As England prepare for an Ashes series Down Under, the memory of Adelaide comes back to me with unstoppable force: the dreadful agonies of Adelaide, the overwhelming joys of Adelaide... That fair city was the site of two matches, four years apart, that captured the delirious extremes of partisanship in sport.
Yet England still lost. They collapsed on the last day when Warne imposed his will. He also imposed it on the umpire, who started the slide with a dodgy decision against Andrew Strauss. England were all out for 129. Australia knocked off the 168 runs to win in just 33 overs and England went on to lose the series 5–0.
Four years later in Brisbane, England managed a draw in the first Test of the 2010 Ashes, thanks to a second-innings score of 517–1 declared. “Nice to see your boys making a bit of a fight of it,” was the sarcastic remark from a press-room attendant. England went to Adelaide undefeated and it soon became the sweetest city in the world. It’s an attractive place. I saw black swans on the Torrens River on the way to the ground on the first day. Good job I was in good time, as within ten minutes Australia were three wickets down with just two runs on the board – a smart run-out from Jonathan Trott got rid of Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting was caught by Graeme Swann off Jimmy Anderson’s next ball and Michael Clarke went with the first ball of his second over. When England went in to bat, it got even better. Pietersen scored a brutal 227, as fine an innings as I’ve ever seen. Australia couldn’t match him and Swann completed an innings victory with a five-fer. If Australia could have held on just an hour longer the weather would have saved them. I wrote my match report watching the rain bouncing knee-high off the pavement outside my hotel. Extremes of emotion are part of the Ashes experience. It’s not just about wanting England to win, it’s also wanting Australia to lose. Badly, if possible.
This time round, England should be the stronger side, if Stokes is on fire with both ball and bat and all the fast bowlers are fit. All the same, Australia start as clear favourites. That’s because it’s in Australia, and the will of the entire nation is against England. England have this dreadful tendency to wilt in Australia. Call it the Adelaide Fade.
Last summer Root moved into second place (behind Sachin Tendulkar) in the list of Test match run-scorers. He’s already an all-time great. But this would be such a nice moment to score that elusive first Ashes century in Australia. In Adelaide, perhaps.
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