Champions Trophy unlikely to offer Ashes pointer – Gillespie

JASON GILLESPIE believes it would be wrong to read too much into England’s Champions Trophy encounter with Australia today as a pointer to how this summer’s Ashes series is likely to pan out.
Yorkshire head coach Jason GillespieYorkshire head coach Jason Gillespie
Yorkshire head coach Jason Gillespie

England play their first game in the 50-over tournament against the old enemy at Edgbaston, with pundits certain to be looking for the slightest sign as to how the sides are likely to bare up in the summer’s main event.

When England won the Ashes in 2005, their 100-run win in a one-off Twenty20 international at the Rose Bowl before that series began was cited as having played a key role in giving them the self-belief to win back the urn.

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But Gillespie, the Yorkshire first-team coach who played in that match, feels the one-day and Test match formats are chalk and cheese and that today’s game will be no proper benchmark.

“My personal opinion is that 50-over cricket compared to Test cricket, one-dayers versus five-day Test matches, is very different,” said Gillespie.

“I wouldn’t look too much into it (today’s game) because both countries have quite different one-day sides to Test sides, probably Australia more so than England, and one could argue that England are probably the more settled team.

“On recent form, both sides are probably not going to feature too heavily in the Champions Trophy anyway, what with the way the warm-up games have gone for Australia and the way the New Zealand series has gone for England.

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“One thing I will say – and this is no disrespect to the Champions Trophy – is that once that first ball is bowled in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge next month, not many people are really going to bother or care what happened in the Champions Trophy.”

Gillespie’s point is borne out by the fact that not many people now can remember what happened at the Rose Bowl in 2005.

Everyone recalls that England lost the first Ashes Test at Lord’s that year, bounced back to win a thriller at Edgbaston, draw at Old Trafford, win another thriller at Trent Bridge and then draw at The Oval, but the Twenty20 game is a distant memory.

A glance at the record books shows that England scored 179-8 on the south coast, Paul Collingwood top-scoring with 46 and Gillespie returning 1-49 from four overs. Gillespie then top-scored with 24 from the No 9 position as Australia made 79 in reply, Jon Lewis capturing 4-24 and Darren Gough 3-16.

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People talk about that game as having had a bearing on that year’s Ashes, but the one thing I noticed differently from playing England before was nothing to do with that game as such but just the fact that there was a different attitude about the England camp,” added Gillespie. “As a player, I was able to pick up on the fact that there seemed to be a real sense of urgency in everything England did. You’d watch England train, and, in the past, they’d all just come out like Brown’s cows, wandering around doing stuff.

“But, in 2005, they were really distinct and really focused and they would all be running out to get to training and to take part in warm-up drills. As soon as the umpires walked out, if they were in the field, England would follow the umpires straight away and they’d all be out as a group, whereas in the past, when I’d played against England, they’d all just filter out in their own time.”

Gillespie said improvements even extended to the way England looked in terms of cricketing appearance. He detected uniformity and a common purpose.

“In the past, you’d see the England players and they’d all be wearing different coloured gear,” said Gillespie. “Some of them would walk out with white helmets when they batted, for example, whereas others had blue. In 2005, there just seemed to be a bit more focus, structure and intensity. There was just something different about that England side.”

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With the countdown to this year’s Ashes well and truly underway, with the teams set for five Tests starting at Trent Bridge on July 10, the Champions Trophy meeting may not be particularly significant in terms of the Ashes, but it will be important in terms of both sides’ hopes of progressing in the 50-over tournament.

The eight competing countries are divided into two groups of four, with each team playing three games, and after today’s match England continue their group campaign against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Thursday and New Zealand at Cardiff tomorrow week. Picking a winner in the competition is difficult, particularly with England having done little to justify their own expectations of a good showing by losing 2-1 to New Zealand.

Gillespie feels the winner may come from the sub-continent.

“I think Pakistan have half a sniff,” he said. “They can be very dangerous on their day and capable of beating anyone. And, seeing India’s form in the warm-up games, you can’t write them off either. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all pans out.”

Whatever happens, Gillespie is already looking forward to the Ashes contests.

He believes a rip-roaring series could be in the pipeline.

“It’s going to be great,” he said.

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“Everyone’s starting to look forward to it now and I think it’s going to be a lot closer series than some people think.

“To be honest, I think England deservedly start as favourites.

“At the same time, all I’ll say is... don’t write off the Aussies.”

Yorkshire report: Page 5.