Aggression lets Australia down

With Australia and Yorkshire, Darren Lehmann laid waste to many a spin bowler. One modest opponent had the joy of occasionally taking him down.

Even though Paul Wiseman of New Zealand was hammered plenty of times, he was twice able to deny Lehmann the sorts of milestones that have fallen to more prudent batting types. In 2004, he bowled Lehmann 19 short of a treasured Test hundred on his beloved Adelaide Oval. Two years later, Wiseman again splayed Lehmann's stumps as he swung for the six that would have taken him to 345 and the highest ever score for Yorkshire. George Herbert Hirst's 342 still stands.

Another record still standing after day two of the Investec Ashes is Australia's 14-year run without a series victory on English shores. It was difficult not to think that an opportunity had been missed, as all Australia's top five made starts and none went on to a match-shaping hundred. Most damaging were the loss of Steven Smith and Michael Clarke to Moeen Ali, the latest addition to a growing trend.

After the fashion of Lehmann, a pillar of Australia's previous Ashes success was a relentless attack on the spin of Graeme Swann. There was no secret to the tactic, which numerous players had flagged before the series, and no let up in its execution. From the first day in Brisbane, Swann was not allowed to settle. He ultimately chose to retire after three Tests, leaving the tour in haste.

Next up, Clarke's men were similarly successful in attacking South Africa's left-arm spinner Robin Peterson at Centurion Park. Like Swann, Peterson did not see out the series, being dropped after the first Test. Neither Alastair Cook nor Graeme Smith had been able to gain any traction with spin, as blows rained down on their slow men without anywhere near enough wickets to justify the expense.

Since then, however, a blind spot has opened up. In four overseas Tests, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Devendra Bishoo and now Moeen Ali have all benefited from the chances afforded them by Australian aggression. The attacks on spin have continued, but at a far greater cost. No team coached by Lehmann is ever likely to back off from a confrontation with a spin bowler, but there is mounting evidence that a more measured approach is required at times of import.

Take Smith. Either side of an admittedly brilliant 199 in Jamaica, he has twice now been dismissed through an impetuous dance down the wicket. On both occasions the bowler anticipated his movement and adjusted his length and pace accordingly, leaving Smith stranded. As Australia's new No. 3 batsman, Smith cannot afford to be losing his wicket in such a manner, and he knows it.

Moeen had been the beneficiary of overconfident batsmen last summer, when India took progressively more liberties against him even as his tally of wickets mounted. He was less successful in Australia during the World Cup, but he is no mug, and like most spin bowlers has become well attuned to the desire of batsmen to use the advantages afforded them in the Twenty20 age - bats, short boundaries, gym work - to take him down.

Against Smith, Moeen was initially cowed by the Australian's fleetness of foot. Three of his first four balls were hammered to the straight and cover boundaries, an unmistakeable statement. In a show of faith, Alastair Cook did not take Moeen off, and in the two overs before he got another look at Smith, the spinner re-calibrated his approach. When they next faced one another, Smith spoiled to get down the wicket again, while Moeen aimed flatter stuff at his hip with a short mid on in place.

The result of this was a bizarre-looking dismissal, where Smith effectively gave up his wicket to a catch in an effort to avoid being stumped. He had not set off down the wicket before Moeen bowled, but was left hopelessly tangled as the bat face was turned almost completely around and the ball bobbled off near enough to the back of the blade to nestle in Cook's hands.

A little over an hour later, and Clarke was equally eager to get at Moeen. His strength as a player of spin has largely come from his ability to use the full width of the crease, whether getting quickly down the wicket or right back to cut or pull. Both gifts were on display in a pair of boundaries he struck against Moeen, but in attempting to go again, Clarke was jammed by a ball fuller than he was prepared for, bunting back a return catch.

These dismissals were a source of great satisfaction for England, their captain Cook and their new coach Trevor Bayliss, who was himself something of a thumper of spinners. But they were exceedingly damaging to Australia, leaving them to struggle through the rest of this match without a first-innings hundred from the top order. As Ashes underdogs in 2013-14, Australia were able to ambush England and Swann. This time, more or less the opposite occurred, and the favourites have some thinking to do.

Chris Rogers, who played with considerable verve to reach 95 before also losing his wicket to a shot lacking in some discretion, said that this was Australia, take it or leave it. "If you look at it today you could say perhaps we could have been a little bit more patient, but you can't have it both ways," he said. "That's how guys play and they've been so successful doing it. Every now and again they're going to get out playing that way, and particularly as a side that's our mentality, to be positive, so when it happens you've just got to accept it.

"We have spoken about if we can put pressure on the spinner, maybe get him off and get the quicks back on it's going to help us in the long run. For a lot of us to get out the way we did it's going to hurt, particularly when there was an opportunity to make it count today. The fact that I go a 90 and there were three thirties and the ways we got out. That'll hurt us and we think we're better than that, but these things happen. If you're positive and you're going at it, sometimes you're going to get out these ways."

On day one, Joe Root had said something similar, mentioning that when taking the positive option and "it doesn't quite come off, you look slightly stupid or you play what looks like a horrendous shot". Just as Lehmann was made to look occasionally silly by Wiseman, Australia were left looking foolish by Moeen on day two. Their fervent hope is that over the broader measure of a five match series, their approach will win out, as it once did for their coach.