'Ultimately Brisbane was a dud'
After the match, captains and commentators alike talked about a fantastic contest
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
After the match, captains and commentators alike talked about a fantastic contest. And it did contain some memorable moments, individual triumphs that told of a human journey reaching its destination. Certainly the batting was impressive and a hat-trick was taken, yet to call the match exciting was to stretch a point. Ricky Ponting described it as "tremendous" while Andrew Strauss spoke about a "great match". Gentlemen, with respect, that is a delusion, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Part of the problem lies with quality of the bowlers and that is beyond cricket's immediate control. However, the emphasis on ensuring that matches last five days is a mistake. Lively first-day tracks are essential.
Obviously it is a bit early to start worrying about a deadening series. But the warning signs cannot be missed. This was not a great Test. Ultimately it was a dud.
I still think both captains will walk away from Brisbane wondering: "How are we going to take 20 wickets? says Shane Warne in the Telegraph. Both bowling attacks are a concern but England will clearly take more out of this match than Australia. The only bowler to take a second innings wicket for Australia was a part-timer. Horrible.
This is the biggest test of Ricky Ponting's leadership of men. It is fine to dissect the tactical side of his captaincy but this is now about something different. It is about picking up his players after a hammering in the field. It is a hard one for any captain but he has to stand up and be counted and try to inspire his team.
Has Australian cricket really fallen this far? Is the national team really this bad? asks Malcolm Conn in the Australian.
Never before have the top three England batsmen scored centuries against Australia in the same innings. Not since that last triumphant series under Mike Gatting in 1986-87 had any three Englishmen scored a hundred in the same innings. It also happened on the 1985 Ashes tour, the only two occasions since World War II. So are we really back to those dark ages?
To endure a hat-trick and a triple-century partnership and still finish the Test with a few men huddled around the Australian batsmen, snarling away without looking too silly, suggests the tourists finished in the psychological ascendancy, says Vic Marks in the Guardian. But the cricket itself has offered more concrete confirmation that England will head for Adelaide in a more cheerful frame of mind.
In the Courier Mail, Robert Craddock tells of a joke doing the rounds in the press box at the Gabba and makes ten observations from the happenings in Brisbane.
When Australia were toiling in the field a twitter message whistled around the Gabba press box revealing the RSPCA had been called to the ground. The Royal Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Australians had been called in to investigate whether what was happening to Ricky Ponting's side was inhumane.
Faith is important, but must not be allowed to blind selectors: for Friday's second Test in Adelaide, Johnson must yield to Doug Bollinger or Ryan Harris. For Marcus North to play out the series, he must make runs in his country's time of need, not just his own, writes Greg Baum in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The worry, not just for the natives, is that something indeed may have snapped in one of the greatest sports traditions the world has ever seen, writes James Lawton in the Independent.
The old furies of Australian cricket were, after all, built on the assumption that there would always be another Warne or Ponting or McGrath impatient to make their way into the hearts of the nation. There was not much evidence of such burgeoning authority and confidence these last few days. Maybe it is just a pause in the production line – and perhaps something will happen in Adelaide these next few days ... The danger is that when a certain magic disappears it is not so easy to retrieve. Australian cricket has lost one superb generation and, for the moment at least, it is not so easy to banish the fear it might just have been the last.
With the ball, England, as a unit, certainly shaded the contest, Peter Siddle's hat-trick notwithstanding, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian. Jimmy Anderson produced one of his finest spells with the second new ball, and, unproductive as it was, appeared a class above any other seamer in the game.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo