Ashes 2017: Animosity between Australian and England players has already bubbled up and will remain all series, writes Robert Craddock
IS there anything more compelling than an Ashes series between two teams struggling to stand the sight of each other?
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IS there anything more compelling than an Ashes series between two teams who can barely stand the sight of each other?
Ashes series in Australia often feature what you might call “the Sydney syndrome’’ where the teams reach the fifth and final Test full of aggravation because of a string of personal feuds accumulated in the previous four Tests.
This time the teams have reached the Sydney syndrome long before they have reached Sydney.
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In fact, after just six days of combat.
Headbutt allegations. Sledging. Mockery. Claim and counter claim. Off field taunts taken on field and vice versa.
It’s on. And it’s likely to be on all summer. Australia and England are like two old neighbours blaming each other for that broken fence and the wretched tree that drops its fruit on the other side of the fence.
Steve Smith was welcomed to the crease by a verbal barrage which now seems England’s Plan A to unsettle him.
Stuart Broad stood in his path as he was crossing for a run and tormented him with verbal fire as well, prompting Smith to accentuate his quirky movements with extravagant flourishes like a batting break dancer.
England certainly stirred him up but the aggravation seemed to put an electric edge on his reflexes and at one point he appeared to mouth the word “bully’’ to Jimmy Anderson who had used it to describe Australia during the week.
The England players mocked Smith by pounding their chests like he had done when reached three figures at the Gabba last week.
Earlier, David Warner has copped it from the English fieldsmen following his brain explosion which led to Cameron Bancroft’s runout.
The questions for England is whether the sledging caper is really their game, whether it will rouse the Australians to greater heights and how long can they sustain it?
Australia may well win the sledging war – they normally do in Australia – but the greater test of their mettle is whether they can be so bold overseas where they have won just eight of their last 30 Tests.
Australia traditionally roars like Bengal tigers on home soil but they often lose their bark and bite away from home.
England captain Joe Root, under heavy fire for bowling first after winning the loss, faces a brutal inquisition unless England can pull something from their hats on Sunday.
Adelaide has been a bat first venue since Adam bowled off his long run in the Garden of Eden.
When you play four quicks and an injured spinner you may understand him trying to snatch the match in the first innings.
But Root did not sound like a cavalier rattling his sabre at the toss when he explained that his call might give England the chance at using two new balls in bowler friendly conditions.
If you bowl first and you are still bowling by the second ball – as England are - the move has failed.
Bowling first sentenced England to the long road home and put pressure on their bowlers who initially had their radars scrambled by the weight of increased expectation.
The pressure on Root is unrelenting for Australian tours are among the greatest captain crushers in cricket.
Nasser Hussain, Graham Gooch, Jimmy Adams, Wasim Akram and Sachin Tendulkar all had their captaincy careers directly terminated or chronically shortened after landslide defeats by Australia in Australia.
As far as rival captains are concerned you see boys turning into men in the space of a series and Root is among the most boyish looking of the lot.
When play was extended to a post 10pm finish someone quipped the English players could be caught running through the streets to get back to the hotel by the recently introduced midnight curfew.
It’s a shame the England team might not have time for a quick night cap to relieve the stresses of a tour which promises many rugged times ahead.
Originally published as Ashes 2017: Animosity between Australian and England players has already bubbled up and will remain all series, writes Robert Craddock