Second Grey Ashes ODI

England v Australia – Second Grey Ashes ODI – Thursday 28th November 2024 @ Caulfield Cricket Club

England made the 30-minute journey from their Melbourne base to Caulfield Cricket Club for the second ODI against Australia. The fixture was in doubt due to the heavy rain that fell in the Melbourne area, and on the team arrival at the ground, patches of standing water were evident, and the square itself was not in good condition.

However, the curator and his staff worked miracles, and, after asking for a delay to the scheduled start time, the pitch, square and outfield were deemed playable and the England skipper Edward Gordon Lennox won the toss and put Australia into bat, surely hoping that the greenness of the wicket, combined with the patches of moisture still within the pitch would assist the seam heavy English bowling attack.

England made a number of changes from the side that beat Victoria A a couple of days earlier, with Mark Eames, Razi Ahmed, Melvyn Holmes, Nigel Moore and Lee Selfe out of the team. For Australia, Andrew Walsh was missing, leaving them with just the 12 players.

Mike Palmer opened the bowling from the Balaclava Road end and Doug Murphy showed his intent by crashing Palmer to the boundary for four off the final ball of the over. Nick Gargaro opened up from the Inkerman Road end, and it was a pretty steady start by the England opening pair, and after four overs Australia had reached 10-0.

However, this was the calm before the storm as from then on Murphy and his batting partner Darren Smith really started to cut loose, both hitting the ball powerfully and targeting the short leg side boundary when they were batting from the Balaclava Road end. From the relatively sedate start they motored along, with Gargaro in particular getting some hefty treatment by both Australian batters, going for 22 runs in two overs.

Kevin Watson replaced Gargaro and the 50 was brought up in his first over, the 10th, with another boundary from Smith, again targeting the short leg-side boundary, and hitting through mid-wicket for four.

Palmer was still continuing from the Balaclava Road end and bowled six good overs, before he was replaced by Mel Hussain. England needed a breakthrough desperately and it was Watson in the 14th over who got it, managing to get a fuller delivery under the bat of Smith who was clean bowled for 24 off 43 balls, Australia 72-1.

When drinks were taken at the 15 over mark, Australia were 74-1, and England needed to regroup, and regroup quickly. Sam Davis was the new batter in and gave notice of his intent by smashing Watson off the back foot through mid-wicket for four. Murphy brought up his 50 in the 18th over off 49 balls, and Australia passed the 100 in the next over, courtesy of another boundary from Davis off Watson, Australia 103-1.

Both Australian batters showed a willingness to attack, and together with some very good running between the wickets, helped, it should be added by some generous bowling were scoring at around six an over, and threatening to post a very big total.

Jason Caunt replaced Watson at the Inkerman Road end and was greeted by Murphy hitting him over mid-wicket for six. The 50-run partnership between Murphy and Davis was reached in the 21st over and Jim Phillips replaced Hussain in the 22nd over. At the halfway point of the innings, Australia had reached 132-1.

Australia brought up their 150 with Davis sweeping Phillips for four, but it was the England bowler who managed to make the breakthrough, clean bowling a very tired looking Murphy for 83 off 72 balls, his innings included six fours and two sixes, and his 86-run partnership with Davis had come in a little over 12 overs.

Australia now 158-2, which brought the Australian skipper, Peter Jensen to the crease. After taking a single of his first delivery, it was Phillips again striking, this time trapping Davis LBW as he played back to a delivery that was a little bit fuller and flatter. Two wickets in the over for Phillips, Australia 159-3, Davis out for 41 off 46 deliveries with four fours. England right back in the contest.

The dismissal of Davis brought Graeme Pavey to the crease to join his skipper, and what followed was a masterclass of batting from the pair. When drinks were taken at 30 overs, Australia had reached 174-3, and six overs later, without a boundary being hit during the Jensen/Pavey partnership, Australia had reached 200-3, with the batters taking singles and turning ones into twos at every opportunity. The prospect of Australia reaching 300 was a distinct possibility, with wickets in hand and some very good strikers of the ball to come.

However, whilst the batters were still progressing the score, it was a much better effort from the England bowlers and fielders after the drinks break at 30 overs, slowly but surely, they managed to slow the scoring rate down. Australia passed the 250 mark in the 43rd over, only for them to lose another wicket, with Pavey hitting Hussain towards the longest boundary, only for Paul Radage to take a simply stunning catch, running in from deep mid-wicket to catch the ball around his ankles. It was a truly remarkable catch, Australia now 250-4, with Pavey out for 44 off 48 balls, with one six, his partnership with his skipper being 91. David Wenham was the next batter in.

Jensen was the next batter to depart in the following over, caught by Simon Routh off the bowling of Watson for 43 off 48 deliveries, which included two fours, the score now 250-5.

Bill Blair was the next man in and was promptly clean bowled by Watson with the final delivery of his over, Blair out for two, Australia 255-6.

The Australian innings reached 260-6 after their allotted 45 overs, with Wenham and Claude Orlando being the men not out at the end of the innings. In the greater scheme of things, Australia would certainly be happy of posting a score over 250, but with the platform they had at the 30 over point, they may possibly have felt that on what appeared to be a fantastic track to bat on, that they were 40 or even 50 runs short.

England in contrast would have been delighted to restrict Australia to a score of less than 300, and knew that if they applied themselves correctly, they were more than capable of reaching the 261 runs needed for victory to level the Grey Ashes series up.

England opened their innings with Nick Gaywood and Radage. Surprisingly, Australian skipper Jensen gave the ball to Peter Judd from the Balaclava Road end to open the innings, which drew some sideway glances from the spectators as the wind was behind him, and surely would have suited the quicker bowling of Blair. However, it was a very astute piece of captaincy, as with Mark Trafford-Walker operating from the Inkerman Road end, Australia gave nothing away, and it was Judd who struck first for Australia, Gaywood chipping a delivery straight to Tony Panecasio at mid-wicket. Gaywood out for three, England making a disastrous start sitting at 5-1 in the 5th over.

