If an Ashes Test match had been scheduled in Sydney this week, serious questions would be asked about whether it should go ahead. Only after high-level discussions has Cricket NSW agreed to stage Big Bash League games as planned. An international fixture would be subject to greater pressures.
Just as the world is shrinking, however, Australia’s internal distances feel less like a tyranny than a freedom. Adelaide is a long way from eastern Sydney. While the match will be played under a shadow, it will also express sport’s capacity to unite via the diversion of a simple, easy-to-understand contest backed by nearly 150 years of tradition.
Big sport is nearly always played in the aftermath of terrible events. Only the scale varies. The last Test match came just days after the passing of Robin Smith. The players’ role is more complex than it seems: to recognise and remember while also shrugging off and forgetting. There is deep and genuine sadness, but then the muscle memory kicks in. Cricket may only be a matter of grown men doing things with a little red ball, but while it’s on, it’s fully on, and there lies its value.
Twelve years ago, when Adelaide hosted the Test match after Phillip Hughes’s funeral, there was speculation over how the playing of the game would change. For that week, it turned out, not much: bouncers were bowled and Australia and India staged a classic encounter, highlighted by twin centuries from both David Warner and Virat Kohli, 12 wickets for Nathan Lyon and a fifth-afternoon thriller.
Something of that kind might be too much to hope for this week, but England’s faith in their personnel means that the only thing they have left to change is their attitude. So that will be something to see. Ben Stokes calls it “dog”, and his repudiation of “weak men” suggests that their mindset is belatedly warmed up for a Test series.
He and Brendon McCullum do not – or cannot – doubt the talent in their team, which of course they can’t because talent is the one thing it’s too late to change. Presumably they will attempt a style of play more suited to the talent they have available.
Marnus Labuschagne wins a foot race against his Australian teammates during a training session at Adelaide on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
Australia, likewise, have made only the expected changes from Brisbane. Usman Khawaja’s omission will have one by-product. Sympathisers worried about how he might be treated by elements of the crowd won’t have to worry, and stirrers will have nothing to stir. Not that he was left out for that reason, but it has turned into a duty of care by proxy.
Even before the lopsided match in Brisbane, a friend was telling me that all he wanted was 5-0 in these Ashes, and he took extra delight in Australia whitewashing this particular England side for its “arrogance and pretentiousness”. This is hardly new in Australia, and it’s been remarkably merciless over time.
After the First World War, Warwick Armstrong whitewashed an aged and depleted England team with the game’s first twin-express new-ball attack. In that series, a record number of England batsmen were injured after being hit by bumpers.
On the first morning of the first Ashes series after the Second World War, Don Bradman refused to walk when England thought they’d caught him. Wally Hammond said, “That’s a bloody fine way to start”, the Don scored 187 and Australia didn’t let their visitors win a game until the 1950s. If you ever wonder if English cricketers exaggerate the hostility of Australian cricket, these are things to keep in mind.
With hot weather and a good batting wicket forecast in Adelaide, the toss could be decisive in this match. Contra the “unlucky” story England have been telling themselves, they have been extremely lucky in Perth and Brisbane with Stokes winning both tosses. There’s no such thing as being due to lose a 50/50 call, but he will dearly love to win this one too. A good match could depend on it.
These are the tiny distractions that the game will offer. Quickly, the black armbands will just be items of apparel and the game becomes a game again. The Ashes’ power to distract is strong, and the longer it goes, the more thankful we can be.
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