Spin bowling on the back foot with pace dominating quickfire Ashes
Nathan Lyon has been the only specialist spinner on show with touring tweaker Shoaib Bashir sidelined by England Disappointment can be found in all corners of this Ashes series. England’s victory came too late. Australia may have secured the urn again but Glenn McGrath’s usual prediction didn’t hold. It’s been a serious letdown for the neutral, never mind that a 3-2 scoreline is still in the offing. This was meant to be the one where England had a shot, where the Sydney finale would actually have something on the line beyond World Test Championship points. Instead we’ve had 13 days of play out of 20, star quicks from both sides missing hefty chunks or all of it and stern-faced discussions about how much grass was left on the “G”. It’s fallen well short as a spectacle. Part of that lies in the absence of the slow stuff, a lack of high-quality spin ruining the show. Continue reading...
Nathan Lyon has been the only specialist spinner on show with touring tweaker Shoaib Bashir sidelined by England
Disappointment can be found in all corners of this Ashes series. England’s victory came too late. Australia may have secured the urn again but Glenn McGrath’s usual prediction didn’t hold. It’s been a serious letdown for the neutral, never mind that a 3-2 scoreline is still in the offing. This was meant to be the one where England had a shot, where the Sydney finale would actually have something on the line beyond World Test Championship points.
Instead we’ve had 13 days of play out of 20, star quicks from both sides missing hefty chunks or all of it and stern-faced discussions about how much grass was left on the “G”. It’s fallen well short as a spectacle. Part of that lies in the absence of the slow stuff, a lack of high-quality spin ruining the show.
Continue reading...