It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the difference between the two sides in this Ashes series starts with the letter B. Quite simply, they’ve got a swag of ‘em and we’re definitely short in that department.
A look at the averages, now that we’ve left the Fourth Test in our wake, is fairly instructive.
For a start you look at Bell. Eight innings, one not out, an even 500 runs, three hundreds, two fifties and an average of 72.42. Next best Root and Pietersen at 37.14 and 34.5 and then there’s no one averaging over thirty.
With the ball, once you skip past Root, whose occasional offies have returned 3-34, there’s Broad with accumulated figures of 144.5 overs, 32 maidens, 17 for 433, averaging 25.47 with two five-fors and a ten-for. Straight underneath him is Swann with 209 overs, 37 maidens, 23 for 621, averaging an even 27 with a brace of five-fors.
The Australian side of the ledger, predictably under the circumstances, with the chopping and changing in selections, isn’t quite so rosy. Clarke is averaging just under 49.5 with the bat, Rogers an even 43, Pattinson, Agar and Warner in the thirties, with two games apiece and things sliding away from there.
With the ball it’s Harris with 20 for 385, averaging 19.25, Siddle with 17 for 447 averaging 26.29 and Lyon with an even 8 for 200 out of the two games he’s played.
You could probably go further with the analysis, but I think it’s fair to say Bell’s runs, the consistency in performance and the partnerships he’s formed with whoever has been at the other end have contributed a fair chunk of the difference between the two sides.
With England resuming overnight at 5-234, quick wickets were the key ingredient if we were going to set ourselves an achievable target, and while Bell didn’t survive the new ball (6-251) and Prior went for a first ball gozzer, Broad (13 off 7) Bresnan (45 off 90) and Swann (30 off 24) took the total to 330, leaving us with a tricky five over spell before lunch.
96 runs in less than two hours off roughly 21 overs was a bit more than you’d expect based on a fairly consistent rate around three an over through the first three days, but that’s what you get when you’re arguably above par for the wicket and conditions and you have the blokes down the end chancing their arms.
Set 299 to win, you’d probably have thought it a bridge too far, taking the wicket and conditions into account, and I was tempted to crash when rain delayed the resumption after lunch. I stuck around long enough to see Rogers’ successful referral, but at none-for, needing to catch Jimbo on the morning walk I headed to bed.