ఇది మళ్ళీ ఆ సమయం - రాత్రులు పొడవు, గాలి చల్లగా ఉంది, కానీ వెంటనే రేడియో జీవితం కాల్పులు మరియు మా చెవులకు ఆస్ట్రేలియన్ వేసవి శబ్దాలు తెస్తుంది. ఇంగ్లాండ్ విజయం సాధించి మునుపటి వైట్వాష్ నుండి తిరిగి వస్తాయి (వారు చేసిన విధంగా 2010-11, లేదా ఆస్ట్రేలియా ఒక పూర్తి చేస్తుంది 3వ లో వైట్వాష్ 4 సిరీస్. నేను ఒక am బెట్టింగ్ కోసం అది డ్రాగా వుండదు!
I think this is the hardest to predict Ashes series this millennium — both sides have a decent number of quality bowlers, మరియు సమానంగా భాగస్వామ్యం 4 of the best batsmen in the game. Both sides also have a recent history of middle order collapse, and a selection of match results that vary from brilliant to truly pathetic. It seems like it might be a case of “who cracks first”.
If England get on top, వారు చేసిన విధంగా 2010, the Aussie crowds and press will get at the green-team with a vigour only normally seen in the British press when the footballers fail to materialise. సమానంగా, if Australia get on top then England have a tendency to totally implode as they did in the 2 visits down under either side of their 2010 విజయం.
Overall the odds must be in the Australian’s favour, something the bookies agree with. They have home-soil advantage and will no doubt prepare pitches that offer pace and seam with as little swing as possible. Fair play to them — I’ve no doubt England will prepare swinging pitches in return the next time our Aussie friends are over here. బెన్ స్టోక్స్ వ్యవహారం (1) has also damaged England’s preparations, and there are some injury problems which could prove significant too.
I think the margins between the teams are quite small, and things beyond human control (ఉదాహరణకు. టాస్, the weather) could prove crucial. నేను కూడా ఒకసారి ఒక జట్టు పైన గెట్స్ వారు అక్కడ ఉండడానికి ఒక మంచి అవకాశం ఉంది అనుకుంటున్నాను. The difference between a 3–1 victory as in 2010, and a 5–0 defeat, could actually be quite small. If England come away with a draw, వారు యాషెస్ కొనసాగించనుంది. This will rightly be regarded as pretty much as good as victory and England will rightly get all the plaudits. Planning for victory shouldn’t be the hardest job in the world, so instead — how about we think beforehand about what might happen in the event of defeat.
Let’s imagine the Aussies get a bit of run of the ball, మరియు అది మంచి వినియోగించుకోవచ్చు, and England sink to defeat in the first couple of test matches. Realistically it is unlikely that they could come back from 2–0 down, so the remaining matches wouldn’t really tell us a great deal new. Is there a difference between leaving having lost by 3 లేదా 4 జట్టు చెక్కుచెదరకుండా, and leaving having lost 5–0 with the captain in doubt, a leading bowler gone, మరియు 2 of the best batsman gone. I ask because that is what happened in 2013–14, when questions were left hanging over Captain Cook, Jonathan Trott quit international cricket, KP విడుదల చేయబడిన, మరియు గ్రేమ్ స్వాన్ మధ్య పర్యటన విడిచి. In other words massive mismanagement had managed to snatch a much greater defeat from the jaws of a brief embarrassment. Just imagine the current England team but with KP, Trott and Swann still available for selection — a world number 1 వైపు తప్పనిసరిగా?
Instead we have a younger less experienced team, but with plenty of quality and plenty of potential. It is essential to the future of the team that such massive failures of management are not repeated on this tour. There is no dominant country in test cricket at present, with Australia, ఇంగ్లాండ్, భారతదేశం, Pakistan and South Africa all capable of being dominant and ruthless, and also all capable of being very poor too. There is nothing to separate these 5 వైపులా. All of them would be favourites in home conditions to beat all of the others. This is particularly so in England’s case, తో 2 of the best swing bowlers in the history of the game able to win home matches with regularity, even when the batsmen are struggling.
కాబట్టి, let’s hope the England management have learned from previous mistakes, మరియు ఓటమి సందర్భంలో, find ways to keep the team together, lift the great talent we have, and bring the England team home ready to continue building towards the future. If they can’t do that, వారు ఖచ్చితంగా జట్టు డు?
(1) A footnote on the Ben Stokes affair. This is a worrying sign that England management haven’t learned from the past. Ask yourself this — if it was the other way around and a key Aussie player had assaulted someone in a bar would the Aussies have dropped that player? Or would they have downplayed it, picked the guy anyway, and even gone on to make him vice captain? మీరు సమాధానం గురించి ఏవైనా సందేహాలు ఉంటే కేవలం జో రూట్ అడగండి! It seems to me that England management are first and foremost interested in avoiding catching any flack from the media, rather than acting in the right way. Successful management publicly supports their player. What is said in private is no doubt very different. There isn’t even any sign of management taking a grain of responsibility, despite repeated failures to manage players effectively, be it with mental health (ట్రెస్కోథిక్, ట్రాట్), team relations (స్వాన్, KP), or responsible behaviour (Flintoff in pedalo-gate, Root getting punched in walkabout, players urinating on the pitch, మరియు ఇప్పుడు కొరడా దెబ్బ మీద స్టోక్స్).
“పింక్ బంతి ఎరుపు/ఆకుపచ్చ లోపం ఉన్న దృష్టిలో బూడిద/నీలం రంగులో కనిపిస్తుంది, దాని తీవ్రతను బట్టి. నేను రంగు అంధత్వంతో అనుకరణ చేసాను…”