The Wimbledon middle order
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Everybody has been trying to pinpoint what has been amiss with the England middle order in this series. The Times' Simon Barnes believes it is too apologetic like the crowd in Wimbledon.
The problem with Nos 3, 4 and 5 is diffidence. In fact, the trouble with the England cricket team has almost always been diffidence, at least when they play Australia. Every now and then, diffidence is set aside, but in the three centuries in which the two nations have played each other at cricket, more often than not, when Australia have bumped into England, England have said sorry.
In the same paper, Richard Hobson believes that Australia's decision to go into the final Test without a frontline spinner was a mistake that England must capitalise on.
Swann needs to produce. Every piece written about him, every interview conducted, dwells on his apparent confidence. He is a showman. Well, this is his showtime. We are about to find out whether his cheeky front masks insecurity, or whether he really does have the temperament to deliver.
If Australia are "dudded" on a disintegrating pitch, like their predecessors in Jim Laker's great match of 1956, there will be no end of repercussions, writes Simon Briggs in the Telegraph.
Ian Bell showed the gumption to camouflage his internal doubts and bat through almost two complete sessions, hardly a negligible achievement on a day when every other member of England's top order could be said to have sold his wicket cheaply, writes Richard Williams in the Guardian.
In the same paper Mikey Stafford watches the Test live but not quite from The Oval.
Umpire Billy Bowden is something of a fan of the Good Lord. Another day or two like the first day at The Oval and followers of the England cricket team may be driven to move Bowden closer to Him. England are in trouble after day one of the fifth Ashes Test and while it is not all Bowden’s fault, some of it just might be, says Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail.
Once on a bad trot there cannot be too may tougher ways of earning a living in professional sport than facing a ball that is hard, red and determined to make a mug of you. David Lloyd, writing in the Independent believes Alastair Cook is in danger of becoming the subject of a stewards', or at least a selectors', inquiry.
As Andrew Flintoff plays his final Test, the Wisden Cricketer digs up its archives on the allrounder.
It's also a thumbs up from Vic Marks in the Guardian for Jonathan Trott, whose patient approach on his Test debut shows he has the right stuff to cement an England place.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo