If points were awarded for a captain’s funkiness in Test cricket – it feels only a matter of time given the ubiquitous use of the word these days – then Alastair Cook would be reflecting on a landslide victory over his opposite number, Michael Clarke, right now.
A short mid-on profited twice, a helmeted third slip was deployed and bowling changes such as Moeen Ali’s single over before lunch on day four, which ended David Warner’s streaky salvo lbw, came off. These are, indeed, heady days for the England captain, who made good on his pre-match promise to empower, not inhibit, this attacking young side.
This early victory in the head-to-head represents something of a shock. His counterpart, after all, arrived on these shores as the funkmeister general – an escalation from the early summer grooves of Brendon McCullum and one which, it was said, would once again show Cook up as a roundhead to the Australian’s cavalier.
And yet in Cardiff Clarke cut a strangely anonymous figure, meekly swishing the irresistible Stuart Broad on four to Ben Stokes at backward point to complete his contribution in a Test match to forget; his 11th defeat overseas draws him level with his predecessor Ricky Ponting and puts him five short of the overall record held by New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming.
The eve of the first day saw Clarke announce – via social media, naturally – the happy news that he and his wife, Kyly, are expecting their first child, and the early signs are that this tour could provide the perfect preparation for the inevitable sleepless nights and messy situations that await. The issues are stacking up for him after four days of cricket.
Clarke’s list of problems might not stretch to 99. But a Mitch is certainly one – if not two – with the most effective weapon in his armoury, Mitchell Starc, set to provide a will-he-won’t-he storyline before Thursday’s second Test at Lord’s with an ankle issue that flared up on the first day and has seen him bowl with a grimace ever since.
The left-armer required pain-numbing cortisone injections to get through the 16 overs he bowled in England’s second innings and, given his history of problems in the area that has seen him require surgery, the 25-year-old’s retention would be a high-risk strategy. Peter Siddle, waiting in the wings, is a worthy competitor but a blunter blade.
This in turn puts greater onus on his fellow left-armer Mitchell Johnson, who does not have the bouncy Australia soil that made him unplayable 18 months ago and shipped 180 runs for his two wickets in Cardiff. Clarke’s insurance policy, Ryan Harris, has already hobbled into retirement, with the one-time wonderkid Pat Cummins, his replacement, touching two years since his last first-class match.
Four days in and Australian voices can already be heard questioning whether this is one tour too many for the 37-year-old wicketkeeper Brad Haddin. His stone-handed second-ball drop of Joe Root on the first day denied his side a scoreboard reading 43 for four – altering the course of the match as Root went on to make 134. Meanwhile his batting has averaged 15 in his last 21 innings, his latest shot being a duffed heave off Moeen that was gobbled up, at the second attempt, by Cook. And then there is the Shane Watson conundrum.
Watson is a talented all-round cricketer who appears a victim of other people’s expectations. But he is also one who possesses such a glaring hole in his armoury in Test cricket that England probably do not feel the need to discuss the plan any more. Bowl full and straight and the thud of leather on pad will come. It has worked 14 times before, after all, with Mark Wood the latest to exploit the glitch.
Can Australia’s selectors call time on the 34-year-old’s Test career so soon into an Ashes tour and, in doing so, lose face with the concession that they made a dud call in overlooking Mitchell Marsh, the younger and more in-form all-rounder? Leaving out Watson and Haddin, the latter understudied by Peter Nevill, who averaged 76 in the most recent Sheffield Shield, will surely be mulled over late at night.
They must also challenge the batsmen who all made starts in Cardiff but failed to convert. When Johnson, a worthy No8, is second highest scorer with a gunslinger’s 77 in a doomed cause, there is significant work to be done. Shaun Marsh sits in reserve but his 15 first-class centuries in 15 years do not shout for change.
Arriving soon is Clarke’s old friend Shane Warne, who will resume his position as Cook’s most strident critic up in the commentary box after missing the Cardiff Test to attend a poker tournament. There is plenty for the pair to discuss.
