Suneer S. Chowdhary
Arnold
Tash Jayasinghe
Dexter
CibbuanoShock and Awe from the Aussies
November 27th 2006 07:54
The Wikipedia definition of “Shock and Awe”, aka rapid dominance, as being a military doctrine based on the use of “overwhelming decisive force”, is as apt for Australia’s first test victory as it was for its original intended use as part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The force associated with Ponting and Langer’s assault on the English bowling was as brutal as Rumsfeld’s strikes on Baghdad and the overwhelming nature of Australia’s bowling from first McGrath and then Clark and Warne ensured that no significant pockets of resistence survived in this match.
England’s bowling lacked penetration from the outset and the fact that Langer had made his way to well over 50 when his first short pitched ball arrived was a sign of the lack of menace in the bowling. Australia did not make over 400 in the last Ashes series however the weight of scoreboard weighed heavily on the English batsmen as they made a hash of attempting to avoid the follow on. McGrath’s comic injury moment at the conclusion of England’s first innings was about as good as it got for the English in the first two days.
In an all too familiar spectacle the English batting improved in the second innings but despite the encouraging display, even when Collingwood and Pieterson were batting well, the words horse, gate and bolted found their way into everyone’s thinking. These signs of improvement will have to be firmly embedded into the England game for the second test to avoid the prospect of being two nil down with three to play, a scenario that was only just avoided during the series last year.
The Aussies face their own conundrums with the Adelaide pitch offering more for the spinners than the notoriously pace friendly Brisbane track. Lee was the worst performer for the Australians with the ball although one can hardly imagine him losing his place for the 2nd test. The selectors must decide whether to expand the attack to include five bowlers, either by including Watson at the expense of Clarke or by elevating Gilchrist to number six and bringing MacGill in for Clarke or whether simply to leave things as they are, after all a winning team is a winning team.
The force associated with Ponting and Langer’s assault on the English bowling was as brutal as Rumsfeld’s strikes on Baghdad and the overwhelming nature of Australia’s bowling from first McGrath and then Clark and Warne ensured that no significant pockets of resistence survived in this match.
England’s bowling lacked penetration from the outset and the fact that Langer had made his way to well over 50 when his first short pitched ball arrived was a sign of the lack of menace in the bowling. Australia did not make over 400 in the last Ashes series however the weight of scoreboard weighed heavily on the English batsmen as they made a hash of attempting to avoid the follow on. McGrath’s comic injury moment at the conclusion of England’s first innings was about as good as it got for the English in the first two days.
In an all too familiar spectacle the English batting improved in the second innings but despite the encouraging display, even when Collingwood and Pieterson were batting well, the words horse, gate and bolted found their way into everyone’s thinking. These signs of improvement will have to be firmly embedded into the England game for the second test to avoid the prospect of being two nil down with three to play, a scenario that was only just avoided during the series last year.
The Aussies face their own conundrums with the Adelaide pitch offering more for the spinners than the notoriously pace friendly Brisbane track. Lee was the worst performer for the Australians with the ball although one can hardly imagine him losing his place for the 2nd test. The selectors must decide whether to expand the attack to include five bowlers, either by including Watson at the expense of Clarke or by elevating Gilchrist to number six and bringing MacGill in for Clarke or whether simply to leave things as they are, after all a winning team is a winning team.
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