The Ashes Diary (8 page)

We were down, but as ‘Pigeon’ (Glenn McGrath) said the other day, the Australian team’s theme is never to give up. Sidds batted with freedom and generally middled the ball. I was waiting for some luck to go our way, and it did when he nicked Anderson to Cook’s left. It went faster than the earlier catches, and Cook put it down. But then Anderson again got one to move away from Sidds, and Cook took an outstanding catch leaping to his right. Damn! They’d dropped two catches in the entire match (Swann had put down Mitchell Starc on day two), but they had cost fewer than ten runs.

From such a promising start, we’d lost those three wickets in half an hour. Anderson bowled 13 straight overs to take three wickets for 29. Finn replaced him, and Hadds found him very much to his liking. I was still surprised that England had taken the second new ball, to be honest. We needed 80 to win when Patto went in, a lot for a last-wicket pair, but only half of what the last-wicket pair had scored in our first innings. And again, Patto is not a genuine number eleven.

In a very short period, they got the target down to 40. Hadds took Finn for three straight fours over wide mid-on, and then Patto hit Finn for four and hoicked a six off Swann.

Broad came back for Finn, and slowed things down. I was wearing a path in the dressing room floor, pacing to and fro and spinning a rolled-up ball of tape in my hands. There was the odd anxious moment with the running between wickets, and a play and a miss here and there, but our boys were getting closer.

The umpires delayed the lunch break by half an hour, but it was never going to be long enough for Hadds and Patto to finish it off before the break. That was another test of their concentration. When we had 26 to win, Hadds went after Swann and lifted him over square leg. It was never going to clear the boundary, but was it going to get past Finn, who was running around? Sometimes bad luck follows you, and Finn, just taken out of the attack, put down a pretty gutsy diving attempt.

We were cheering like madmen. The ball went for four – 22 to win!

The crowd, which normally loved to sing, was too tense to make a noise. The dressing room was similar. We had a bit of a groan just before lunch when Broad stopped to tie his lace, and then to remove his entire shoe, orthotic insert and all, in a ploy to make his over the last one before the break.

We still needed 20 to win, and couldn’t get them before lunch. England only needed one ball to win. So why were they the ones who wanted to get into the dressing room? The momentum was clearly with us.

Lunch came, and all I could say to Hadds and Patto was to keep going the way they were. In that situation, when batsmen are in the zone, you don’t want to interrupt them or show your own nerves. Most players agree that it’s easier to be out in the middle than watching from the rooms, so we tried to stay as cool and calm as possible and let them go about their own routines.

The break seemed to last forever, though. When they finally went back out there, Anderson was back on, of course. Patto chopped down his second ball, nearly onto his stumps. We all gasped. Maybe this was the rub of the green we’d been waiting for.

In Anderson’s next over, Hadds played forward and kind of quit on the shot as it went past the inside edge. Or had it? The English didn’t really appeal all that enthusiastically, certainly not in the same way they had been. Anderson delayed his shout, and Prior, who caught it, was restrained. But Cook, with referrals up his sleeve, sent it up to the third umpire and the rest is history.

In the dressing room, we were stunned. Again, the technology wasn’t conclusive. There was a suggestion of a noise, and some sign of ‘heat’ on Hadds’ edge, but neither showed up in the expected manner, at the same instant as the ball passed through. But the very worst thing I can do as captain is to stew over that. It’s over. It was a great match. We lost.

I felt devastated for Hadds. I’ve played with him for a long time and I love having him on the field and in the dressing room again. I really thought today the cricket gods were going to smile on him. He’s had such a hard 18 months or so, with his daughter’s sickness and then being out of the Australian team. With him fighting his way back in, I thought his redemption was going to be hitting the winning runs. The first thing I asked him when he came in was, ‘Did you hit it?’ And he said yes, he had.

As disappointed as we are, there are so many positives to take out of this game. We had a couple of beers in the dressing room and Darren and I spoke, complimenting the boys on the fight they had shown. We are disappointed not to get over the line, but we can’t let that get us down. We played well, and showed England we’re here for a fight.

In a team ritual, two players are presented with coloured blazers that they have to wear all night. Boof awarded the cream blazer for man of the match to a very proud Ashton Agar. And the pink blazer, for the person in the entire group who best embodies the culture of ‘one-percenters’ – doing lots of little things that help everyone – is being worn by an equally deserving Nathan Lyon, who has shown himself a great team man despite the disappointment of missing a place in the eleven.

