The Australian team crushed England in style, proving Tests can be as much fun as one-day internationals
Peter Robinson
Just over a week ago England and Australia launched the 2001 Ashes series by scoring 427 for 12 in fewer than 90 overs on the first day at Edgbaston. Of the 12 wickets to fall, six went to spinners with Shane Warne, almost inevitably, claiming five of them.
Equally inevitably, Australia went on to win the first Test by an innings inside four days and despite a number of interruptions for the weather. It was an extraordinary, almost unbelievable, performance and it was the best thing to have happened to Test cricket since, well, since South Africa scored 375/9 on the first day of the third Test match against Sri Lanka at Centurion Park in January.
Days like these and Tests like these are the exceptions rather than the rule, but they do demonstrate that Test cricket is not obliged to portray itself as po-faced and serious and, ultimately, boring.
It is clearly no coincidence that the two best Test teams in the world, Australia and South Africa, were involved, but even South Africans might have to admit that the Australian effort at Edgbaston was the more remarkable, if only for the fact that Steve Waugh had asked England to bat after winning the toss.
He sent the home team in, in fact, on a pitch that was to yield well over 400 runs in the day and even with the benefit of hindsight it’s difficult to think of any argument that shows he made a mistake.
Of course, there had to be some wayward bowling, and this was supplied by the seam attacks of both teams who struggled to find the right length on a pitch that always seemed to promise the fast bowlers a little more than it actually delivered. Then again, with 12 wickets going down perhaps there was just a little bit there. As it transpired, the sniff of inconsistent bounce that wafted about on the first day was to become more and more pronounced as the Test wore on.
The real point, though, is that if the will is there Test match cricket can be every bit as exciting and entertaining as the one-day variety. Under Waugh’s guidance Australia have become a team utterly convinced of their own abilities. It is worth remembering that the Edgbaston match was Australia’s first Test since being unceremoniously dumped in India earlier this year. Any signs of self-doubt as a consequence of the Indian setback seemed remarkably well hidden.
On television the other night HD Ackerman, the Western Province captain, made the point that Waugh is 36 and wondered whether, if he’d been South African, he’d still be in the frame as an international cricketer. It’s a very good argument and one which, over the course of the next nine months or so, is likely to preoccupy South African minds.
Waugh has already marked out a place for himself alongside Donald Bradman, Richie Benaud and Ian Chappell as one of Australia’s greatest captains. Indeed, with each passing year as his features grow more pinched and his eyes narrow to the thinnest of slits, he seems to look more and more like The Don in the great man’s latter years as a player.
It is no disrespect to Shaun Pollock to wonder whether, with two three-Tests series against Australia coming up this summer, the difference between two well-matched teams might prove to be the captaincy.
Pollock has an excellent record since taking charge of South Africa, but even he might hesitate before bulking up his slip cordon to four or five catchers in a one-day international. And the South African new ball bowlers have yet to start an innings with only one fielder, in the covers, not in a close catching position.
For the moment Australia have cornered the market as far as attacking cricket is concerned and more power to them for doing so. Whatever else happens during this English summer, Australia have ensured that the remainder of the Ashes series will be closely watched, in England and all around the world.
If there is a single difference between Australian and South African Test cricketers it is that Australians are more conscious of their roles as entertainers. Entertaining cricket requires its performers to seize every attacking opportunity, whether batting, bowling or fielding.
Nearly 45 years ago, “Jim” Swanton had this to say about a particularly tedious first day at Kingsmead: “The spectator always has one privilege, if no other, the privilege of staying away if he thinks the cricket unworthy of his attention. Thus, perhaps, he may have the final say in putting an end to this ultra-defensive cricket, which, nine times out of 10, is furthermore bad cricket.”
This remains every bit as true now as it did then.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa