Injuries that marred an Ashes series: Terry Alderman and ‘that’ hoon to Glenn McGrath’s ball ‘skills’

IN the crucible of Ashes conflict people are going to get hurt, both on and off the field — six times the strain on body and mind took a significant toll.

Ashes Six Pack: Injuries That Cut Deep

IN the crucible of Ashes conflict people are going to get hurt, both on and off the field — six times the strain on body and mind took a significant toll.

Glenn McGrath versus a cricket ball, 2005

In the first Test of the series McGrath took 9/82 in a MotM performance. While warming up on morning of the first day of the second Test, he stood on a ball and twisted his ankle.

“For some reason, we got to the ground 30-40 minutes earlier than we normally do,” McGrath explained to former England captain Michael Vaughan in an interview for the Daily Telegraph in the UK.

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“I got out on the field but it was still half an hour before our warm-up was going to start.

“So Brad [Haddin] picked up a rugby ball and we start passing it. And he throws this horrendous pass, it bounced halfway and it skidded past me, and I just turned to pick it up.

“I hadn’t noticed that our coach had been setting up the balls and the gloves to warm up our shoulders.”

McGrath was out of the second Test in 2005 before a ball had been bowled.

“I turned and felt this pain in my ankle and went down. I did not see the ball, I still don’t remember seeing the ball, and I remember hitting the ground and lying there and I’m thinking, ‘I’m in a bad way here.’”

Despite the injury to his chief strike bowler, Ricky Ponting opted to bowl first after winning the toss.

Australia conceded 407 runs in the first innings and England went on to win by just two runs. McGrath played the third Test (a draw), missed the fourth and played the fifth but was unable to rediscover the form he showed pre-injury.

England won series (their first since 1986/87) and won four of next six.

Terry Alderman versus a pitch invader, 1982-83

How 'The Sun' newspaper reported the Alderman fan altercation story.

In 1981 Alderman took 42 wickets in the six Test series in England and he was expected to make a significant contribution in the 1982-83 series in Australia.

The first Test of the series was played on Alderman’s home WACA ground on a sweltering day. The pace of play was slow, the crowd were fractious and late in the third session twenty or so fans invaded the pitch.

Alderman took offence when one of the yobs punched him in the back of the head. “I have played a bit of Aussie rules and I know what a gentle tap is and what a thump to the head is, and that was a thump to the back of the head,” Alderman said.

Alderman grimaces in agony on ground after he dislocated his shoulder.

“With that he ran off, and I could see that there were no police in the vicinity so I attempted to apprehend him.”

Alderman got his man, tackling 19-year-old English migrant Gary Donnison to the ground.

But it was Alderman, and Australia, that came off second best from the incident. The fast bowler dislocated his shoulder in the incident and would not play Test cricket again until 1984.

Simon Jones versus the Gabba turf, 2002-03

In the first Test of the series England captain Nasser Hussain won the toss and elected to send Australia in to bat — eight hours later the locals were 2-364 and the tourists were facing the remainder of the series without their quickest bowler.

Hussain would have been questioning the wisdom of his choice at the lunch break with Australia well into triple figures and down just the one wicket.

Then this happened:

“I started well and was feeling good,” Jones said after he had been discharged from St Andrew’s hospital.

“In previous matches I’d built up my pace slowly, session by session, but this time I managed to get up around the 91-92mph mark. Obviously I’m gutted about what happened.”

England lost their quickest bowler in the squad when Jones went down hurt.

Jones tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and was sidelined for the better part of a year.

Australia dominated from that point on and won the first four Tests in the series.

Jodie Fields versus a gloved finger, 2014

The Australia captain started the 2014 series ready to lead her side to victory on home soil after losing the Ashes to England 12 points to four just five months earlier in the UK (the first series the points system was used).

With the 2012 T20 world title and 2013 World Cup already ticked off her achievement list, the 2014 Ashes in Australia was a chance for Fields to complete the trophy cabinet.

Wicketkeeper Fields, who represented Australia 108 times during her career, played in the Test match opener in January and top scored for Australia in the first innings with 43, then made 13 in the second. But a 61-run win for England left Australia needing five wins from the remaining six limited over matches.

Australian wicketkeeper Jodie Fields was at the peak of her form when injury struck.

The Aussies found out they would have to do so without their captain when a finger fracture picked up at training ruled her out of the first one dayer and she wasn’t able to make a recovery for any remaining matches.

The vice-captain took over in her absence, but a young Meg Lanning wasn’t able to steer the team to a series win, Australia falling just short with four limited overs wins to finish 10-8 behind on points.

Hopefully history doesn’t repeat as Australia head into this Ashes without captain Lanning who is sidelined after having shoulder surgery post-World Cup.

Denis Lillee versus his own hard running effort, 1977

Dennis Lillee was a victim of his own full-blooded commitment to the cause.

In the summer of 1976/77 Dennis Lillee carried the Australian bowling attack in the absence of an injured Jeff Thomson, playing six Tests and capturing 47 wickets (at an average of 21.63) including 11/165 in the Centenary Test against England at the MCG.

The increased workload saw Lillee develop ‘hot spots’ in his back forcing the spearhead out of the 1977 Ashes series in England at the worst possible time.

The rebel World Series Cricket league recruited the cream of the Australian squad prior to the start of the 1977 series and the Australian Cricket Board refused to select any players who had committed to the WSC.

England won the series 3-0 and would retain the urn until 1982.

England versus the natural order of things

Nobody expected much of the 1989 Allan Border led Australian squad ... except the squad themselves.

Border’s inexperienced side was labelled “possibly the worst side to ever tour England” by the Pommy press while the English boasted a core of veterans such as Gower, Gooch, Lamb, Gatting and Botham.

What the Australians lacked in experience they vowed to make up for with a new attitude.

Border brought a rugged resilience to Australia that became a blueprint for success.

After half a decade of huge losses, Border put his foot down. Gone were the days of being friendly with the opposition. No sociability was to be shown towards the English. No player was even to engage in civil conversation with the old enemy. And there was definitely to be no drinks with the Poms after the game. This was war. David Warner would have approved.

If there was one incident that summed up the Aussies’ new hard-line attitude, it occurred in the fifth Test at Trent Bridge. English batsman Robin Smith had been hit a solid blow in the stomach. As was the custom back then, Smith asked Border if he could interrupt the game for a drink of water. Border’s response is now infamous:

“What do you think this is, a f***ing tea party? No you can’t have a f***ing glass of water. You can f***ing wait like all the rest of us.”

Mark Taylor etched himself in history as second only to Bradman in the most runs ever scored in an Ashes campaign.

Border’s men came home with the little urn and left a mental scar on the English.

Steve Waugh thrashed the England bowling for 177 not out in the first Test at Headingley. He backed that up with 152 not out and 21 not out at Lord’s. It wasn’t until the third Test that Waugh was finally dismissed (for 43), leaving his tour average at an astonishing 393. He ended up scoring 506 runs for the series at 126.5.

Australia dominated every Test. In fact, if it wasn’t for the dreary English weather, Australia could well have won the series 6-0 after they dictated the drawn third and sixth matches. The victory margins speak for themselves: 210 runs in the first Test, six wickets in the second, nine wickets in the fourth, and an innings and 180 runs in the fifth.

Put simply, England were never in the hunt.