No Panic Stations for England just yet, but leveling series is key as winning is eventually the be all and end all.
England are down after an almighty pummeling at Perth, but there are no panic stations for the Poms just yet.
You travel to Australia for the heat, not just the Ashes.
No amount of factor 50 can adequately prepare an English soul for what it’s like to play cricket under the full, blazing power of a nation whose citizens are determined to make you regret having any ambition at all. The sun may be the most forgiving element, as the current England team discovered early in this tour.
According to two of the 24 days they just spent in Perth, English cricket players always like coming here—until the real game spoils it. There was nowhere else they would want to be for the better part of a day, especially at lunch on day two of the first Test at the Optus Stadium, where they were ahead by 99 with nine wickets remaining from the second innings.
That is still the case. Even though the buzz surrounding them suggests that this campaign is on the point of collapsing, England is just 1-0 behind, which are real advantages to cherish.
They were a touch more cautious of their surroundings when they arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday, and they were undoubtedly aware that “playing Australia” entailed more than just facing an Australian Test team that will be bolstered by skipper Pat Cummins.
According to all accounts, confidence is still high, if slightly damaged. Even though only five members of the team had prior Ashes tour experience, the focus on them was unmistakable, even though the majority of them were aware of the size of the nation when they arrived in early November.
The dangers of driving on the up outside off stump are just one of the lessons that have been learnt during the past three weeks. This has been a crash course in how confrontational sporting Australians can be, even if Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes, and Joe Root have spent the last few months both publicly and privately educating newcomers about the attention they will garner.
The guys were unprepared for the relentlessness of it all. Those that hit the Joondalup Resort Golf Course, including Stokes, were shocked to see cameras (and drones) waiting for them on the ninth hole even before England was crushed by eight wickets. After learning of the team’s plans, television crews positioned themselves on a nearby public park to avoid any encroachment on private land.
Two days after the “shellshock” of Travis Head’s game-winning century, the tourists and cameras were rented at the same course on Monday. Shoaib Bashir and Jofra Archer were shot while they were exiting an aquarium, a vision opportunity almost certainly tipped off by the former’s innocent Instagram story post.
Every position on the sporting discourse spectrum is at least three deep when the Ashes are held in Australia. We’re already at the “Philadelphia rage” stage, where minutes separate the extremes of fevered gloating and fevered critiques, with four games remaining and around six weeks remaining.
The debate is apparent at the moment. The father is Travis Head. Usman Khawaja works in the glue factory. Golf is for whiny losers, unless, of course, it’s played in Australia. Other than you, Uzzie. Trash, by the way, England. Bazball? Children, turn away your ears.
Therefore, England must discover their joyful reality at a time when Ashes fights are being waged on more frontiers than ever before. Even while England feels like they don’t have a footing in that either, it is important to note that there is a lot of mid-ground here.
Maintaining equilibrium is crucial. Next week, the series must be squared. Winning has always been the easiest way to have a good time in Australia.