Australia's Ashes retention sparks calls to change divisive tradition
English fans and commentators continue to moan about Australia's retention of the Ashes, some have called for a major change to the series.
With Australia managing to retain the Ashes under somewhat inauspicious circumstances courtesy of the rained out fourth Test at Old Trafford, highly-regarded cricket writer Gideon Haigh has suggested it is high time that a drawn series should result in neither side claiming ownership of the urn. England fans and some commentators have been in meltdown since the draw in Manchester left only two results available - a drawn series should England win the series finale at The Oval, or an outright win for Australia.
There's no doubt England were in a match-winning position when the forecasts of heavy rain proved to be accurate, with Australia five wickets down and still trailing by 61 runs in their second innings. It was only an impressive salvage job from Marnus Labuschagne (111), as well as a patient unbeaten stand from Mitch Marsh that spared the visitors' blushes, aided by England's curious decision not to declare earlier in their first innings when they already boasted an impressive lead and with the threat of rain on the horizon.
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Regardless, it was Haigh who said it was time for the unspoken convention of the previous series winner retaining the Ashes in the event of a draw to be looked at. In an interesting conversation with fellow cricket writer Peter Lalor on the Cricket Et Cetera podcast, he argued that the urn should be up for grabs in the following series should neither side win outright.
Haigh's chief concern was that when placed in the position Australia now find themselves in, there was an incentive to play 'negative' cricket with the moral victory of Ashes retention already achieved. For the Australians' part, captain Pat Cummins has publicly stated anything less than an outright series victory, the first for Australia in 10 years, would not be acceptable.
“This idea of retaining the Ashes, I think we actually need to think again about it,” Haigh began. “It is merely a convention, it’s not codified, it’s not legislated. It’s simply an understanding.
“And an understanding can change by decree of the parties. You do have to win them back, and therefore I think that when neither team wins them outright, they shouldn’t be won by anyone. They should remain in abeyance.”
Haigh argued there was an 'unequal weighting' towards a draw for teams in Australia's position, however his co-host Lalor disagreed. He said the onus should be on winning the Ashes back outright.
He argued that only an outright loss was sufficient to actually forfeit the urn, while Haigh countered with some interesting historical aspects of the series. Amusingly, he pointed out that England's captain in the 1920-21, Johnny Douglas, believed that Ashes series' only counted if played on English soil.
Gideon Haigh's interesting argument to upend Ashes 'convention'
Haigh later argued in a seperate column for The Australian that it would be difficult to explain to cricket newcomers the significance of the series if it routinely ended on something of a dour note. “And I wonder whether it is quite fair, given that it confers a sizeable advantage before the teams even start,” he said.
“How to explain to the uninitiated the Oval Test’s weird hybrid character of being ‘live’ where the outcome of the series is concerned, but ‘dead’ in the context of the Ashes? I know cricket’s not meant to make sense. But it might, on occasion, at least try to do so.”
England players are insistent they have matched it with Australia through the whole series, following three thrilling Tests at Edgbaston, Lord's and Headingley. The hosts also outplayed Australia at Old Trafford before rain forced a draw, re-enforcing England's belief they deserve to finish level on the scoreboard.
"I think 2-2 would be fair," opener Zak Crawley said. "They had the better of us at Lord's, Edgbaston could have gone either way, we probably deserved this one (at Old Trafford) and Headingley could have gone either way.
"We're disappointed. We wanted to win, we were in a good position to win, and two days of rain cost us. But that's how it is.
"We're massively up for (The Oval). Any game, you want to win. It felt like we were getting on top of them for sure and if we'd won this game it would have been very interesting to see."
With AAP
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