With the # Beat England! Slogan stuffed firmly up their rear we destroyed the convicts with an exhilarating display of One Day Cricket……..
After Tom Curran removed Tim Payne to give England an emphatic victory, I had a flashback to when I arrived in Brisbane for the Ashes last November, (I must admit a few beers and one or two Jolly Ups since) I was having a coffee with Gordon and his grandpa Ian when I looked down the street and attached to various lamp posts was a # Beat England! banner, but when you take on England in one day cricket you are taking on the best in the world. At the trophy presentation gone was the hand with the Australian flag embroiled on it with 4 fingers up. The fire crackers in Sydney were also gone as was the fear factor England had with the bat during the Ashes.
In my opinion this team is the best in the one day format. You have a blend of experience and youth and exciting explosive players to watch. With Roy, Hales, Buttler, Morgan you can shortly add Stokes to that and with Woakes, who I think is becoming a world class cricketer in all forms of the game we bat right down to 11. You only need one of the big guns to come off and the rest making 20s and 30s and you put the opposition under pressure. That’s what happened with Roy in Melbourne making 180, in Sydney Buttler 100 together with Woakes 53 getting England out of a tight spot hitting 38 of the final 12 balls!
In Adelaide having lost the toss the hosts put us in and quickly found ourselves 5 for 8 but Woakes and Curran did exceptionally well to almost rescue the situation we were in, but in the end we were 70 runs short, it would have been nice going 4-0 up instead of 3-1, so the final ODI in the new Optus Stadium in Perth we were treated to an Ashes like team for the second successive game losing wickets continuously after Roy came blazing out of the blocks with 49 together with Bairstow 44. Only Root 62 helped us get over 250 again over 70 runs short in my mind there did not appear to be too many demons on a wicket which was laid only in November. The game looking to be heading the Aussies way with Stoinis 87 and Maxwell 34 nurdling the ball around for easy singles seemed to be in complete control until Rashid had Stoinis caught by a diving Curran. That was the point when the wheels started to fall off and again Curran was in the action trapping Maxwell LBW – no one else offered any resistance, so there are two 100% records going forward at the new Perth stadium England winning and a streaker!!
To finish… on the flight to Perth I was sitting next to the Australian team Doctor, I decided to listen to some music but then from nowhere Michael Clarke the ex Aussie captain leaned over my shoulder to get the doc’s attention, it appeared that someone had collapsed and needed help. The guy appeared to be Ok after he treated him. In front of me was an analyst who had graphs of a player with strengths and weaknesses on his laptop, obviously got it all wrong. I should have told him try setting a field to Buttler who plays 360 degrees around the wicket, I’m not sure even his team mates know what to expect! My last question to the doc was any injuries for Perth? He replied “I can tell you but then I will have to kill you”…. who needs a Dr?
The crew that came out in January for the 1 day tour were a great bunch and had the most amazing time benefitting from all the previous experiences the Ashes crowd had enjoyed. there was never a dull moment amongst a very hectic tour.
All the best and see you in New Zealand, Sri Lanka or West Indies if not before.
