England providing the style and substance, Aussies the comedy capers
A good Ashes series starts before it starts, like feature movies used to, with half an hour of teasers and cartoons. Right now, England are providing the teasers, Australia the cartoons.
Set 371 to win in the fourth innings to beat India at Headingley, England achieved the 10th highest chase in men's Test cricket history with 14 overs and five wickets unneeded. It was the highest successful chase in Leeds since Don Bradman's Invincibles, and England cruised home with similar ease.
The style was more modern, Jamie Smith finishing the game by whacking Ravindra Jadeja over the long-on fence, watched by the same Jasprit Bumrah whose stiff arms and jangling bangles haunted Australia's sleep a few months ago. Bumrah went wicketless that day. England had found, as Australia had, that stopping Bumrah meant stopping India. The difference was it only took England one game to figure out how to do it.
England also became the first team to win any Test match after conceding five centuries. Two were scored by Rishabh Pant, which, in England's favour, meant that the Indians did waste much time amassing their 835 runs (the fourth-highest aggregate by a losing team in Test history; this game was a statistician's playpen).
While India's mountain of runs might not speak too highly for England's bowling, the tenor of England's cricket under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum has been not to worry too much about the target, anything is chaseable, leave it to the batsmen. 'We're a very simple-minded pair,' Stokes said. 'Everyone knows what cricket's about: it's about scoring more runs than your opposition.'
Australia, on the other hand…
Australia gave England a box seat to view their frailties at Lord's earlier in the month. Australia's cricket is also simple-minded: it's about their bowlers taking more wickets (and maybe also scoring more runs) than the opposition. It didn't work in the World Test Championship final, where South Africa's collective discipline and enthusiasm were too good. In the fourth innings, Aiden Markram provided (or copied?) the England template, making a fourth innings chase look easy after Australia's top four batsmen contributed 126 across both innings at an average of 16. In Barbados, the Australian top four contributed 105 runs at an average of 13.
The Ashes outlook is complicated for Australia, which is engaged in a race against its chickens coming home to roost. Can the four mighty bowlers sustain their potency for one last summer? Can Usman Khawaja hold body, soul and reflexes together past his 39th birthday? Is this when the bell finally tolls on the selectors' long-proven methodology of crossing their fingers, closing their eyes and hoping for the best?
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The Advertiser
24 minutes ago
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Minjee Lee head-hunted for Australian Open appearance
Golf powerbrokers are hopeful humble superstar Minjee Lee will headline the field when the Australian Open returns to South Australian fairways in 2026. After ditching the contentious dual-gender format for next year's national championships, Golf Australia on Friday announced that Kooyonga Golf Club would host the Australian Open women's event in Adelaide from March 12-15. Co-sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia and Ladies European Tour, the Open is returning to the Festival State for the first time since 2020. No Australian has won the title since the great Karrie Webb claimed the trophy for a fifth time in 2014. WPGA Tour boss Karen Lunn says Lee, the newly crowned Women's PGA Championship winner, and Australia's other LPGA Tour stars such as Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou are on the organisers' hit list to lure to Adelaide. "We hope that we'll have all of our Australian stars at this event," Lunn said. "They're dying to get their hands on the Patricia Bridges Bowl, which our great Karrie Webb has won five times." Despite boasting four top-five finishes from 11 starts, the closest Lee has come to claiming her national championship was in 2023, when the now-triple major winner finished runner-up at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. In tipping his hat to the 29-year-old for her latest triumph on Sunday in Texas, Golf Australia chief James Sutherland said Lee was obviously on the Adelaide tournament organisers' radar. "It's not every week that an Australian golfer wins a major championship," Sutherland said. "She may be the most under-rated champion athlete that we have in Australia. "She's certainly understated in her own way - a proud Australian, but someone that is a champion on the biggest stage. "She's one of only four Australians now - male or female - that have won more than two major events, and she's on the verge of her own career grand slam. "So congratulations Minjee, and we're certainly very hopeful, like the (SA) premier, that Minjee will be here in March next year." Lee's PGA Championship victory propelled her above Perth stablemate Green back to Australian No.1 and sixth in the world rankings. The 11th-ranked Green and Kim were the top finishers at last year's Australian Open at the co-hosting Kingston Heath and Victoria clubs in Melbourne, sharing fourth spot behind South Korean winner Jiyai Shin. The shift from early December back to its traditional March time-slot means there will be no women's Australian Open contested in 2025. But it is hoped the move away from a clash with Thanksgiving Day in the US will help lure the world's best players back to Australia and restore the Open's status as one of international golf's biggest tournaments. Golf powerbrokers are hopeful humble superstar Minjee Lee will headline the field when the Australian Open returns to South Australian fairways in 2026. After ditching the contentious dual-gender format for next year's national championships, Golf Australia on Friday announced that Kooyonga Golf Club would host the Australian Open women's event in Adelaide from March 12-15. Co-sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia and Ladies European Tour, the Open is returning to the Festival State for the first time since 2020. No Australian has won the title since the great Karrie Webb claimed the trophy for a fifth time in 2014. WPGA Tour boss Karen Lunn says Lee, the newly crowned Women's PGA Championship winner, and Australia's other LPGA Tour stars such as Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou are on the organisers' hit list to lure to Adelaide. "We hope that we'll have all of our Australian stars at this event," Lunn said. "They're dying to get their hands on the Patricia Bridges Bowl, which our great Karrie Webb has won five times." Despite boasting four top-five finishes from 11 starts, the closest Lee has come to claiming her national championship was in 2023, when the now-triple major winner finished runner-up at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. In tipping his hat to the 29-year-old for her latest triumph on Sunday in Texas, Golf Australia chief James Sutherland said Lee was