Think Pink was the 1970 album by Twink, one time drummer for Hawkwind and the Pretty Things. Yet, cricket history suggests that England must do the same this winter if they are to boost their chances of retaining the Ashes.
True, the day/night Test in Adelaide using pink cricket balls will be an Ashes first for them, but it also presents their best opportunity of winning one of the first three Tests, the other two being venues at which England have not prevailed for decades.
James Joyce once said that history was “a nightmare from which he was trying to awake”, and so it is with England’s cricketers and Test matches at the Gabba and WACA, the two Tests that sandwich the Adelaide Test before the series heads for the festive season venues of Melbourne and Sydney.
Their last win at the Gabba was in 1986/7 while their lone victory in Perth, where resides the quickest, bounciest pitch on earth, was in 1978/9, against an Australian side severely weakened by defections to Kerry Packer’s World Series.
You can never say never in sport, and Joe Root’s team may well triumph at those two grounds this time. But if I was coach Trevor Bayliss, I’d be targeting Adelaide and the day/night Test with special measures, as one England must win despite Australia successes in the two matches already played there.
Traditionally, Adelaide usually produced a fairly docile pitch offering little to bowlers of any persuasion. Since the enclosing stands were built, the ball has swung more than before, though this is relative as Kookaburra balls don’t hoop around for long.
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