Mel Hussain was the next man in for England, but scoring was very difficult in the face of some excellent Australian bowling and fielding, and after 10 overs, England had reached a rather pedestrian 22-1, still needing 240 runs to win with a run rate of 6.85 runs per over.

Panecasio replaced Trafford-Walker at the Inkerman Road end in the 12th over, and in his second over, Radage, who had scored just five runs from the 30 deliveries he faced, smashed three sixes off Panecasio’s over, to bring up the England 50. The 50 partnership between Radage and Hussain was reached in the next over, and at drinks after 15 overs, England had reached 57-1.

Panecasio was replaced at the Inkerman Road end by Darren Smith, and Bill Blair replaced Judd at the Balaclava Road end, and it was Blair in the 21st over who made an impact, and what an impact it was.

First trapping Radage in front. Radage out LBW for 39 off 67 deliveries, with one four and three sixes. Then, with the very next ball, doing the same to Montie Douglas. England losing two wickets in two balls to be 72-3. Gordon Lennox, the England skipper, was the next man in, with rebuilding to do, with England 76-3, still needing another 185 runs to win, with the required run rate now sitting at 8.22 runs per over.

Gordon-Lennox brought up the England 100, with an all run four in the 26th over, and the two England batters were looking good, their partnership 34 off a little more than five overs, just below the required run rate but keeping England within touching distance.

However, misfortune for England and luck for Australia came about in the 27th over when Phil Jackson bowling from the Balaclava Road end was hit back powerfully by Gordon-Lennox, the ball cannoning off his right boot and smashing into the stumps with Hussain backing up and out of his ground. A really cruel blow for both England and Hussain, who was out for a very well made 40 off 53 deliveries with one four and one six, the score now 106-4.

Steve Aston joined his skipper out in the middle, but it wasn’t long before Australia made another breakthrough, and this time it was the England skipper out, chipping a ball from Jackson straight to Panecasio at mid-wicket who took a well-judged catch diving forward, the England skipper out for 23 off 26 deliveries with two fours, the score now 111-5 after 28.3 overs.

With the wickets of Hussain and Gordon Lennox falling in the space of five runs, England were now really up against it, and when Simon Routh was out for six, caught by Blair at the second attempt at square leg, England had slumped to 118-5.

Eight more runs were added, and it was another slice of luck for Australia when Aston smashed a delivery from Jackson straight back to him, Jackson sticking out his left hand and somehow the ball sticking. Aston dismissed for 8 off 19 deliveries, England 127-6 after 34.1 overs.

England had lost four wickets for just 20 runs, and with those dismissals, surely any chance of getting close to the 261 they needed was all but gone. And so, it proved as Caunt holed out to Doug Murphy at long off, giving David Wenham his first wicket in the 38th over. Caunt out for 13 off 16 deliveries with one four, and Phillips following him in the very next over being run out by Murphy for three. England now 151-9.

A late flurry by Palmer and Watson added another 22 runs, before Watson was bowled by Panecasio for 14, with one four and one six in the 43rd over. England all out for 173, Palmer the man not out on 21.

So, Australia winning the 2nd ODI by 87 runs and taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Congratulations to Australia, and to all at Caulfield Cricket Club, who went above and beyond to ensure everyone was looked after and catered for.

Man of the match for England selected by Australia was Mel Hussain.

Man of the match for Australia selected by England was Doug Murphy.

Umpires: Chris Johnson and Darryl Holt.

Scorers: Tony Fitzgerald and Roger Bryce.

A view from the sidelines
You can dress this result up anyway you like, but it was a crushing and significant blow to England’s hopes of retaining the Grey Ashes, they won on home soil last summer.

England in their warmup games against state sides have not been really stretched or been asked serious questions. In the first two ODIs they have faced vastly superior opponents, who are superbly well drilled and talented, and it is fair to say have sauntered to victory in both games. Batting, bowling and fielding better than England, and in essence totally outclassing them.

This is a very difficult statement to make, but England’s tendency to self-destruct when batting, losing wickets in clumps, puts enormous pressure on the incoming batters. Put simply, England on this tour so far have not really put together a complete batting performance. There have been individual performances that quite rightly have merited recognition, but to be brutally honest, when the pressure has been applied, England have in the first 2 ODIs not played well.

That being said, the final 15 overs of the Australian innings in this ODI, offered a glimmer of hope of what England can do, when they apply themselves. Australia, yes, they are a very good team, but they are still a team that can be got at. England need to find a way to ‘get at’ them.

England, in this match, were once again, guilty of bowling too short and wide. The Australian batters fully exploiting the short boundary, and willing to take risks to progress the score. The mindset of them is to get on with it, and if they get out in doing so, then so be it, but runs will be accumulated.

From a batting perspective, England seem to be concentrating on not losing wickets, which is fine if you are scoring runs as well. When this does not happen, it creates its own pressure, and surely England would be better served by letting their very talented and experienced players, play as they do for their respective counties back home, albeit, recognising that the opposition are far better.

England now have no option now but to ‘go for it’. Of course, this could lead to humiliation and a 5-0 series defeat, but as it stands, England, playing the cricket, they are playing are going down with a whimper rather than a roar.

The England management, captain, players and supporters are hurting right now, and individually and collectively need to pull together to get back into the series. Some harsh words are no doubt going to be uttered, but honesty and clarity of vision are needed for England to get back on track, if they are to make any inroads in this Grey Ashes series.