There were roars of English delight and predictions of Ashes glory when Ollie Robinson pinned Marnus Labuschagne lbw for a golden duck in the county meeting between Sussex and Glamorgan that has also featured Steve Smith and Michael Neser.
As of Sunday morning, however, something like normal service had resumed. Australia’s No.3 Labuschagne carved out 138 to pull his side back into the match, while Robinson will have scans this week after complaining of pain in his left ankle.
An immutable truth of recent Ashes encounters is that Australia have scored runs in plentiful qualities, in large part because England have been nowhere near as capable as their counterparts at the task of keeping their best bowlers on the field.
Robinson, if fit, looms as a significant threat to Australia on English surfaces, nibbling the ball around at good enough pace with the accuracy of a latter-day Angus Fraser. But either side of scooping a pile of early season wickets for his county, Robinson has also needed a cortisone injection in his back to be able to bowl.
“He’s got a sore ankle and he’ll be scanned on Monday to see how bad it is,” Sussex coach Paul Farbrace said. “It’s walking more than anything, it’s not actually the running part that makes him sore. We need to find out and Oliver wants to find out what’s going on with the ankle.”
Meanwhile, the brilliant but venerable James Anderson is working his way back from a groin strain suffered for Lancashire, Jofra Archer has just been ruled out of the Ashes and perhaps even the World Cup that follows, and another couple of England’s quickest, Olly Stone and Jamie Overton, are also on the injured list. Captain Ben Stokes has carried knee trouble for years.
Ollie Robinson, one of England’s great hopes for the 2023 Ashes, requires scans on a sore left ankle.Credit: AP
One of the best prisms through which the Ashes contests of the past 20 years may be seen is that the successful side invariably has its best attack on the field for the longest period.
Australia’s dominance from 1989 to 2005 ended when Glenn McGrath missed both the Tests won by Michael Vaughan’s side in a wondrous series. But the absence of Simon Jones from the return bout in 2006-07 was a huge blow to English hopes of retaining the urn or even being competitive.
During England’s hat-trick in 2009, 2010-11 and 2013, Australia were unable to call on Stuart Clark or Ryan Harris at their best for extended periods, while Mitchell Johnson battled issues both physical and mental, on and off the field.
Similarly, England’s 2013-14 campaign foundered around the same time as Graeme Swann’s elbow. When the urn changed hands again two years later, Harris’ tearful, injury-forced retirement before the first Test tipped the balance against the tourists.
As far as Australia is concerned, that’s where much of the injury trouble ended. With a few supporting stints by the likes of Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and more recently Scott Boland, it has been the solid core of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon that has dominated the past three series.
Since 2017, England have had to get by without Anderson, Stuart Broad, Archer and Mark Wood at key times at home and away. Archer’s emergence in 2019 hinted at a more lively English riposte to Australian pace, but no longer.
When Stokes called for a battery of eight fast bowlers to be in readiness ahead of the 2023 series, it is unlikely he was thinking of the sturdy Chris Woakes (average of 46.44 against Australia) being among them. Archer, Stone, Overton and Wood were much more to his liking.
Labuschagne’s latest Glamorgan century, after Smith had compiled 89 in his final game of three for Sussex, underlined the ability of the Australians to churn out consistent runs against England. In 2019, it was Smith and Labuschagne who, together with Matthew Wade, compiled the tallies that ensured retention of the Ashes.
Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Starc and Pat Cummins after the 4-0 series win in 2017-18.Credit: AP
This time, Usman Khawaja and Travis Head also enter the England tour in excellent touch, while Cameron Green has emerged as an all-rounder of top quality.
David Warner’s future is less certain, but he has at least started to motor in India. After sitting somewhere near the bottom of the IPL charts for strike rate, Warner has cuffed 186 runs from 116 balls to demonstrate the sort of attacking intent that Cummins and Australia’s selectors will demand of him in order to keep his spot.
Even so, Warner’s tournament strike rate of 131.63 is still the lowest out of the top 24 scorers in the IPL this season. Virat Kohli (135.85) is next on that list.
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