Aggers’ Ashes. Jonathan Agnew
the inside edge he’s beating the outside edge instead.”
Swann is the fastest England spinner to 100 wickets since Kent’s Colin Blythe in 1910, and like Laker and Underwood in their time, he can claim to be the best slow bowler in world cricket. He is currently ranked second overall in Test cricket behind South African quick Dale Steyn, and it is not often an England spinner has been able to say that. His elevated status will make him a target, with batsmen looking to attack him. But Tufnell believes that will only play into the Nottinghamshire man’s hands, especially when he is bowling into the footmarks created by Australia’s left-arm seamers Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger.
“The Australians like to put spinners off their game but that could be good for England,” says Tufnell, who toured South Africa with Swann in 1999-2000. “They’ll make mistakes, try to hit balls that aren’t there. It’s a form of flattery, because they know if they just hang around he’s a good enough bowler to get them out. It won’t faze him at all if the Aussies decide to get stuck into him, he’s that type of character. Whether it’s the first day and the wicket’s flat or it’s a green seamer, you throw him the ball and he believes he can get people out.”
‘Character’ is a word you will find cropping up a lot where Swann is concerned, in part because it’s a quality that has been in such short supply on recent trips Down Under. Swann, in contrast to the stereotype of the buttoned-up, risk-averse England spinner, is confrontational, attack-minded and possesses that ‘unfathomable something’. And it is this ‘unfathomable something; as much as the guile and the drift and the tremendous ‘revs’ Swann puts on the ball, which is kryptonite to many batsmen.
“If he can stay fit, he’s going to be a massive part in us winning the Ashes,” says Giles, who took eight wickets in three Tests Down Under. “He’s a phenomenal bowler at the moment. Every time he comes on, you think something’s going to happen.” When Giles says ‘you’, he means opposition batsmen, too. It is this ‘unfathomable something’ that makes batsmen play the man rather than the ball, convinces them the bowler is trying something on when he is doing nothing of the sort. Ian Botham had it in spades, especially later in his career when the waistline had expanded and the run-up was little more than a saunter; and Shane Warne had it, too, even when a creaking body had pared down his many variations.
Moving from the abstract to the practical, both Tufnell and Emburey concede a finger spinner’s lot is made more difficult by the Kookaburra ball used in Australia, with its flatter, perishable seam that disintegrates into little more than dots. However, both Tufnell and Emburey are quick to point out that, for all his chutzpah, Swann is essentially a team man, able to lock down his ego for the greater good.
“When Phil Edmonds and myself weren’t getting wickets at least we bowled long spells and controlled the game,” says former Middlesex stalwart Emburey. “That’s the key with Swanny, if he’s not taking wickets he’s good enough to keep it tight.” Tufnell adds: “England will be looking for him to be a major wicket-taker, but with a four-man attack he’s also going to be the guy who’s going to look to dry up one end while the seam bowlers rotate at the other.”
A few weeks back, when England’s Lee Westwood became golf’s world number one, his coach Peter Cowen said his pupil had got to where he was because he remained “very comfortable in uncomfortable situations”. It doesn’t get more uncomfortable for an English cricketer than an Ashes tour Down Under, yet you get the feeling it is going to take more than a bit of bullying from the Aussie batsmen and a dumpling of a ball to knock Swann out of his groove.
DAY 15: 17 November 2010
England spring a surprise by fielding their Test batsmen, so the one reserve, Morgan, will have had no cricket before the First Test. There is an element of risk to this, but Flower and Strauss clearly want to give the first-choice players every opportunity to find form and, hopefully, play long and meaningful innings against Australia A’s decent-looking pace attack. The pitch is very green indeed. Strauss wins the toss and no one is surprised when he puts the home team in to bat against his reserve attack.
With Anderson, Broad and Finn looking on before they leave to catch their flight to Brisbane, the support seamers have something of a field day. Conditions are perfect for Tremlett, Shahzad and Bresnan, but it is no surprise that they are all rather ring rusty, well short of match practice. Australia A slip to 118 for 6 from which point England’s frontline bowlers would have ruthlessly finished them off. But fighting half centuries by Steve Smith and Stephen O’Keefe combined with England’s bowlers’ lack of puff, enables Australia to reach 230. It shows that it doesn’t matter how many miles you run or weights you lift, only through bowling in match conditions can you really get fit for cricket.
I hope we get a little closer to understanding and appreciating Chris Tremlett on this tour. He is tall, has a great action and enough pace to hurt you, but his reputation of being rather soft continues to haunt him. Those who watch him play for his second county, Surrey, believe he has hardened up and become more aggressive and self-confident. I hope so because now aged 29, it really is make or break time for him.
Understandably, he starts his spell somewhat rustily, but produces a really good ball to the Australian dashing opener, Phillip Hughes, which the left-hander edges straight to Strauss at first slip. Tremlett bowls Cameron White, and then has Tim Paine and O’Keefe caught at the wicket – although there is an element of good fortune about both of these dismissals – and his figures of 4 for 54 are the best of the day. But he still seems to lack a ‘presence’ on the field. He runs up and bowls then immediately turns and walks back to his mark. I’m not suggesting he should indulge in sledging or silly things like that, but the odd moment of eye contact with the batsman or any show of emotion will help convince the spectator he really means it. Tremlett’s approach contrasts sharply with that of Shahzad who scurries in, glares at the batsmen and bristles with aggression. For my money, with 3 for 57, he is the bowler of the day, and because of his confidence would also be my first reserve if a pace bowler suddenly needs to be drafted in.
Bresnan dismisses test-hopeful Ferguson with a beauty, which is edged to Prior and then watches in stunned amazement as Monty Panesar flings himself full length to his right to pull off an astonishing reflex catch at mid-wicket. Wide-eyed and jumping about in celebration, Monty seems as surprised as everyone else that he has held on to it. Further credit to the skill and fielding drills devised by Richard Halsall (as experienced by the press pack on Monday). It is not long before the catch is available on YouTube and my delighted listeners are soon logging on for a look. Later, in the hotel lobby, I tell Monty that he is trending on Twitter and receive a delighted high five in return. Monty Rhodes!
Meanwhile we are all keeping an eye on the Australian squad players who are appearing in the first day of the latest round of Sheffield Shield matches – and it has been a disaster. Hussey 0. Watson 6. Katich 1. Ponting 7. North 17. Bollinger 0. Haddin 10. Hauritz 0. Only Mitchell Johnson, who is 81 not out overnight, has made a score at all and without him, the tally is 41/8. In reality, scores in Sheffield Shield matches should be largely irrelevant, but it does underline the problems the Aussies have going into the First Test.
DAY 16: 18 November 2010
I arrive at the ground to discover that Swann’s latest video diary on the ECB website is the talk of the town and that the Sprinkler is clearly the team dance. The video is brilliantly put together and it is hilarious to watch every member of the team – even Mushtaq Ahmed, the heavily bearded (‘black and grey stripes, so sponsored by Adidas’) spin bowling guru, performing the ‘Sprinkler’. The tabloids are onto it and Twitter has gone into meltdown. A new craze has been created by, it later turns out, Paul Collingwood.
On the face of it this appears to have been a really good day for the batsmen. England are already 105 runs in the lead at the close, with Bell having hit the most stylish hundred I have seen by an Englishman for a very long time. But look below the surface at the close of play scoreline, and you see the problem: England were 137 for 5 until the stand of 198 between Bell and Collingwood salvaged the situation and, on closer inspection still, every one of the four batsmen that perished today (Strauss was caught in the gully yesterday) got themselves out. This is precisely the sort of casual batting that