obviously on the Adelaide tournament organisers' radar. "It's not every week that an Australian golfer wins a major championship," Sutherland said. "She may be the most under-rated champion athlete that we have in Australia. "She's certainly understated in her own way - a proud Australian, but someone that is a champion on the biggest stage. "She's one of only four Australians now - male or female - that have won more than two major events, and she's on the verge of her own career grand slam. "So congratulations Minjee, and we're certainly very hopeful, like the (SA) premier, that Minjee will be here in March next year." Lee's PGA Championship victory propelled her above Perth stablemate Green back to Australian No.1 and sixth in the world rankings. The 11th-ranked Green and Kim were the top finishers at last year's Australian Open at the co-hosting Kingston Heath and Victoria clubs in Melbourne, sharing fourth spot behind South Korean winner Jiyai Shin. The shift from early December back to its traditional March time-slot means there will be no women's Australian Open contested in 2025. But it is hoped the move away from a clash with Thanksgiving Day in the US will help lure the world's best players back to Australia and restore the Open's status as one of international golf's biggest tournaments. Golf powerbrokers are hopeful humble superstar Minjee Lee will headline the field when the Australian Open returns to South Australian fairways in 2026. After ditching the contentious dual-gender format for next year's national championships, Golf Australia on Friday announced that Kooyonga Golf Club would host the Australian Open women's event in Adelaide from March 12-15. Co-sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia and Ladies European Tour, the Open is returning to the Festival State for the first time since 2020. No Australian has won the title since the great Karrie Webb claimed the trophy for a fifth time in 2014. WPGA Tour boss Karen Lunn says Lee, the newly crowned Women's PGA Championship winner, and Australia's other LPGA Tour stars such as Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou are on the organisers' hit list to lure to Adelaide. "We hope that we'll have all of our Australian stars at this event," Lunn said. "They're dying to get their hands on the Patricia Bridges Bowl, which our great Karrie Webb has won five times." Despite boasting four top-five finishes from 11 starts, the closest Lee has come to claiming her national championship was in 2023, when the now-triple major winner finished runner-up at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. In tipping his hat to the 29-year-old for her latest triumph on Sunday in Texas, Golf Australia chief James Sutherland said Lee was obviously on the Adelaide tournament organisers' radar. "It's not every week that an Australian golfer wins a major championship," Sutherland said. "She may be the most under-rated champion athlete that we have in Australia. "She's certainly understated in her own way - a proud Australian, but someone that is a champion on the biggest stage. "She's one of only four Australians now - male or female - that have won more than two major events, and she's on the verge of her own career grand slam. "So congratulations Minjee, and we're certainly very hopeful, like the (SA) premier, that Minjee will be here in March next year." Lee's PGA Championship victory propelled her above Perth stablemate Green back to Australian No.1 and sixth in the world rankings. The 11th-ranked Green and Kim were the top finishers at last year's Australian Open at the co-hosting Kingston Heath and Victoria clubs in Melbourne, sharing fourth spot behind South Korean winner Jiyai Shin. The shift from early December back to its traditional March time-slot means there will be no women's Australian Open contested in 2025. But it is hoped the move away from a clash with Thanksgiving Day in the US will help lure the world's best players back to Australia and restore the Open's status as one of international golf's biggest tournaments.
West Australian
3 hours ago
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Young West Coast forward Jack Williams says the Eagles have the belief they can beat powerhouse Collingwood
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Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
Minjee Lee head-hunted for Australian Open appearance
Golf powerbrokers are hopeful humble superstar Minjee Lee will headline the field when the Australian Open returns to South Australian fairways in 2026. After ditching the contentious dual-gender format for next year's national championships, Golf Australia on Friday announced that Kooyonga Golf Club would host the Australian Open women's event in Adelaide from March 12-15. Co-sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia and Ladies European Tour, the Open is returning to the Festival State for the first time since 2020. No Australian has won the title since the great Karrie Webb claimed the trophy for a fifth time in 2014. WPGA Tour boss Karen Lunn says Lee, the newly crowned Women's PGA Championship winner, and Australia's other LPGA Tour stars such as Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou are on the organisers' hit list to lure to Adelaide. "We hope that we'll have all of our Australian stars at this event," Lunn said. "They're dying to get their hands on the Patricia Bridges Bowl, which our great Karrie Webb has won five times." Despite boasting four top-five finishes from 11 starts, the closest Lee has come to claiming her national championship was in 2023, when the now-triple major winner finished runner-up at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. In tipping his hat to the 29-year-old for her latest triumph on Sunday in Texas, Golf Australia chief James Sutherland said Lee was obviously on the Adelaide tournament organisers' radar. "It's not every week that an Australian golfer wins a major championship," Sutherland said. "She may be the most under-rated champion athlete that we have in Australia. "She's certainly understated in her own way - a proud Australian, but someone that is a champion on the biggest stage. "She's one of only four Australians now - male or female - that have won more than two major events, and she's on the verge of her own career grand slam. "So congratulations Minjee, and we're certainly very hopeful, like the (SA) premier, that Minjee will be here in March next year." Lee's PGA Championship victory propelled her above Perth stablemate Green back to Australian No.1 and sixth in the world rankings. The 11th-ranked Green and Kim were the top finishers at last year's Australian Open at the co-hosting Kingston Heath and Victoria clubs in Melbourne, sharing fourth spot behind South Korean winner Jiyai Shin. The shift from early December back to its traditional March time-slot means there will be no women's Australian Open contested in 2025. But it is hoped the move away from a clash with Thanksgiving Day in the US will help lure the world's best players back to Australia and restore the Open's status as one of international golf's biggest tournaments.
