Is batting getting harder in Australia?

In the blink of an eye, it was over.

England's crushing first-Test defeat by Australia was done in two days, the first two-day Ashes Test in 104 years.

With four more stops before the urn is lifted in Sydney in January, have events in Perth set the tone for the rest of the series?

Are the Ashes about to become the Flashes?

What's going on?

As quite a sweeping generalisation, Test matches across the world are getting shorter. England's home series against India in the summer, when all five matches went into a fifth day, was something of an outlier.

Australian Test cricket has hit the fast forward button harder than most. There have been two two-day Tests in this country in the past three years. Prior to that, there had been none since 1931.

Whether lasting two days or more, Tests in Australia are getting shorter.

In the two decades between the year 2000 and 2020, matches in Australia had an average length of 335.4 overs - almost four days if we work on the schedule of 90 overs per day (yes, over-rates are slower in reality, but we'll park that issue for now).

Since the start of 2020-21 season, the average length of a Test in Australia has fallen to 278.1 overs, barely more than three days.

Wickets are falling more swiftly and more cheaply. In the 20 years to 2020, the overall batting average was 35.1 and the bowling strike-rate 64. In the past five years, those numbers have fallen to 28.1 and 51.2 respectively.

Have the balls made a difference?

How often has the Kookaburra ball been highlighted as a point of difference between cricket played in the UK and the cricket played down under?

The Kookaburra was even introduced to the County Championship to prepare English players for overseas assignments. It resulted in some dull cricket.

The accepted wisdom is the Kookaburra traditionally offers less assistance to bowlers. A machine-made ball, it can feel bigger in the hand and has a smaller seam.

However, five years ago a new version of the Kookaburra ball was introduced to Australian cricket, with consequences to batting averages and the length of Test matches.

This new model, with a bigger seam, has offered pace bowlers more movement off the pitch. Swing - the ball moving in the air - has not usually been a fast bowler's weapon in Australia. Seam movement has been the key, and it is increasing.

If that were not hard enough for batters, the new Kookaburra offers movement for longer.

Whereas a batter can usually expect to be rewarded with easier conditions the longer they stay at the crease, the new Kookaburra ball still offers seam movement when it is 50, 60 or 70 overs old.

Since the new Kookaburra was introduced, wickets have fallen at a cheaper rate, hundreds have been scored less frequently, and Test matches have ended more swiftly.

What about the pitches?

There was a time in the middle of the previous decade when Australian pitches offered next to no encouragement for bowlers.

On England's Ashes tour of 2017-18, the fourth Test in Melbourne yielded more than 1,000 runs for only 24 wickets. The Melbourne Cricket Ground was given a warning by the International Cricket Council for what the governing body deemed a 'poor' surface.

Since England last visited Australia in 2021-22, pitches have given much more to the bowlers.

For the past four years, pitches in this country have been rated as faster, bouncier and more inconsistent than anywhere else in the world. Pace, bounce and inconsistency is the perfect recipe for tough batting.

At this point, it is worth stating there is a subjectivity to what constitutes a 'good' pitch.

Quite often, a pitch can be described as 'good' when it is friendly for batting, yet that does not always produce the most thrilling spectacle.

Perhaps it is better to describe a 'good' pitch as one that produces an even contest between bat and ball.

Pitches also change over the course of a Test, offering different challenges to batters and bowlers as a match progresses.

Take the first Ashes Test as an example. In the first three innings, the highest total was 172 and batting looked devilishly difficult.

In the final innings, Australia's run chase, Travis Head made a target of 205 look minuscule. The run chase could have been much more difficult on the fifth day of a Test, when a pitch would be at its oldest and most worn.

Because of the rapid nature of the first Test, Head was batting on the second evening, when the pitch may have been at its best for run-scoring.

"The pitch was brilliant," said former Australia opener Simon Katich on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"For Australia to chase 200 for the loss of two wickets summed it up. In Australia if you can wear the new ball down you will score quickly from 40 to 50 overs. England weren't able to do that and paid the price."

Is it not down to the bowling and batting?

Ah, yes, the age-old debate between batters and bowlers.

Blame for low scoring is often attributed to conditions or poor batting, often doing a disservice to the quality of bowling.

Mitchell Starc, who took 10 wickets in the match at Perth, made this point and was keen to talk up the quality of the bowling from both teams.

In terms of wickets falling more regularly and cheaply in Australia in recent years, some credit must be given to the home attack, one of the finest of all time: Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.

The art of batting has also changed because of the influence of shorter formats of the game.

A modern player is more likely to tackle difficult conditions with aggression than try to survive with solid defence, patience and determination.

Writing on X before the first Ashes Test, former England batter Kevin Pietersen said: "Batters grow up now to hit sixes and play switch-hits. They don't grow up to build an innings and learn the art of survival.

"The player is not to blame at all as it is exactly where the modern day game is. The game of cricket is now about bright lights, loud music and a financial return for cricket boards, private equity and private ownership.

"I wish more power to the players to make as much $$$$ as they can, whilst they can. Keep hitting sixes and switch-hits and growing your bank accounts, dudes!"

On the latest Tailenders podcast, Sir James Anderson explained how batting coaching Graham Gooch guided the 2010-11 England group and how the current squad may need to adapt.

"I remember in the 2010 series we lost in Perth, it was the Waca, but a similar pitch and Graham Gooch was the batting coach and he'd said the cover drive is a really hard shot to play from length because of the bounce," said Anderson.

"I'm sure England will be thinking this as well - I don't have an issue with them trying to attack, that is the way they play.

"The players will be given licence to play the way you want to play, it is up to you as a player to work out that these conditions are different to what we're used to."

What happens next?

In the short-term, probably some more rapid Test cricket.

Next week's second Test in Brisbane is a day-nighter. The last pink-ball Test in Australia – India's visit to Adelaide last year – was over in the first session of the third day.

Earlier this week, Queensland won a day-night Sheffield Shield match against Victoria at the Gabba inside three days.

Since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over the England team in 2022, the Bazballers have thrived in batter-friendly conditions. England have pulled off some of their best wins on flat pitches.

When the ball has been on top, England have often struggled and matches have accelerated quickly. On nine occasions in the Bazball era, England have been bowled out in fewer than 40 overs.

Anderson added: "I would be surprised if there isn't some adjustment - I don't think they'll go away and say 'right, we're going to block it'. If anything they'll try and be more aggressive.

"It is taking lessons from Head and how he scored and thinking about how you can adapt your game to those conditions. I don't see them at all taking a step back and being more cautious."

Australia are vulnerable, too. In the first innings in Perth the home side tried to blunt England's attack and were bowled out in 32.5 overs.

If the antidote is keeping the explosive Head at the top of the order and bringing an aggressor like Josh Inglis into the team, it creates the possibility of runs and wickets happening quickly.

Perhaps the series will eventually return to 'normal' Test cricket as the series develops, but the smart money is on the Ashes zipping by in a flash.