McGrath won more plaudits this time but the crucial factor is they work together, keeping everything under control. In tandem they stifle the batsmen, squeezing the life out of them, causing them to choke.
In the six Tests they have sent down 487 overs, conceding an average of only 2.6 runs an over (for England's main bowlers the fig- ure was 3.5). The result: 60 wickets between them. It is classic pair pressure.
McGrath has an unwavering approach to the crease, a gunbarrelstraight delivery and maintains an almost monotonous length - he is in- capable of bowling a half-volley. 'Pigeon' is an apt nickname: he sur- rounds you like a pest, restricting progress, never allowing you to get away. He will often follow five dot balls with a high, unhittable bouncer just to ensure the score remains clogged for another entire over. His business is to frustrate the batsmen into apoplexy. His re- lentless accuracy and giant strides down a leg-stump line create the ideal habitat for Warne to thrive in, teasing, winkling-out, impos- ing further paralysis, toying with the rough and the batsman's patience.
The web McGrath and Warne weave is incredibly sticky, and England got caught in it on Saturday afternoon. They scraped only 15 runs in half an hour against these two. Mark Ramprakash eventually tried to break out, was stumped, and within minutes 160 for six had become 163 all out.
England do not have bowlers of the calibre of McGrath or Warne. Few teams do. But for the first five Tests, no two England bowlers had formed an operational unit, which could at least have exerted some pressure on the Australians. It needn't be the two most devas- tating, just a couple of guys who complement each other and can work the 'squeeze' rather than haemorrhage runs.
In post-match research, David Lloyd was horrified to discover the number of times in the series England's main bowlers had gone for a boundary off the last ball of an over.
Maybe a solution was accidentally discovered last week. Andrew Caddick and Philip Tufnell took all but one of the Australian wickets to fall in the final Test, but it was the way they took them that was important, too. Two men not known for their financial extrava- gance took their parsimony on to the field, building up the pressure over by over. They bowled 26 maidens in harness during the match.
After a bit of advice from Ian Botham on lengthening his run- up and deepening his concentration, Caddick located a more consistent length at the Oval, while Tufnell responded brilliantly to his long- awaited chance and the stress of having to perform on a helpful wick- et. In the past, he might have buckled under the expectation, but perhaps reassured by having another misunderstood individual as a bowling partner, he exceeded it.
Like McGrath, the rough created by Caddick's long-strided followthrough offered further encouragement to his spinning colleague as the game wore on. They dovetailed superbly, and as the begrudging giant and the unpredictable imp, could evolve as English cricket's very own Little and Large.
Having won their fifth Ashes series in a row, the Australians are campaigning for the relocation of the ancient urn, but are destined to fly out of England with nothing. The -L30 replica presented to Mark Taylor on Saturday was actually borrowed from a display case at Cornhill Insurance's headquarters and will be returned there tomorrow. They were lucky even to receive that, as it was kept in an old champagne box in the Surrey committee room during the game, and had been consigned to the garbage before an official realised the mistake.
So the only tangible commemoration of the Aussies' achievements is on their trainer's buttocks. Steve Smith - 'Tattoo' to his col- leagues - already had a boxing kangaroo duffing up a Springbok drawn on one 'cheek.' ``Look what I got done last week in Ireland,'' he boasted on Saturday afternoon, pulling down his shorts. There on the oth- er cheek was the kangaroo laying into a dazed lion, and '1997' inked underneath. But how to display that at their ticker-tape re- ception without ending up in the slammer?