The failure of anyone other than Chris Rogers to cope with the conditions at Edgbaston was another worrying sign of Australian fallibility abroad
Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston29-Jul-2015Having batted for all but 32 balls of Australia’s woebegone innings, Chris Rogers walked out to the middle of Edgbaston and donned his helmet once more. Amazingly, after a week in which he had been a doubtful starter due to the aftereffects of a blow to the head at Lord’s, he was fielding at short leg. As is his way, Rogers did it uncomplainingly, but it left the impression that he was the only man in the Australia XI prepared to do the grunt work, whether it be with the bat or in the field.This had been a day for scrapping and fighting, doing the hard things to ensure the performance put in at Lord’s was followed up. What Australia produced, Rogers aside, was an artless display that has placed their bid for the Ashes at the gravest risk of failure. It will leave many to wonder what is to become of this team on foreign shores once Rogers retires, for a cricketer with his range of overseas experience is as rare in Australian ranks back home as his performance was when lined up against those of his team-mates today.It is not as though the prevailing conditions in Birmingham were a surprise. Both England’s captain and coach had pleaded for a seamer redolent of county cricket, and the Edgbaston ground staff obliged. It was not as though the pitch was considered overly dicey nor dangerous, as Michael Clarke had little hesitation in choosing to bat first. And it was not as though James Anderson and Stuart Broad did anything other than they could be expected to do, moving the ball subtly and accurately at decent but not express pace.Steven Finn’s inclusion did alter the dynamics of things somewhat, offering bounce and seam where Mark Wood had provided a more skidding trajectory and greater pace. His excellent first-up spell after replacing Broad accounted for Steven Smith and the out-of-sorts Clarke, leaving the Australians precariously placed at 34 for 3 in the first hour of the match.But this was a scenario that the touring batsmen had to be prepared for, given how common it is for early wickets to be lost in English conditions. While he has not enjoyed the sort of series Rogers has so far put together, David Warner had done a decent enough job of blunting the new ball, and Smith had made starts at Cardiff even before he coshed 215 at Lord’s. The Australia middle order had not yet seen the Dukes when traces of its logo were still visible, and needed to be ready for the event.Twice in the past two decades Australia performances have hinged on the strength of the batsmen at Nos. 5 and 6. In the late 1990s it was Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting who retrieved many a precarious situation in those positions, offering a combination of grit and glitz that confounded England and others more than once. More recently it was Clarke and Michael Hussey who counterattacked brilliantly against numerous attacks who had snipped off the top of the order. Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist and Brad Haddin all provided further ballast at seven.Australia’s middle order succumbed to James Anderson on a typically English surface•Getty ImagesWhat Australia would have given for any of these players in the middle to help Rogers mount a bulwark against England’s probing but not unplayable bowling. Instead they could only offer Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Peter Nevill to match their wits against the moving ball. Ten Tests between this trio was not a lot of experience to call on, even if the dire form of Shane Watson and Haddin had made it impossible – in the minds of the selectors – to lean on their more seasoned bats.In the West Indies, Voges had offered evidence that his years in first-class cricket and recent glut of domestic runs had imbued him with the sort of composure required to succeed. A debut Test century of high quality had been made in more or less the same scenario, albeit when the challenged was posed by spin rather than swing or seam. But in the more rarified air of an Ashes contest he has yet to get past 31 in four innings, as England plough a furrow around off stump that tests his patience more demandingly than others have.In the company of Rogers, Voges had looked momentarily capable of backing up Rod Marsh’s assertion that “you could just see Test player written all over him”. He was positive but not overassertive, assured in defence, and rotating the strike handily. But the lunch break, a slightly brighter sky and the persistent Anderson conspired to have Voges fishing uncertainly at a delivery he might have left alone. The thin edge from an indeterminate stroke will haunt Voges in later years, for it was the end of Australia’s tilt at any kind of reasonable score.What followed was instructive, for Marsh and Nevill are more recent products of the Australian system. Marsh is an athlete, a talent and a player of confident strokes. His first ball from Anderson drew one such shot, a square drive that fairly raced to backward point. But two balls later he stretched out to drive the sort of ball laced with poison on such surfaces, and the edge sailed through to Jos Buttler. Marsh had wanted to play county cricket in 2014 but not managed to secure a contract. He must now wish he had.It is arguable that Nevill was actually the most accomplished batsman in the Sheffield Shield last season, and his busy contribution at Lord’s had helped sway the selectors to choose him ahead of Haddin. But his lack of familiarity with a swing bowler as accomplished as Anderson was clear in his decision to leave a delivery that seamed back to take the top of off stump. Nevill’s judgment will doubtless improve with time, but there is precious little in this series if further pitches of this kind are prepared. Back in Australia, a few future IPL contracts may be reconsidered.Observing the wreckage after England had rattled to within three runs of Australia’s meagre tally by the close, as so often happens, Rogers agreed that this was a day to expose the gaps in his team’s experience. “I don’t think the focus is wrong, I think everyone’s desperate to do well,” he said. “Finding a way is possibly a concern, particularly in these conditions, which are a little bit foreign to guys. You’ve got to find a method and we’ve got to find it quickly, because I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a few more of these kinds of conditions.”After arguably their worst single Ashes day since Boxing Day in 2010, it is exceedingly difficult to see Australia getting out of Birmingham with anything other than a defeat. It is equally difficult to see Clarke’s team rebounding successfully to claim the Ashes if they leave as much for Rogers to do, for as well-versed as he is in England, Test matches are won through partnerships. Once there was Waugh and Ponting, then Clarke and Hussey. Something else of substance has to emerge in Australia’s middle order, and fast.
