Chappell on the 1st Ashes Test: Top order batsmen's heads are spinning (25 November 1998)

25 November 1998

Chappell on the 1st Ashes Test: Top order batsmen's heads are spinning

By Ian Chappell

AT THE start of the tour England put so much emphasis on leg-spin bowling by employing Peter Philpott and a sports psychologist that Stuart MacGill should consider sending champagne or, at the very least, a carefully worded thank you note.

The England batsmen have now discussed wrist-spin bowling so much that it appears they are completely mesmerised when they are actually confronted by the real thing.

In the first innings, the England top order batsmen failed to punish MacGill's plentiful supply of loose deliveries. However, the leg-spinner failed to return the generosity when he swung into a good rhythm after lunch, spinning the ball on the wearing surface and displaying an adequate variety.

Having claimed Mark Butcher before lunch when he failed to play a shot, he then forced Nasser Hussain to chop on as he attempted to cut a perfectly pitched 'wrong-un'.

He then lured Mark Ramprakash out of his crease when the last thing the Englishman really wanted to do was leave home.

When a right-hand batsman has his left foot going forward and his back foot reluctant to follow it, it means that the player is thinking about the wicketkeeper and generally, in that situation, the gloveman gets an opportunity.

Ian Healy didn't miss his chance and MacGill had his man - a despondent Ramprakash. It had reached the point where the batsmen became so moribund that even Mark Waugh's innocuous off-spinners were causing tremors and he claimed two important scalps.

Both batsmen contributed to their own downfall and combined with MacGill's wickets it meant the Australians were down to England's 'flawed final five' and there was still an outside chance they could beat the black thunder clouds.

In the end the storm won, but England have lost so much ground in the psychological stakes that they are in trouble with Shane Warne still at least a Test a way from coming back.

However, Warne was commentating on the Test and if anything could bring about a quick recovery it would have been the sight of England's leaden-footed batsmen failing to punish loose deliveries and perishing to inept shots.

Remarkable then that a day on which England had been bewitched, bothered and bewildered by a leg-spinner should conclude with the Australian selectors replacing him with a part-time off-spinner for the next Test.

Colin Miller replacing MacGill? Now I'm as confused as the England batsmen.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)