The confidence of youth

A bold 19-year-old Australian turned the first Ashes test match on its head last night. Ashton Agar is a virtual unknown outside Australia, or should we say "was"; the entire cricketing world knows who Agar is now; Cricinfo reports:

No last man has ever made a Test hundred. Ashton Agar came within inches of achieving it in his maiden Test innings. His eyes lit up at the opportunity to pull Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann flung himself forward to hold the catch at deep midwicket. He was denied the ultimate prize, but his extraordinary innings will remain part of cricket folklore forever.

Before Agar's fearless intervention, life was going swimmingly for England. James Anderson was producing a contented exhibition of reverse-swing bowling. Swann was finding substantial turn. Australia lost five wickets for nine runs in 32 balls. But if England had imagined that a decisive advantage in the first Investec Test was theirs for the taking, as Australia's first innings shrivelled on a parched Trent Bridge morning, they were mistaken.

Agar might have missed a maiden hundred but for the man dubbed 'Ashton Who?' two world records in a day was enough to be going on with. He walked off the ground with a smile and a shrug that won further admiration. His 98 had taken only 101 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. The cricketing world knows his name now.

Agar was the unregarded teenager who told Australia that the game was not yet up. He now holds the highest score by a No. 11 of all time, surpassing Tino Best's 95, also against England, at Edgbaston only last summer. When Best set his mark, that was explosive hitting; this was batting.

He dominated a transformational stand of 163 in 33 overs for the last wicket - another world record - with Phillip Hughes, a specialist batsman who drew strength from his example. He even gave Australia a first-innings lead of 65 and nobody expected that. The Agar family, who had travelled halfway around the world to watch him make his debut, were in jetlag heaven. 

This was a remarkable innings from Ashton Agar. We had certainly never consciously heard of him before Wednesday night, yet here he was stepping onto cricket's toughest stage and batting like an old pro. You'd almost have to wonder whether new Australian coach Darren "Boof" Lehmann had pulled a swiftie over his English opponents, hiding a specialist batsman at the foot of the innings.

Time will tell whether this performance was a flash in the pan, or whether Agar really does have the goods. With the four batsmen above him (Haddin, Siddle, Starc and Pattinson) having made the grand total of FOUR runs between them, he definitely has a case for promotion up the order.

But just as Shane Warne's star ignited with the Ball of the Century to Mike Gatting in an Ashes series all those years ago, Agar has made a remarkable start. It's just that he's doing it not with the skills that he was picked in the team for!

Well played Ashton Agar. Here's hoping for your sake that your wonderful innings wasn't for nowt.