Wally Edwards, our chairman, brought the former prime minister John Howard into the rooms. John is here for the first two Test matches, and it was good to have a catch-up. I also felt it was good to introduce him to the younger players, for them to see that he’s following and supporting us.

After a couple of hours at Trent Bridge, we came back to the hotel for a shower and a change, before heading out to a pub. Almost all the team came, plus support staff. From there we came back to the hotel for a players-only team dinner. The wives and partners had their own dinner at the far end of the hotel restaurant, and it was great to see them having a laugh and a good time together.

We can hold our heads high. We came to England being called the worst Australian team ever. I don’t think anyone’s saying that now. Winning respect is just the first step. We’ve done that.

Winning Test matches is the next.

5

THE SECOND TEST MATCH

Monday 15 July.
Nottingham to London.

After the wild ride of the First Test, we have three days to recover and get ourselves up again. Today was a quiet one, allowing us to switch off a little. The team bus left Nottingham at 10 am, paused for a feed at a services stop along the way, and arrived in London around 2.30 pm. We checked into the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, which has been the Australian team’s London base for as long as I’ve been in the group. It’s great to feel familiar with the staff, the restaurants, the surrounds, and Kensington Gardens next door. Having somewhere so comfortable just takes a lot of unknowns and distractions out of the equation. Kyly and I went out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant with some friends visiting from Australia, and had an early night.

Now to re-focus.

Tuesday 16 July.
London.

For the media, the story of Mickey Arthur’s sacking has become the gift that just keeps giving.

The day started routinely. I spent a session on the MedX machine, just a precautionary matter of flexing and extending my back and getting some use out of the machine while I have it nearby. I followed that with some physio with Alex, then trained with the team until 1.00 pm. We knuckled down and concentrated on our attitude, not treating it as just another practice session, but a really important part of our preparation for the Lord’s Test match.

Everyone trained except Brad Haddin, who’s been hit by the virus Ed Cowan had picked up after his daughter got it from a childcare centre. A few of the guys have been a bit croaky and below par, but Hadds is the only one who can’t train.

I took a look at the wicket, which seems very good, with more pace and bounce than Trent Bridge. I’m expecting them to give it another mow. We’re hoping they’ll leave the grass on it, but don’t think they will. I’m not sure yet what the selectors are thinking, but it’s been widely remarked that Ed Cowan and Mitchell Starc are under pressure after Nottingham.

A drug test after training was, I thought, going to be my last cricket commitment of the day, but then I was summoned to a meeting with Pat Howard, our high performance manager. He updated me on developments in Australia, where Mickey Arthur has commenced legal action suing Cricket Australia for unfair dismissal. I don’t really want to think about that. As far as my Ashes tour is concerned, Darren Lehmann is now our coach and I’m thinking about this week’s Test match, not what happened a few weeks ago.

But I’m getting dragged in. Pat explained that some details of Mickey’s legal statement have been made public. Most damaging, as far as the team is concerned, is Mickey’s allegation that my relationship with Shane Watson has been terrible, and that Mickey felt like he was the ‘meat in the sandwich’ between us.

As I’ve said until I’m blue in the face, Shane and I get on fine, even if we don’t always see eye to eye. That is healthy and natural. I am frustrated about this continually being brought up. The important thing is that our relationship has improved out of sight. We know each other extremely well. The main point is that we’re getting on better now than we have for a long time, so I feel that what Mickey’s statement has talked about is old news and no longer relevant. People think they know what goes on in a team environment, but very few actually do. Shane and I know, so that’s all that counts.

Darren’s arrival as coach has been great for Shane as they have a strong mutual respect. I grabbed them together after I met with Pat and asked if Shane was okay. He said he was going great, and wouldn’t be distracted by this. It seems that
we’ve
dealt with it, but the outside world is just catching up.

So I had to do a doorstop with media, getting the message across that this is old news and will not affect the team; the team’s in a great place, and I don’t want them to be distracted. I’m frustrated that I have press conferences where I’m answering all these questions when we have a Test match starting tomorrow. I can guarantee that this will not affect the boys.

But I have to bite my tongue in this job, sometimes to my own detriment. I could say some things about this whole affair that would make me look better, but that would only give the story oxygen. So instead, I do everything I can to pour cold water over it. If I cop some stick as a result, as I have before, then that’s the price I pay on the team’s behalf.

