The importance of Worcester

Worcester used to be the opening stop on Australia’s Ashes tour, but times changed itineraries and on this trip it is the second venue for the team, and my first. Whenever the town is mentioned to England supporters there is talk of the flooding Severn River, which spills over Worcestershire’s New Road ground, usually in winter. To Australian fans with a lust for Ashes trips, this field is where Bradman scored three double-centuries and a century in his four visits, and where the magical cathedral seems to field at third man. The teas from the ladies’ pavilion are supposed to be equally special and will be trialled by those players being tested this week.

Tipping the destination of the urn is difficult, with both sides rebuilding and hoping for good results rather than knowing they will arrive. Over the next four days the Australians face the England Lions in a match that matters, a rarity for a modern tour game. In Bradman’s days he was able to reach 1000 runs before June, but those sorts of numbers are unlikely for any of the batsmen in the squad for the entire trip. If someone does get that far the Ashes will be retained.

Back then it was tradition in Worcester to play what was expected to be the Test XI. The current team would love to know the first-choice side, but there are too many bowling variables for any certainty until the match is over. Peter Siddle, who should start in Cardiff, has been rested while Mitchell Johnson plays his first match in whites in England since an Under-19 trip when he ran into Ian Bell, the England Lions captain. The real battle is not between the Australians and England’s 2nd XI, but between Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Nathan Hauritz, who are basically pushing for two spots.

A visit to England ensures many companions and two of my non-breathing travellers are Brightly Fades the Don by Jack Fingleton and Christian Ryan’s Golden Boy. Fingleton’s is the story of the unbeaten 1948 tour and the departure of Bradman while Ryan’s work, a biography of Hughes, contains long passages about 1981, a series of wonder for England and one of horror for Australia’s dysfunctional squad. Hughes led the team but was constantly under-mined by his senior players, something which won’t happen to Ricky Ponting (At 34 he’s the oldest and nine of the 15 players are under 30). Ponting’s men will do well to fall somewhere in between those polarised visits of an Australian cricketer’s most envied destination.