England start today’s second of three warm-up games against Australia 1-0 up in the series after that deserved victory in Perth, considerably enlivened by Matthew Wade’s strong-arm tactics. It is no surprise that it brought such strident condemnation here and, sadly, little shock that the attitude of Fox’s commentators, the host broadcasters whose feed is used by BT Sport in the UK, was so indulgent.
What is interesting, though, is the view of the wider cricket-watching public which, particularly in India, seems to hold the view that if England want to take the moral high ground and not appeal, more fool them. I think they made the right call, given how long they’re going to be in the country. That’s not to say I don’t think the laws should be changed to allow the umpires to dismiss a batsman for obstructing the field without recourse to the fielding side, but that will have to wait for the next meeting of MCC’s sub-committee.
Australia, with their reserve bowling attack, ran England very close in Wester Australia and welcome back Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Glenn Mazwell and Adam Zampa tonight in Camberra. England have never played an international fixture in the capital. It’s a low-scoring, generally chasing ground. Australia have successfully hunted down 151 and 122 in two of the three games they have played at Manuka Oval but were, encouragingly for England, undone by the left-arm swing of Thangarasu Natarajan when falling 12 runs short when chasing 162 two years ago.
England will shuffle the pack of their bowlers tonight, we think, perhaps giving Chris Jordan and David Willey a gallop. Liam Livingstone, the recipient of a full contract, is still not ready to return but there are more optimistic sounds coming from the camp now concerning his viability for the tournament.
