The empire strikes back

The Edgbaston Test of 2005 was memorable in so many ways that it is hard to pick out just one, or even a couple special moments. For Brett Lee, there at both the beginning and end, the fond memories will be in short supply. There is, of course, the iconic shot of Flintoff consoling him after he took Australia to the brink in vain, but it was his part on the first morning of the Test match which was seen as significant. Marcus Trescothick, who took first ball, would have spent the build-up wondering how he was going to handle the habitual McGrath missile, kicking up off the pitch off a good length. With McGrath injured, what he in fact got was unexpected; Lee tearing in to spray the new ball to the extremity of the popping crease for a Harmisonian wide. He proceeded to be taken for 6.5 runs per over, the Australians as a whole for 5 as England blazed to 400 within 80 overs. This was, so it seemed at the time, propitious: a foreshadow of how Australia would struggle in the post McGrath era, let alone without the services of Warne, who alone kept Australia competitive that day. Now that situation is the reality, and how the Australians have responded. Having disposed of a useful Sri Lankan outfit with some excellent batsmen, they twice dismissed a glittering Indian batting line-up for under 200 in the series-opening Test at Melbourne.

And Lee, whose ability to lead the attack had been oft questioned, has been a genuine spearhead. With the ever-reliable crutch of McGrath removed, Lee has not wilted under the burden, rather blossomed into the stellar opening bowler he has not been for most of his international career. 22 wickets at an average of 16 is his tally for the Australian summer so far, but his influence has been far beyond those excellent figures. He has always had fearsome pace and big heart, but a propensity to be too generous with the freebies diluted his effectiveness. Now he has the control that has long been lacking and which makes him a fearsome prospect, as well as some useful tricks, like his slower-outswinger. No-doubt a few chats with Troy Cooley, the bowling coach who can seemingly do no wrong, have helped, but it appears that responsibility has been the real catalyst for his improvement. Perhaps we should have seen it coming; Lee's record in ODI cricket, where he has been pack-leader for a while, is exemplary. The last home series against India was not a happy one for Lee: his bowling average inflated past 30 where it has stayed ever since, and he was discarded for over a year. Four years on and he looks in the mood to set the record straight and finally bring that average back into the hallowed ground of the 20s.

But shorn of its inimitable double-act, this current Australian attack is far from a one-man show. Stuart Clark continues to squeeze the life from batsmen in a manner not seen since the mid-late 90s pomp of McGrath and Pollock. His habitual length is one batsmen can play neither back nor forward to with ease, while his consistency and ability to get just enough movement off the pitch means that taking liberties is a perilous exercise. In the first innings at Melbourne he showed another talent by giving an exemplary exhibition of reverse swing bowling, another sign of the Cooley influence. He maintains an average of under 20, an economy of 2.5 and strike rate of 45; figures for the Gods. And he doesn't get the new ball. That privilege is afforded to the tyro Mitchell Johnson, a left-armer from Queensland with a useful penchant for blasting out the big-name Indians. Despite useful early returns, one senses his Test career has yet to catch fire, and he has tended to waste the new ball a bit, bowling too far wide of the right hander's off-stump early on. But a combined economy rate of 1.66 from the Melbourne Test shows he is no leaky tug and the initial impression has been positive, although Shaun Tait will continue to breath down his neck if he can continue his excellent domestic form.

Liberated from McGrath and Warne, as was the case in 2003-4, the glitterati of the Indian batting line-up might have been sensing some heavy scoring on the same plane as that tour. But they got both their batting order and attitude wrong, errors which the Australians were only too happy to capitalise on. Poor Rahul Dravid, at his lowest ebb for a long while, was coerced into occupying the one position with which he has never been comfortable, opening the batting. Those who selected the team certainly got their comeuppance for trying to have it both ways: Dravid was beyond funereal in his approach, killing the Indian first innings and the chance Kumble had worked so hard to fashion on the first day. Yuvraj, in whose name the whole mess was contrived, flopped with a combined total of 5. Bowling Australia out for 343 was about as good as India could have hoped for, especially from 135-0. But Dravid (5 from 66) and Jaffer (4 from 27) allowed the Australians to impose such a fierce stranglehold that only Tendulkar, at his imperious best, and Ganguly, in the form of his life, could escape. Well as the Australians bowled, it was the Indian openers who placed the rope around their own team's neck. Moving Laxman to No.3 was a decisive and correct move; what a pity that the resultant shuffling of deckchairs was marshaled as if by the captain of the Titanic.

Surely Virender Sehwag, form notwithstanding, must be given the chance to inject some life into the Indian top order and take it to the Australians. With Sehwag, anything can happen, and India have a better chance in that lottery than the dirge-like predictability of their Melbourne demise. That would also give Dravid the chance to regroup at No.6: despite his bad form, he is one of India's finest ever and it is him they should be accommodating, not Yuvraj, whose only Test centuries have come on flat pitches against even flatter Pakistani bowling attacks. For if the Indians continue on their present path, Australia will both pass Steve Waugh's record and chalk up yet another whitewash in a home series. And judging by the empty MCG stands after the traditional Boxing day crush, even the home fans are getting bored by the absence of a contest.