Ashes 2009—when the moments mattered and not the momentum

One of the greatest joy in watching a game like cricket is the amount of truth being displayed by statistics. For example, if Sachin Tendulkar walks to bat in a Test match, his average which is 50 plus in Test cricket truly represents his skill, timing, technique and not to mention his genius. However, talking of series Ashes 2009 has been a series that has give statisticians a lot of sleepless nights.

For starters, Australia had scored more runs (1,933) and lost fewer wickets (41) than England (1,799 and 45) while their batsmen had scored six individual hundreds compared to the hosts’ one. Five of the six leading run-scorers in the series at that point were Australian and four of the five leading wicket-takers Australian.
Even so, Australia were at that stage 1-0 down in the series after England clung on for a draw in the first Test at Cardiff, won the second at Lord’s by 115 runs and failed to force victory in the drawn third encounter at Edgbaston.

But every statistician will agree to the fact a depleted Australian side is still stronger than a fully fit England team and that was proved at Leeds when Aussies crushed their favourite hosts by an innings and 80 runs. But such was the dominating nature of Australia’s victory inside three days at Headingley here on Sunday that the Ashes figures are now starting to tell a worthwhile tale, if far from the full story of the series.
Australia, thanks to Marcus North’s 110, have now scored seven hundreds to one from England captain Andrew Strauss. Meanwhile the runs scored and wickets lost tally is now even more in their favour at 2,378 and 51 as opposed to England’s 2,164 and 65. Five of the six leading run-scorers in the series remain Australian while three of the five most successful bowlers are from the visitors’ ranks with Australia off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, who didn’t play at Headingley, the next best alongside England’s Graham Onions, who did, on 10 wickets apiece.
“Momentum”, a quality that enables one side to use the outcome of the preceding match as a kind of emotional springboard for the next contest, has been the buzz word of this series. But, as North – who also made a century at Cardiff — observed, what matters most in Test cricket is not momentum but moments.
“We look at winning the critical moments in each Test. It was a critical day, the last day of the first Test and we didn’t win that and England walked away with a draw. Then we saw England win the critical moments (at Lord’s) and outplay us completely. It was probably even at Edgbaston but we won the critical moments in this match,” Marcus North had told reporters. His skipper Ricky Ponting added: “For me the momentum thing is about what your individual players get out of the game. There’s not many of our individuals that have not taken a lot from it (the victory at Headingley).”

For a change, captains will swear by moments and not momentums…Andrew Strauss—hope you are listening!