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Just when you thought it was safe to assume that England had actually
become a fair dinkum cricket team, they go and spoil it all by
doing something stupid like . . . being smashed within four days.
As former Pommy captain and now renowned commentator Mike Atherton
said after Australia's 239-run victory in the First Test at Lord's:
"Here we go again". Let's hope not.
When Steve Harmison was ripping through Australia's top order
on the first morning of this Lord's Test, it seemed like the prophecy
was right: this time, surely, England would be having a red-hot
go. Instead, Glenn McGrath, Michael Clarke and Shane Warne respectively
skewered them like a surgeon. McGrath ripped out their hearts
with five searing deliveries and wickets; Clarke turned his own
career around and helped Australia bat out day two, which was
essential; and Warne delivered the final blows, playing with them
like he was kicking a stone along the road. Last night, with the
covers pulled over the Lord's centre square, England was again
relying on the last card in their pack: for rain to save their
lily white butts.
Don't underestimate the power of self belief in this ultimate
game of mind games. England came into this tour full of hope.
They had mustered some Botham-esque courage. Some Allan Lamb-like
pluck. The influence of former Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh
on the English game was clearly evident: they had some mongrel
in them again, a sense of arrogance that has been crucial to Australia's
success for the last decade or so. But when Australia finally
blew out the last of cobwebs heading into those two final one-dayers,
and then this First Test, England folded like deckchairs as Ricky
Ponting's men inflated with confidence. When McGrath, Clarke and
then Warne started dismantling them, England skied the hands to
the heavens, seemingly prepared to go through the same motions
as the last 15 years.
Finding renewed courage and confidence is all well and good -
if you're on top. But it's more relevant when you're coming under
fire. This is the difference between Australia and England. Even
when the Aussies appear to be doomed, when they're reeling at
5 for stuff-all and the tabloid press are salivating into their
pints, they adopt a mindset that insists this is not going
to happen. And it doesn't. If this Ashes series is going
to be worth the late nights and falling asleep on the couch, England
will need to find the same head space, and maintain it when the
shit is coming down.
Otherwise, here they go - again.
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