I am watching the First Test of the England Australia ashes series where England were overwhelming favourites and are looking for their fourth consecutive series victory Australia.
Well, it looks like Australia have ignored all of that, have put in a performance that will see them beat England comfortably and will boost their confidence for the remaining 4 matches.
Now we will get to see the mettle of Alistair Cook, the England captain, it’s very easy to captain a winning team when all is going well. But now we get to see him in crisis, how he will perform under pressure, not the pressure of a game, but the pressure of turning round a team who’s confidence is shot, one that has been hammered by an opponent, whom they need to face again 4 more times, and who’s confidence couldn’t be higher.
His first job will be to make them to forget this game, it was just one match, it was a blip.
He will need to get them to remember who they really are, a quality side, one of the best in the world, who have beaten Australia repeatedly over the past few years.
He will need to rebuild their confidence, give them back the belief in their abilities, make them feel like champions again.
When he has done this, their confidence might be restored but it will still be fragile, and he will need to solidify this by putting in a captains performance, lead by example and show the team the way back to their real form.
This is a big task, and will put a lot of pressure on him, but this is the role of the leader, he has to show the way, and then go the way.
If he can do that then the team will follow and they will have a great chance to win the series.
If not, then it will be a long tour of Australia, playing confident opponents looking for revenge.
Gordon Tredgold
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