BOOM! Finally, a ball is bowled. The sight of Freddie’s big, goofy face bumbling out the national anthem in ermm, Cardiff, set me grinning stupidly to myself this morning. The Ashes is just amazing; that titchy little urn; the totally irrational importance of it all; the endless BBC radio montages of 2005 quietly airbrushing out the whitewash of 2006-7; the fact we might actually win again. I mean, what do we actually do in other summers?
This match is so important psychologically – they might look a touch ‘B’ team compared to what we’re used to, but if the Australians get on top in Cardiff you can see them swaggering off with the series. The Aussies simply don’t get thumped, so there’s no hope of England running away with it. This leaves two possible outcomes: a) two months of humiliation and ceaseless English talk of “taking positives” from crushing defeats end with a familiar procession to Australian victory, or b) it’s tense and thrilling and everything we’ve hoped for. I reckon even most Aussies would take option B.
For that to happen, England really need a new performer to come of age - they currently look at least one match-winner short. Too much rests on Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff’s shoulders right now – they’re broad, but they won’t be enough. Pietersen, perhaps the most gifted oddball since Jacko (similar footwork and mental fragility, too) is a genius but clearly doesn't do responsibility. Like many of the finer things in life, Freddie is desperately fragile, and even when fit has shown patchy form since 2005. Two five wicket hauls and two fifties in four years is a very ordinary return. His advocates claim that he’s a game-changer, but if that’s the case England will need at least one reliable workhorse in the Hoggard mould. Anderson and Broad are fine bowlers – Jimmy in particular can change a game on his day - but both can disintegrate quickly. Perhaps Graham Onions is the man to play the hard cards, but he’s the definition of unproven and he’ll not be playing in this game. Graeme Swann is growing by the game and winning friends as he goes, but Panesar's selection looks like one of those moments when the England selectors go walkies.
The batting unit looks more positive, but also needs a new name to emerge as a recognised threat – the Australian focus on Pietersen tells its own story. Strauss is a solid skipper and a useful cog in an effective engine, but he’s unlikely to define a series. Collingwood always gives his best, but over time that’s not quite been good enough. Flintoff can be wonderful to watch but he’s not adaptable enough, and he doesn’t actually score very many runs (probably related). Which leaves Cook, Bopara or Prior as the three who might emerge as focal parts of the order. Cook has been in sparkling form for Essex whilst the others messed about in the Twenty20, and he looks like he might be ready to really impose himself on Test cricket now. Bopara has shown his class, but I’ve my doubts about him batting at 3. He plays with freedom but if he’s not firing he can appear careless. Prior is already very useful – if he can push on beyond that a bit of clumsy glovework will be quickly forgotten.
So - it’s here, it’s magic: the stage is set for one of England’s lesser lights to join KP and Freddie centre-stage, and then we have a series.
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