"England were already punch drunk before a ball was bowled"
Ashes Test matches at The Gabba have a habit of setting the tone for the series ahead, in England’s case, a little too ominously for comfort, with many of the most enduring images from comprehensive defeats Down Under coming at Brisbane. Simon Jones collapsing in a heap in the outfield in 2002/03 and Steve Harmison delivering the first ball of 2006/07 to Freddie Flintoff at second slip both come to mind.
In 1994/95, England were already punch drunk before a ball was bowled after a less than ideal build up to the series, and it took only one delivery for Australia’s dominance to be well and truly rubber stamped. What followed was a thoroughly comprehensive Australian performance against a stuttering and dysfunctional England side. Mark Nicholas reported on this first Test in the pages of The Cricketer.
Australia won the first Test match of this eagerly awaited series because for the most part they were the better, slicker team, and because in the wonderful Warne they have a glittering jewel who transfixes the opposition with his variations and renders them mute with his accuracy.
Warne did his worst damage on the final day when his long spell of attrition, resulting in the seventh-best Australian bowling figures of all time, broke the back of England’s spirited resistance. That England were allowed to resist so gamely was the talking point of the Test match, however, since Mark Taylor had elected not to enforce the follow on after dismissing England for a miserable 167 in their first innings. This gave Australia a lead of 259 and, most importantly, a quite mind-blowing psychological advantage not just in this match but for the whole of the series.
WATCH: Warne takes 8 for 71 at Brisbane
The build-up to the match had been unsatisfactory. Devon Malcolm was hit by chicken pox and quarantined for a week which meant that England went into the match with only two of the bowlers (Gough and DeFreitas) which had blown South Africa away at The Oval, and only one (Tufnell) who had engineered the famous win in Barbados and the draw in Antigua last April.
Angus Fraser was flown in from Sydney, where he was taking masses of wickets in grade cricket, as cover for Malcolm but, ironically, was on the plane home the following evening while England sat in the dressing-room licking their first-day wounds. Atherton was busy wondering who his friends were as the stories of Raymond Illingworth’s dissatisfaction with the Fraser call-up filtered through from London.
Atherton called incorrectly and Taylor grinned at his considerable fortune. Michael Slater, who had enchanted England 18 months previously, cut the first ball of the match for four and continued to do much as he pleased up until tea when his partnership with the elegant Mark Waugh was in full bloom.
Thanks to Slater’s 176 and Waugh’s 140, Australia posted 426 before England closed out Day 2 on 133-6, staring an innings defeat in the face.
England were clutching at straws for sure and Atherton, the quiet stubborn Lancastrian stood alone in the burning deck uncertain if the team that he could bring home the Ashes would manage to avoid an innings defeat in the crucial first Test.
That they did was entirely due to Mark Taylor’s amazing decision not to enforce the follow-on. England lurched from bad to worse on the third morning as the tail crashed in a flurry of feeble strokes and then McCague and DeFreitas saw their new ball cartered to all parts of the Gabba for the second time in the match. The conspicuously in-form Taylor and Slater put on 109 in under two hours and England looked forlorn, lost – humiliated even – by a rampant Australian team who knew no mercy. Taylor had gone for the slow kill, the drip of cricket torture and England were suffering.
England were set 508 to win and the bookies seemed safe, not just with the 300-1 shot against the possibility but also with the miserly 10-1 they were offering against the draw.
Healy and Warne celebrate
The organised, restrained Hick and the neat, calm Thorpe hung on…and hung on. They kicked Warne away with remorseless discipline and pulled at anything short with vengeful power. Thorpe particularly impressed with his defence off the back foot and Hick with his judgement of what to ignore and what to play. By the close, England were 211 for 2 and fighting.
That the dream died barely mattered. England, save Gooch who batted with masterly defence, were pulled this way and that by a fabulous bowler who is inspiring a new generation of cricket fanatics. At times on the worn, last day pitch, Warne was unplayable and at other times the sheer intensity of his performance overwhelmed the opposition. At last he bowled in harness with May they did not disappoint, chipping away at England’s resistance with their variations.
England were humbled but not, thank heavens, heartless. They had recovered their pride and could go to Melbourne for the Christmas Test with hope but not, one would add, with hearty confidence. They need Malcolm on song and, dare I say it, Angus Fraser’s accuracy – a combination that might have found a way to break the platform that was set for McDermott and Warne by the dominance of the Australian opening batsmen. They desperately need a 40-50 run start from somewhere as Australia exposed England’s ponderous fielding and uninspired running between the wickets with their own aggressive urgency.
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