5 reasons for Australia's turnaround in the Ashes

In cricketing parlance, the Australian side managed to have all the bases covered this time around. They batted well, were brutal with the ball and fluid in the field. But to put things in perspective, here are a few plausible reasons behind the transformation of the Aussie team from a meek, effete outfit into something completely contrasting.

Mitchell Johnson

Could have been the entire Aussie bowling unit, really. Harris, Siddle, and at times even Watson and Lyon. But the singling out wasn’t without reason. Others have looked menacing, but none came even close to what Johnson was putting on display at an alarming regularity, bowling like a man possessed, even though one could argue that the shot selection by the English did have a great deal to do with that.

Ever since the stint with the Mumbai Indians last season, there has been a visible spring in his step. In the recently concluded away ODI series against India too, he was their best bowler, and was flown back prior to the last match allegedly for Ashes’ preparation, giving rise to much hullabaloo.

He ruled the first three English innings in the series, and currently has 23 scalps at 15.47 with a strike rate of a wicket every 33 balls from the three matches played as of now. With his place in the side in doubts sometime back, this is certainly some redemption to cherish.

The first innings’ scores of the English team in this series outline the sorry state of affairs. With a string of low/average scores none of which exceeded 400, the English bowlers had a hard time defending the paltry runs on the board.

He was beyond doubt the most destructive. Even when he did not manage too many wickets in the remaining three innings, as Ian Chappel pointed out, the wickets tumbling at the other end were largely because of his bowling, because forget about scoring, the batsmen were busy trying to save their paraphernalia from his onslaught.

To add to that, he even bailed them out with the bat in the first match.

Aussie Batting

Last Ashes, it seemed the decimation was largely due to Aussie batting. But this time around, it is coming good, and how.Far removed from the scenes from England, where they batted as though being seen with a bat was a non-bail able offence, they have batted like champions throughout this series.

Someone or the other has risen to the occasion when need be. Clarke came good, and so did Warner, who arguably has been the best of the lot, seems to have matured in these intervening months after the scuffle with Root. Commentators kept blabbering about his family being well settled now, his dad being around to see him bat, making you maudlin and all. But as you think on these lines, he gives Anderson a send-off!

Then there is Watson, who was being seen as overstaying his place in the side. He threw his wicket away better than Muralitharan could throw the ball from the long boundaries on more than one occasion. But he hit a brutal, albeit not so graceful, ton after what seemed like ages when it mattered in the third fixture, and has been chipping in with wickets as well.

Rogers has been working up a few fifties, and a big one seems due any day.

Haddin and Smith have worked up individual tons. Haddin especially has been a revelation.

It won’t be surprising if they come up with a statement that they have surprised themselves as a batting unit.

Home Advantage

Such are the scenes in world cricket. South Africans look invincible at home. So do New Zealand, India, even Bangladesh.And England too.

Why, then, would Australia be any different?

No, it’s probably not about the pitch. James Sutherland had opined that the pitches would be competitive, and no instructions were given out to the curators unlike the previous Aussie tours where there was ‘not a hint of grass or moisture’.

Nevertheless, matches being played to jam-packed stadiums, the audience working up some serious noise to the tune of the bowlers’ run up as he approaches the strip to deliver, a Mexican wave doing the rounds, or booing the opposition players. Pietersen would know.

English bowling looked out of sorts

And that is an understatement. They did manage to sneak in sometimes, but there was always one or the other Aussie to come to the rescue. Smith salvaged the innings once when it was in near tatters, on another occasion there was Haddin. But even so, the English bowling attack looked alien, not having any vestiges from the attack that featured in the last Ashes. Last time around, an Aussie collapse in every other innings was a foregone conclusion.

Anderson, the leader of their bowling attack, has been ineffectual. He looked menacing in the second test, where the Aussies refused to enforce follow on. And that’s the end of it. It is surely the least that is expected from him.

Bresnan has been good in patches. Broad too. Arguably, that isn’t enough.

Prior to the commencement of the series, Ian Chappel had prophesied a struggling Swann. He did nothing to disappoint. And with Swann’s sudden decision to retire, things look even more downhill from here on.

Fielding and DRS

The Aussies have been fluid and spot-on with their fielding, which when contrasted with the English’s, looks pretty far removed. They have managed to convert less than half chances into full-fledged catches (Warner’s blinder for ex), the long boundaries well manned, and the wicket keeping exceptional.

The English seem like having a hard time in this department too. Especially so for Bresnan, who has seen quite a number of catches go down off his bowling.

Then there is the use of DRS, with which they have almost always been spot-on. After the fiascoes which cropped up every other day in the preceding Ashes series, this time around there has been less hue and cry, and the Aussies have been spot on, courtesy Haddin largely.

Sharne Warne had labelled the English side as smug, and had warned, ‘If you lose respect for the game and the opposition, Cricket has a funny way of biting you on the backside’. Only if the bladders were big enough.