Yesterday was the first day of The Ashes test series and England gambled and lost. The selectors and medical staff passed James Anderson as fit and he took to the field. He has been struggling with his calf muscle and passed a fitness test. There are more questions to what kind of fitness test he passed.
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Calf issues on July 2nd and it hasn't healed correctly as it re occurred yesterday morning again. This has put his team in trouble and is a huge handicap.
He didn't last long and has now put his team in a vulnerable position. Surely he could feel it wasn't right and reminds me of Philander at the World Cup in New Zealand 4 years ago when he was selected 10 days after a hamstring injury.He only bowled a few balls before leaving the field holding his hamstring.
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James Anderson should have known it wasn't quite right. This is before the start of play with the physio.
Everything started off well for him bowling 4 overs for 1 run and then he was struggling. He went off the field for treatment and came back and then disappeared. At this point Australia were on the rack and looked like it didn't really matter. Australia fought back though and ground out a score they should never have been able to get. Short of one bowler England were wilting and were exceptionally lucky Australia lost wickets regularly.
Anderson went to hospital and had scans and the ECB wouldn't release the results. The reasoning is that if it is the same issue then no replacement is allowed on the field in his place as it was an existing injury. By not releasing the information it is kind of suspicious and tells it's own story.
Australia didn't make a great score, but it was acceptable from where they were at 122/8 and ending up on 284. If England can get a lead they have a chance as England has a limited attack without Anderson. Tomorrow will be interesting as the match is still finally poised and too early to say who holds the advantage. My money is on Australia even at this early stage as missing a bowler is huge.
Broad and Woakes with Stokes to back it up doesn't exactly sound like a winning bowling unit. Moeen Ali is alright as a spinner but I wouldn't call him a top bowler. The second innings will be a grind if they don't get early wickets and Australia now know they are a bowler light and a fielder short so they will take their time.
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."
I was also thinking yesterday after watching Anderson and trust me from the very beginning his body language was not right and I must say that England just took a chance and gambled. If someone is not fit, not matter how skilled bowler he is, you can not take a risk and do remember that it is a test match where the bowler job is more significant than your batsman. They have to bowl sustained spells and if someone is not fit, it is better to play other options.
At this stage, I feel like Australia have a good a chance and they are also batting first, means England have to bat in the fourth innings and that will be quite difficult.
Lets see, how it unfolds...
Thank you...stem on and stay blissful....
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After 122/8, Australia put on 162 runs with the Smith & Siddle and it was another world record. If Anderson had continued and bowled, Siddle would have been out and AUS would have bowled out under 150. I think Anderson is one of the best bowler in Test cricket and especially in these conditions.
Now England's first innings is crucial and that will set the tone of the match going forward.
In test cricket it is a big error of judgement officially but I strongly feel that ECB was well aware of the fitness issue of Anderson, so actually they hide it by officially declaring Anderson fit. I can sense that it has already cost them this match. Unless England take a lead of 100+, it is going to be very difficult for them to win this match.
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Without Anderson the bowling unit of England is less effective. That could be the reason why England decided to include Anderson in the playing eleven despite the fact that he was not fully fit.
Now Australia survived quite well and the game is tilted to their side. If Australia take a lead in the first innings it would be very difficult for England to make a comeback.
I fully agree with you that England gambled and lost the first day of the match.
In the early part of the innings, Broad & Woakes really did well and they swung the ball very well, I was surprised that even without Anderson they managed to bring Aussies down to 122/8, but then things turned around and the partnership between S Smith & P Siddle did exceptional job for Aussie innings.
Anderson spell was really missing at that time when the partnership was being build and Eng definitely needed the service of Anderson at that moment to break the partnership. This is what happened when you take on the field with partially fit player.
The selectors and medical staff just manipulated with the test report. Otherwise how come the best bowler of the side suddenly feel a fitness issue after 4 over of spell. The facial expression of Jimmy was quite evident that he was having some issue even when he bowled the very first over. But Broad & Woakes managed well, it was the extra ordinary innings of Smith which took the game away from England on the first day.
If the injury of Anderson is minor and not serious, then within these two days he may recover and will be fully fit in the second innings of Australia. But I have already changed my mind and I have placed my bet on Australia.
English team is really short of one prime bowler and they have to manage with their available resource now. Australia have hard labored those runs with mighty Smith. The most crucial play will be the second day play and that can give an hint of the result. For the time being, it has swung Australia's way.
Once again a nice article from you.
But English team is still a better side at this moment. They just need to do well with their first innings score. I admit that they have made an error in assessing the fitness of Anderson and they might have taken it lightly. But the batting side of English team is far better than Australia, so I think that English team still have better chance and I can see 60:40 now for English team.
I can understand athletes not wanting to give up and try as hard as they can to help their team. At some point though you have to realize you are only hurting them by going out at less than 100%. It is the rare occasion that you actually have a fantastic game when you are playing with an injury or ailment. Michael Jordan is just about the lone exception I can think of.
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