Among the more curious sights on the morning of the first day in Cardiff was Alastair Cook, the great Test opener, twice shimmying down the pitch to the newly introduced Nathan Lyon and driving the off-spinner through extra-cover. Both times he picked out the man placed short.
Like granddad attempting a knee-slide on the dance floor of a wedding, the left-hander’s attempts to hit Lyon out of the attack early were in keeping with the prevailing mood, one which sees an unshackled England looking to play positive cricket this summer. But similarly it was hard not to conclude that the manoeuvre is best performed by those to whom it comes naturally.
Cook, prior to this series, had watched from afar – or, more accurately, from a farm – as the one-day side had belted New Zealand to all parts. And then, after England trained for the Ashes at a golf resort in Spain, his Essex team-mates gave Lyon the treatment in Australia’s four-day warm-up match at Chelmsford, leaving the spinner with combined figures of one for 200.
And so, perhaps craving a slice of the action himself, a player whose oft-listed qualities include patience, obduracy and self-denial tried to unleash his own rebranded batting style. It was very un-Cook and eventually, after 13 successive dot balls, Lyon got his man when the England captain went to cut a ball too close to his body and was caught behind by a jubilant Brad Haddin.
This battle within a battle – one of the lesser trailed of the pre-Ashes analysis – was a first blow struck for his opposite number, Michael Clarke, who will doubtless have observed Cook’s inability to get on top of New Zealand’s Mark Craig during the drawn Test series. It also neatly summed up the confusion surrounding the buzzword of the summer: aggression.
The England captain does not read the newspapers, something he betrayed when confusing two titles when speaking before this Test. But perhaps, after the appointment of his new head coach, Trevor Bayliss, a leaf through the next day’s offerings would have been instructive. Because among the many salient points made by the Australian in his 30-minute briefing at Lord’s, was his own understanding of the word.
“Being aggressive is not necessarily trying to hit fours and sixes,” said Bayliss. “It’s that mental aggressiveness, thinking about rotating the strike, where are my singles, what bad balls can I hit for four, how are they trying to get me out, being mentally aware of what’s going on around you. You do that, the bad ball comes along, you hit it for four or six.”
Up until Lyon’s introduction in the 10th over Cook had done exactly this. He was fully on top of Australia’s muscular pace attack, albeit on a surface that was anything but The Gabba. We need not fear for his game at present and the fretful analysis of every non-century that, prior to his 105 in Barbados nearly engulfed English cricket altogether, should not return any time soon.
And he is no mug against spin, after all, as shown during the India tour in 2012 when he ground Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha into the dirt en route to that history-making 2-1 series win. There he got the sweep out of the locker and nudged the single to perfection, in a display of aggressive occupation.
And so, if he is going to ride the wave of positive intent that has been on show this summer – one which he admits must now filter into his captaincy – Cook’s approach against spinners this series must follow the words of his new coach: “Individuals have to play their natural game.”
On day one in Cardiff he did the opposite.
