Hilf and North strike a blow for anonymity

Well...................well...................another Ashes series gone by and another result not everyone expected.

In 2005, we watched England down a far superior Australian team boasting several immortals of the game. In 2006/2007, we watched a highly fancied England team get annihilated by ‘Dad’s Army’. What does that leave us with in 2009?

Well it was probably a case of two mediocre teams battling to stop themselves from being the first to drop the ball, which in the end was all that was needed at The Oval. Australia dropped the ball badly and England capitalised in a big way to secure a 2-1 win that no-one really expected to happen.

Now in my opinion, the pitches were once again shite. I hate how curators are turning pitches into bland batting strips. It annoys me that the bowlers are getting the raw end of the deal. Why can’t we see a green pitch for once where the ball moves around like a nightmare? Why can’t we have a dustbowl that turns square? Why can’t we have a bouncy pitch that has a chance to rattle a batsman’s helmet?

But enough griping, on to the point at hand.

The stats make great reading for the series, especially since Australia had three bowlers with 20 wickets and four batsmen with over 300 runs yet still found a way to lose the series. Only one bowler managed to average below 30 as well, a further example of the pitches turning out like the M4 Motorway.

Australia came to England’s shores with a team made up of fledging stars and young guns, with a lot of the hype centred on Phillip Hughes and bowlers Johnson and Siddle.
Yet it was the unknown soldiers Ben Hilfenhaus for the bowlers and Marcus North for the batsmen that provided a solid base for the rest of their team.

Hilfenhaus was unheard of when he came to England. He had been well known in Australia for several season after emerging as one of the best young quicks coming through the ranks, particularly in the season Tasmania managed to win the Pura Cup (Now back to Sheffield Shield thank God) for the first time.

Conditions definitely favoured him, and in the five test series he collected 22 wickets and bowled some magnificent outswingers, although he never took a five wicket haul he so deserved. The English will have a lot of respect for the quiet former bricklayer who worked hard for his wickets.

North came through a different route. Now 30, he has plied his trade for Western Australia and has been a county pro for many years now, playing for five different counties during his time in the country. His selection for South Africa was a gamble, but in England it made perfect sense as he had the years of experience in English conditions.

His two centuries and a 96 left him a formidable object at number six and we could well hold onto that position for some time. And with Mike Hussey out of sorts and on the wrong side of 34, he could even be boosted up the order.

The success of Hilfy and the Australian cricket team’s only smoker are a good sign for the team and a victory of anonymity. Let’s hope that they continue to prosper for Australia’s sake.