In fairness to Australian cricket, it rarely sticks its head in the sand. On Sunday in Melbourne, when 90,000 fans should have been enjoying day three of the fourth Test, they put Matt Page, chief curator at the MCG, in front of the media to face a grilling over that casino of a two-day pitch.
Page was contrite, admitted his mistakes, and vowed to never repeat the 10mm of grass that, while designed to guard against hotter weather later in the match, delivered a second hammer blow to Cricket Australia’s finances this series. For all the public anger Stuart Fox, the ground’s chief executive, did not sound as if he was about to issue Page with his marching orders.
Aberrations happen, people are only human and everyone deserves a second chance. Fair enough. The question now for English cricket is whether the four-wicket victory that they achieved through such an absurd seamer-friendly shootout is enough to similarly mean the status quo holding.
After all, even 3-1 down in a series that was lost in a record-equalling 11 days, this is now officially England’s most successful Ashes tour for 15 years. Stuart Broad was lampooned for saying this was the worst Australia side to play for the urn on home soil since 2010-11 – England the best to pitch up – but, technically at least, the numbers now support him.
For Joe Root, basking in his first Test win on Australian soil at the 18th attempt, there is no reason to change things. Errors have been made, opportunities squandered and high-profile absentees for the hosts not remotely capitalised upon. But for all the disappointment Brendon McCullum remains a head coach he still very much believes in.
“In terms of the playing group, we’re absolutely committed to the management,” said Root. “They’ve been outstanding. This team has improved as a team. So I think [changing the management] would be silly for the amount of hard work and things that have been done.”
Root is not the type to rock the boat and so this support was to be expected in many ways. But for a player with close links to the Barmy Army – friends among them and his parents regularly part of the fun on tour – he is out of sync with a good number of them. Fact is, for all the joyful scenes in Bay 13 on Saturday afternoon, people are still annoyed by this failed campaign.
Rob Key, the team director, has already held his hands up to oversights in planning, likewise McCullum for being unable to prevent players becoming “desperate” when the series was live. It will be a choice between allowing incumbents to learn lessons and improve – as appears the case for the MCG’s “executive manager of turf” – or, having now seen two Ashes series squandered in a slightly casual fashion, opting for a fresh management set-up.
While Richard Thompson is the chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board and on the ground currently, soon to be joined by his chief executive, Richard Gould, the kingmaker in all this is almost certainly Ben Stokes. Provided his body holds up, his retention as captain seems highly likely. The all-rounder remains committed to Test cricket – he has very little interest in franchise slop – and, crucially, he retains the support of his players.
Melbourne spoke volumes about the latter, Stokes throwing himself on to the grenade of the (overblown) Noosa fallout and focusing minds on the job at hand. And for all the opprobrium about conditions, England still played the superior cricket on day two, not least their clarity with the bat that sat in contrast to all bar Travis Head for Australia. Harry Brook’s 41 on day one, rogue though it appeared, showed the way.
The midas touch has eluded Stokes at times here, it must be said, be it tactics gone awry or messaging that has lurched with his emotional state and been out of kilter with the three-year project at large. Indeed, one of the greatest frustrations with this tour is how England blinked at 2-0 down rather than see their uber-aggressive approach through to its conclusion on that Adelaide road.
But the question Stokes will need to answer is whether he believes the network that supports his England team – ie the selection panel led by Key, plus the coaching staff – is furnishing him with the best suited players and improving them thereafter. The dream of becoming only the sixth postwar England captain to win in Australia may have died but regaining the urn on home soil in 18 months’ time should be a realistic target.
As a character who tends to live in the moment, Stokes’s view here may well be informed by the fifth and final Test in Sydney. A second win would mean they leave with something tangible; lose and the significance of the Melbourne victory will diminish, save for serving as a historical circuit-breaker. The whitewash may have mercifully been dodged but there remains plenty at stake.
