They pile

pressure on the opposition captain.

When I was playing Test cricket in

Australia, we would stand in the slip

cordon, as the Australia players will

now, looking for potential weaknesses

in the batsmen. One of the main clues

is when their bat is outside their body

when they’re defending. If they are

defending in the line of their body,

they’re normally fine, because they

are able to ride the bounce.

In England you can get away with

defending with the bat outside the

line of the body because you have

time to adjust, but in Australia the

bounce is quicker and, before you

know it, the ball has hit the outside

of your bat.

When India’s Cheteshwar Pujara

first came to Australia, this was his big

problem. Joe Root, on his first tour to

Australia in 2013-14, when I was

playing, struggled with the ball that

bounced and he got caught in the

slips and gully quite often. It took him

a tour to find his best method, but

look at him now. He’s got great

control over his game and a great

understanding of what works.

The young England batsmen on

this tour need to decide: what are

your scoring options, what are your

defensive options? Leaving well is a

big thing. The Australians are doing it

well, Marnus Labuschagne in

particular. If the ball is outside his

body line, unless it’s really an

attacking stroke, he is not playing at

it. England are playing with bat

outside body and that’s feeding the

slips and wicketkeeper.

Alastair Cook left incredibly well

during the 2010-11 series, but he also

cut amazingly well if you went too

Shane

Watson

Former Australia

all-rounder

The Ashes:

Fourth Test

Sydney Cricket Ground

Starts Tuesday, 11.30pm

BT Sport 1, BBC 5 Live

Sports Extra