Warne Runs Up The White Flag As Australia Go Negative
Sun Herald
Sunday December 3, 2006
AUSTRALIA have played their most negative cricket for 20 years. A nation that relishes adventure on the field has been forced to twiddle its thumbs as its highly paid cricketing representatives resorted to the most persistent form of leg-theory seen since Trevor "Barnacle" Bailey dumped his bags in the attic.
A side proud to the point of boastfulness about their unceasing aggression put up the shutters in the most craven manner. Far from entertaining a crowd agog for a stoush, the home side pursued tactics calculated to kill the game. If the best team around is unwilling to take the game forward, what price the rest? Shane Warne and his captain were the main culprits as an eagerly awaited Test match played before an enthusiastic crowd was run into the ground. Pounded by Kevin Pietersen in Brisbane and again on the opening day of this contest, the leg spinner decided to cut his losses by going around the wicket whenever the powerhouse was on strike. Nor was he changing his line of attack for variety's sake, a legitimate option available to every leather flinger struggling for scalps on another insipid antipodean surface.Instead he was going on the defensive by limiting the range of strokes available to a responsible batsman to a single dubious creation, the sweep shot. Not that even the sweep can be confidently played against balls landing in broken soil. In short, he was raising a white flag. Had Warne pitched most of his deliveries in line with the stumps his strategy might have passed muster.He did nothing of the sort. He was not interested in the cut and thrust of a game to which he has brought his unique artistry. Instead he directed his offerings towards the footmarks a foot wide of the sticks. It was not a confrontation but a capitulation. Warne was in full retreat. Now and then a delivery turned enough to imperil the stumps but mostly the leather ended up behind the batsmen or thumping into pads pushed forward to guard against the unexpected. Pietersen's response to this latter-day version of leg-theory was commendable. Making it clear that he was not prepared to play sport on these terms, he raised his bat out of harm's way and offered a pad, thereby inviting the bowler to resume trying to get him out. Never mind that England needed quick runs. Never mind that he is by nature a forcing player, or that he had the measure of the attack. A point needed to be made. Falling foul of this tactic would encourage Warne to use it again.That Warne resorted to leg-theory in the first place confirmed that he cannot think up a legitimate way to remove his county colleague. Doubtless the sight of an early miscue catching the wind and sailing over the long-off boundary affected his morale.After 15 years of Test cricket, Warne has finally met an opponent he can't work out. Neither Brian Lara nor Sachin Tendulkar intimidate the champion tweaker half as much as this brazen son of Africa. Warne's despair could be sensed in the stands. Even from over the wicket he set pessimistic fields for the imposing right-hander. Although his opponents had eliminated the full-blooded sweep from their repertoire, he persisted in dispatching men to patrol the fence forward and backward of square leg. From around the wicket he simply protected every quarter of the boundary, aimed at the footmarks and waited for the batsman to take a risk or else a single. Pietersen did not intend to give himself up. Stalemate was the result. It was poor fare to put before a large audience. Not that Warne was much more effective against the lesser lights. Lacking authentic support, he was forced to toil away for long spells. Moreover, every batsman stepped down the pitch to put him away. Not so long ago batsmen were loath to leave the crease against him. Nowadays they move forward with impunity. Warne has lost some of the sting. His bowling looks gentler. And the googly and flipper are seldom tried.Warne and his captain were not solely to blame for the dismal tactics pursued on the second day. Rudi Koertzen was slow to condemn leg-side deliveries as wides. Had he spread his arms early in proceedings, the tweaker might have thought again.Les Burdett, Adelaide Oval's usually admirable curator, was the other guilty party. Over the years he has maintained a superb balance between bat and ball. Alas, this pitch is loaded in favour of run-gathering. It has the mottled look often detected in the stricken. Slow pitches are a bane on the antipodean game. As a matter of urgency, the reasons behind the slowing must be discovered and the trend changed. Hopefully it is merely human error and meteorological mishap. No official would encourage such poorly balanced cricket.Overall it was a bad day for Australian cricket, a day in which the finest spinner the game has known stooped to the sort of stifling tactics long regarded as the preserve of his opponents.
© 2006 Sun Herald