In private, though, I’m filthy. I had a long talk with Kyly about it tonight, pouring out my frustrations. I’ve supported Mickey through thick and thin, and it pisses me off that this has come up now. I sent him a text to tell him as much. He’d said that he didn’t want it to come out publicly, but somehow it leaked out anyway. If Mickey didn’t know this was going to happen, he’s been naive. I still can’t believe he would allow this to happen to the team members, who had no part in his dismissal.

Afterwards, the whole team went to the Australian High Commission in London for a function with plenty of VIPs. I wanted everyone to have some fun so I thought I would take the mickey out of some of the boys.

Brad Haddin, who wasn’t there because he had the flu, copped it first. I said he wasn’t there because ‘he is still hung-over from the other night, drowning his sorrows after losing the First Test match.’ I revealed that he was ‘a proud redhead and the chairman of the team’s finance committee. He loves nothing more than taking money off his fellow teammates.’

Here’s a digest of the others:

Chris Rogers
– ‘Chris is our team nerd. He enjoys long walks on the beach, coffee, movies and dancing, but all on his own.’

Shane Watson
– ‘We call Shane “Mr Guitar Hero” because every time you are walking down the corridors to your hotel room, he’s always on his guitar. One thing you don’t know about Shane is that today he is a cricketer, but tomorrow he could be in The Rolling Stones.’

Ed Cowan
– ‘Mr Eduardo Cowan is certainly one of a kind, to say the least. He enjoys picnics in the park. With his male friends.’

Steven Smith
– ‘Steven thinks he is one of the good-looking roosters in our team. He has an itch with his left hand.’ (This was a reference to Steve’s mannerism, which you can see if you watch him closely, of twitching his left hand upwards after he’s bowled, or when he’s batting, or in the field. Some of the boys enjoy taking the mickey out of it.)

Peter Siddle
– ‘He is the Vegan of our team whose favourite meal is soft-shell crab . . . ’ At this point, Sidds tried to wrestle the microphone off me, no doubt to spill a bit of dirt on the captain. I cried out, ‘No! This is my time!’ But Sidds explained that the soft shell reference was after he ordered a mushroom sushi roll and took a bite, only to find it was crab.

Mitchell Starc
– ‘Big, tall, left-armer Mitchell Starc, strong young lad. His girlfriend Alyssa Healy, who we like to call his wife, is an Australian wicketkeeper. We all believe Mitchell learnt his left-arm inswinger from Alyssa in the backyard at home.’

James Pattinson
– ‘If James could take one thing to a deserted island, it would be his mirror.’

Ryan Harris
– ‘Ryan is the scaredy-cat of our team: a big, strong, fast bowler who is petrified of heights.’

Jackson Bird
– ‘There’s already been a song about Jackson and it goes (Here I sang, badly)
Bird, bird, bird is the word.
Jackson Bird also has a foot phobia.’ Which he actually does have!

James Faulkner
– ‘We call James “Mr Hussey Junior”. The reason is he loves getting not-outs when he bats, and his favourite colour is also red.’

Nathan Lyon
– ‘He is in love with Brad Haddin and was a state netball champion in school.’ It may seem unbelievable, but yes, it’s true that Nathan was a state netballer.

Matthew Wade, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja
– ‘They are our team band, One Direction.’

Ashton Agar
– ‘And our last player, what can I say about him? The man of the hour, Ashton Agar, is great at everything. And if any of you have some spare time tonight he will be more than happy to tell you just how good he and his brothers are at everything.’

It was a relief to defuse the tension, but now I have to put a new hat on: as a batsman. In the next 36 hours, I have to make sure I’m ready to score runs at Lord’s. That’s my job. I won’t let anything stand in the way of my preparation.

Wednesday 17 July.
London.

Today was an absolute stinker, hot and humid like Brisbane in mid-summer. We had an afternoon training session, where I checked the wicket again. It has some grass on top but is bone-dry underneath, the driest I think I’ve ever seen Lord’s. We’ll have to work our backsides off again, with bat and ball, to get the result we need. First-innings runs will be absolutely paramount.

The players have been told what the eleven is for tomorrow’s match, and I have to sort out the batting order. We’ll announce it at the toss, after which we get to meet the Queen, which everyone in the team is very excited about. There’s nothing like the Lord’s Test match.

