Okay, the Australians forced a hard earned draw with England in the Third Test. They will be pleased with that, and not pleased that they ever got into the situation. There has been much less noise from the Australian camp, even though they stymied England’s opportunity to pull ahead in the series. And rightly so. They will be worried that Vaughn and Strauss are now making big scores. Their top order batsmen are getting battered and out by the English strike bowlers. But they will be most worried about how spot on England’s tactic were in the third test.
I did not expect to win at Old Trafford. Even when we got to the final day. Bowling the Aussies out to order is not been our strong point, and their tale has wagged more than their front end. That said I was very impressed by the maths done by Vaughan on the declaration. Yes, it would have been a record breaking final innings if Australia had beaten us, but despite scoring well it was always slightly out of reach. We maximised bowling time without ever putting ourselves in danger of losing. This kind of captaincy seems to be at the heart of England’s resurgence. Confidence and cleverness.
Last week on Test Match Special there was much talk of the most exciting finishes ever, after England’s two run victory. Not much was made about how exciting a well fought draw can be. But what yesterday reminded me of was test series, Ashes series even, of the Nineties where getting a heroic draw was the highpoint for England. It is not a situation Australia have been used to, and while they got the draw, the fact that the final day required a lot of effort for a neutral result will sap them. The crippled mouse may yet find a mouse sized, manga style robotic power suit…