CRICKET: West has never been wilder in Test for the ages
A team for the ages is ageing. Pat Cummins’ Australians must become weary at some stage, condemned to dodgy shoulders and bung knees. Is the rot setting in already?
A team for the ages is ageing. Pat Cummins’ Australians must become weary at some stage, condemned to dodgy shoulders, bung knees and crook backs. Is the rot setting in already?
The fast bowlers demolished India in Perth on Friday like they were plotting to live and play forever – only for senior batsmen to collapse as if their days were numbered.
The wild west was wilder than ever on day one. Seventeen wickets fell as the quicks left everyone for dead. When Australia demolished India for 150, a supposed heavyweight contest was looking awfully one-sided. A lot could happen in the next four days, of course, and then a lot happened in the final two hours. Australia limped to 7-67 and, improbably, unimaginably, India was on top at stumps.
Let’s start at the start and see if we can make sense of it all. Australia has a rich history of irresistible fast bowlers. Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are among the finest of the lot. They have the blood and thunder of Charlie “Terror” Turner, Fred “The Demon” Spofforth, Ray “Killer” Lindwall and Mitchell Johnson; the hypnotic accuracy of Glenn McGrath; the ability to swing a ball like a boomerang in the manner of Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee. Perhaps they don’t quite exude the hairy-chested, gold-necklaced, wild-haired, 1970s-style machismo of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson – who does? – but they’re as good as we’ve ever witnessed.
Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood. All they lack are nicknames. Hazlewood was “The Bendemeer Bullet” for a while. It never caught on. The loose-limbed, laconic Starc, 34, took 2-14. The 33-year-old Hazlewood rumbled in like a truck on an outback highway to grab 4-29. The razor-sharp but relatively luckless Cummins, 31, finished with 2-67. He nearly bowled too well to take more wickets. If you know your cricket, you know what I mean.
A glorious beginning from Australia. Until it was the hosts’ turn to bat. There went the neighbourhood. Seemingly dead, the Indians had a few quicks of their own. Captain Jasprit Bumrah returned fire with a fast, furious and fantastic spell of 4-17. The 37-year-old Usman Khawaja (eight), 30-year-old Marnus Labuschagne (two) and 35-year-old Steve Smith (golden duck) came and went in a hurry. Khawaja and Smith are raging against the dying of the cricketing light. Labuschagne simply looks horribly out of form.
Earlier, the Bendemeer Bullet – should we give it another go? – claimed the prized wicket of Virat Kohli, thrusting a dagger – and unplayable short ball – into the heart and soul of the Indian team.
It was a quicker ball, a brutal ball, a beautiful ball, the seam standing so tall it might have sung the national anthem. A ball that could not have stunned Kohli more if Hazlewood had thrown a knife in his general direction. Kohli flinched and sent a nick down the throat of Khawaja at first slip.
Only one member of this Australian team is under the age of 30. Nathan McSweeney, 25, virtually in nappies, helping Khawaja and other old folks cross the street, took the first catch of the match on Test debut. Indian opener Yashavi Jaiswal was gone for a duck.
McSweeney has the nickname of “Buddha” for an ability to stay calm. He took his chance in a mindful and awakened manner while wearing his new baggy green. If the cap fits … but he was dismissed for 10 when Bumrah turned the match on its head. From start to finish, a steady procession of failed batsmen had ills no Fremantle Doctor could heal.
The first two sessions belonged to Australia. The last to India. The west has rarely been this wild. Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood deserved better support. They’re the Terror, Demon and Killer of our generation. They’ve played a combined 224 Tests. Taken 908 wickets. On the first day of another international season, they showed no sign of weariness. The exquisite quicks are far from dead. Only Australia’s batting warranted condemnation. The top order is light on runs and long in the tooth.
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