WACA crushes Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad in milestone match

ENGLAND have all but admitted what the world already knew – they don’t have the cattle to threaten Australia.

The WACA match marks Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson’s 100th Test as a pair

UPDATE: ENGLAND have all but admitted what the world already knew – they don’t have the cattle to threaten Australia.

Assistant coach Paul Farbrace effectively made this candid confession after his team’s back-breaking day of hard labour at the WACA.

“I don’t think we have learnt anything from today we did not already know – we don’t have that extra pace,’’ Farbrace said.

“We have not got the highest quality of magic spin. We have got what we have got and we have had to work exceptionally hard today.

“What can we do? We have tried various plans. The majority of our way to take wickets with the attack we have in to be monotonous with line and length and we tried exceptionally hard. ‘’

Test cricket is a brutal game – it does not take much to turn a milestone into a millstone.

Ask Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson.

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The WACA match marks Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson’s 100th Test as a pair

This match is their 100th Test together, a rare and precious achievement for any cricketers never mind fast bowlers.

It should be a celebration of two exceptional bowlers who started the game with a 761 wickets in Tests they have played together, just one shy of the greatest union of all time, West Indians Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

Yet the only ovation they received was the raucous cheer for Broad when a Mitchell Marsh boundary extended Broad’s figures to 0-103 – a millstone century in his milestone game.

It was a cruel moment and by the end of Australia’s day of utter domination Broad was bowling in the late 120km/h and retired with figures of 0/112 off 28 overs with Anderson 0/85 off 29.

Walsh and Ambrose used to love bowling on admittedly livelier Perth decks but “Broaderson’’ by contrast, have found it a gruelling, fruitless slog.

Ricky Ponting was one judge who saw this coming.

Anderson and Broad struggled to utilise any pace and bounce in the WACA deck

He has watched the duo in action for several years and said that this tour would prove, as competitive as they still are in English conditions, they were ageing and vulnerable. And England simply would not have enough without them. So it has proved.

In this Test the average speed of the England bowlers (136km/h) has been 5km/h below Australia’s. It seems more.

Australia has their flat moments with the ball but their best work looked as if it was shot out of the cannon while England were blowing paper balls out of a ball point pen.

“They are down to plan zed,’’ former England captain Michael Vaughan said of England’s attack in the middle session.

“No-one with any pace to go to bowl bouncers or yorkers. No shape through the air, no drift. They are just hoping Mitchell Marsh gets bored.’’

Steve Steve is the man largely responsible for ruining Broaderson’s 100th Test

Broad appears to be struggling after losing his zip in recent times through the necessity of dragging his fingers across the ball searching for seam and swing on flat wickets, meaning the force of having his fingers directly behind the ball has been missing.

Swing bowler Anderson has invariably struggled in Australia as most swing bowlers do.

As this is the last Ashes Test at the WACA – and perhaps the last of all – history has been heavily in the air stretching all the way back to the first Test here between Australia and England when the tourists had the genuinely nasty fastie John Snow.

When he landed in Australia Snow met a rival Australian fast man at a function and asked “where would you like your hair parted?’’

Pacey and menacing on the field, a brooding intimidator off it.

How England would love to one like him today.