This was even more serene than Worcester, where the Australians traditionally start their tours. The hosts could not have been more accommodating.
They delivered a warm, sunny day, a placid, brown pitch and upon winning the toss they decorously invited the tourists to bat first. This was not because Sam Northeast, Kent’s captain, spotted any moisture in the pitch, nor because he sensed his patchwork attack was in the mood to knock over the Aussies. The tourist game is a moneyspinner for impoverished counties and it is important that it should last four days. And Kent have not been batting very well.
The grassy banks were full and those reclining there watched the Australians gently take apart a team which are languishing at the bottom of Division Two. It would be a grave disappointment to Andrew Strauss and Trevor Bayliss, and the rest of the nation, if batting continued to be as straightforward for the Australians throughout the rest of the tour.
No one failed unless the 56 and 84 compiled by Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers respectively is considered failure in these days of hyper-inflation (we are talking cricket scores here, not ticket prices). Perhaps the tourists would have preferred something more demanding despite earnest spells from Mitchell Claydon, originally from New South Wales, and an encouraging effort from the 21-year-old Matthew Hunn, who took the only wickets to fall.
Shaun Marsh hit a smooth century. He is a dry West Aussie and the son of Geoff, and he admitted to being a “bit surprised” when the Australians were invited to bat before adding “but we’re not complaining”. Clarke and Steve Smith, captain and heir apparent, enjoyed themselves in the final session. Smith has scored runs in these parts before. He once had a season for Sevenoaks Vine CC in the days when no one was quite sure whether he was a wrist spinner or a batsman. For Smith there is no identity crisis anymore.
The Australians, World Cup winners and on a roll in Test cricket, have a fair amount to be confident about but there are issues to be decided before the first Test in Cardiff in just under a fortnight. One of them is the identity of David Warner’s opening partner.
Rogers is now 37, not the sort of age when one is selected to carry the drinks in what will be his last Test series. However, there is the slight complication that Rogers missed the Test series in the Caribbean because he was suffering from concussion. So technically he is not the incumbent. On 21, he offered one straightforward chance to Adam Riley at second slip off the perspiring Claydon and it was dropped. Thereafter he played with his usual pragmatism – he never aspires to elegance – until he was lbw to Hunn.
Marsh, a slightly more beguiling left-hander, took a little longer to find his touch but was soon tapping the ball to the boundary with barely a hiccup. So the selectors have the happy knowledge that both openers are in reasonably good touch.
Hence they are likely to trust their original instincts, which is probably good news for Rogers. He has first-hand knowledge of England and of Lord’s in particular. Marsh himself admitted Rogers had been “fantastically helpful in passing on his knowledge of English conditions”. There was no evidence of attempted run-outs. This feels like a happy and unified Australian team.
There are other issues to decide before Cardiff. The expectation is that Adam Voges, who made his Test debut in the Caribbean at the age of 35, will be another Middlesex captain to make the final XI there. Meanwhile Shane Watson must be the favourite to keep Mitchell Marsh, Shaun’s younger brother, on the sidelines.
On the bowling front there is the dilemma over Ryan Harris. He missed the Caribbean tour but he has been the scourge of the Poms in recent Ashes series – 57 of his 113 Test wickets have been against England at 20 apiece. However, to find a place for Harris, which must seem like a good idea, Josh Hazlewood would have to give way and he performed superbly against West Indies. Hence Harris’s fitness and potency will be examined closely today.
Apart from Hunn’s trio of illustrious wickets there was not much to celebrate for the home side – except that the crowds flocked in. The match offered a chance for the highly rated Adam Riley, the 23-year-old off-spinner who often, but not always, keeps James Tredwell out of the Kent championship side, to display his wares.
In exacting circumstances he did not make much of an impression. Riley is a tall man but is not making the most of his height as he delivers the ball. No matter who bowls spin against them on this tour the Australians are minded to give him a hard time.