Ed Cowan and Mitchell Starc have been replaced by Usman Khawaja and Ryan Harris. Eddie was unlucky to have been brought down by that virus in Nottingham, and the selectors have decided to give Usman a chance. It’s been a long road back for him since his last Test match, against New Zealand in Hobart a couple of summers back. He’s a good young player who has learnt a lot about his game under Darren Lehmann since moving from New South Wales to Queensland, and I’m really pleased for him.

At the same time, it’s hard to see players get dropped. I get on really well with Ed, so I feel for him. But he’s a realist and understands he hasn’t performed as well as he’d have liked. If I know one thing about him, it’s that he’ll fight his hardest to get back into the team.

As with Usman, it’s also been a hard trek back into the team – in a completely different way – for ‘Rhino’. Ryan played his last Test cricket for us in the West Indies more than a year ago, and I’m sure he would have enhanced his super record at this level if not for the injuries that have brought him down. He wasn’t 100 per cent fit for the First Test, which was why he didn’t play. Once he’d proved his fitness in the nets, he’s our number one Test bowler. His statistics indicate that. He has an unbelievable record. I can’t wait to hand him the new ball and see how he goes.

I did my full pre-match press conference, and feel, from my point of view, that I’ve ruled a line under the Mickey Arthur stuff. That may not satisfy the media, but for me it’s over. I can focus on cricket now – which feels like a refuge.

I’m looking forward to contributing a few runs.

Thursday 18 July.
London.

It’s been yet another cracking day for the cricket fan, though as Australian captain I have mixed feelings. After getting three early wickets I would have liked to be batting by the end of today; but on the other hand, with us losing the toss and Ian Bell making a fine century, it could have been a lot worse.

The warm sunshine had Lord’s feeling even more special than usual, if that’s possible. This is my Third Test match here, and the more used to it I am, the more I appreciate the atmosphere, the history, everything about it.

When I took a look at the wicket before the toss, I thought that if there was going to be anything in it, it would be in the first session. It wasn’t rock hard under my spikes. Most of the grass had been taken off since earlier in the week, but it was certainly firmer than Trent Bridge, and that hint of moisture had me thinking that if I lost the toss, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Which I duly did. Watto and I won all four tosses in the Indian Test matches, so I’m probably due for a change in fortune. I called heads again, and lost again. Alastair said he would bat, which I would have done too, but I felt optimistic we could repeat our effort from day one in Nottingham.

An important ritual before the Lord’s Test is to meet Her Majesty the Queen. The main thing drilled into the team is how to speak to her. For me, as captain, this meant bowing my head when introduced, and to address her as ‘Your Majesty’ the first time and ‘Ma’am’, rhyming with ‘Am’ not ‘Arm’, from then onwards. We lined up on the field; the boys found it nerve-racking, but it was great for me to see the excitement on their faces as I introduced them by name and they got a chance to meet her. She was pretty brisk yet gracious, not saying too much. I wasn’t too nervous. I was rapt to meet her again. Any opportunity to meet the Queen is one you’ll always remember.

Then the game got under way, 15 minutes later than usual due to the royal visit.

There was immediately some lateral movement in the air and off the wicket, and Jimmy Pattinson wasn’t able to get it in the right areas. In his first two overs, too many balls were hooping away well wide of the off stump, or he’d bowl too close to Cook’s body and get turned away to the on side.

During Patto’s second over, Hadds turned to me and said, ‘What do you reckon about Watto?’ Jimmy really wasn’t challenging them enough, and one thing about Watto is that he demands the batsmen play. We didn’t want both England openers to be leaving so many balls. We also know that Cook doesn’t like facing Watto.

So my instructions to him were to attack the stumps and try to get Cook LBW or caught behind, and he delivered the goods second ball, swinging one in late and trapping Cook in front.

The slope at Lord’s can play on your mind, both as a batsman and a bowler. You need to take it into consideration, but not get carried away by it. Ryan Harris was bowling from the Pavilion end, which meant the slope was going away from his left to right. That is, it would help the ball going in to the right-handed batsman (and going away from the left-hander); but it also might help him because he has the ability to take the ball away from the batsmen up the hill, which can be the most dangerous ball of all here.

Ryan was simply outstanding. He rifled one through Joe Root that hit the front pad just before hitting his bat. The umpire gave him out, and Root had the decision reviewed, but there was so little in it that the original decision had to stand. As we’ve seen in the past week, this is a game of millimetres, and the close decisions can go either way.