ASHOK’s FIVE is back with an absolute cracker of a treat #THETEST now streaming on #AmazonPrimeVideo. This is a stunning eight-part series on the journey of Australian cricket from the shame and dishonour following the Cape town sandpaper gate scandal through the next eighteen months to the team retaining the Ashes in England in the summer of 2019. It is the story of Justin Langer who takes over as the coach and mentor for a new and young team and instills in them the self-belief inlaid with character that goes on to define the values that the team will uphold. “The Test” is simply of how the game of cricket is a way of life, character and values that forms the bedrock of a nation’s reputation!
1. Watch the series for a ringside view of what goes into the strategy and tactics in the dressing room and beyond. Justin Langer is tough, charismatic and vulnerable as he spells out his vision and mentors the boys’ session after session. He is a brilliant strategic mind and a master technician who gets under the skin of his wards. His larger remit is to instill in the team that they can win despite the absence of Smith and Warner and its fascinating to see how he backs himself up on the long and arduous journey. “There is abuse and there is banter… no place for the former here but banter is where you can get under the skin of the opponent” he says.
2. I was fortunate to be there for the last test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Sydney in January 2019 and watch India create history. The episodes that document that series are pure delight for any India cricket fan and is a must watch! The combination of exquisite cricketing shots, slow motion action and dramatic music score make for true sporting poetry, nothing less! Watch out for the stories on Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and the Indian team. It made me proud to witness the kind of impact the Indian captain has made on the Australian team. Their strategy to ignore him rather than provoke him is so not Australian. The solid copybook defensive shots off Pujara’s bat make for fantastic viewing and as the commentator goes on to say, “Time stands still for Pujara”. Harsha Bhogle’s comments are interspersed into the drama and his definition and comments on ‘resilience’ as a mandatory virtue in tests versus T20 cricket are so relevant. In February of 2019, the Aussies came back to play against India in India and the crowds swelled up to support their national heroes. Harsha in his inimitable style says “When you come to India, you play all of India”
3. “The Test” unravels what goes on in the dressing room like never before – the intense team meetings, pep talks, aggressive pitches from the coaches, nail-biting tension as the match unfolds and the emotion, frustration and angst of the players as they walk back in from the ground. The scenes are stark and honest and break down the combined entity called the team into individuals replete with their vulnerabilities and fallibilities. The story is told from the point of view of the protagonists and the other teams are used only to build up the narrative of how a set of young, impressionable and soft-spoken newbies are moulded into what the world outside thinks of them as hard-nosed, tough talking bullies.
4. For context, you have the post interviews with almost all the key players – JL, Pat Cummins, Finchy, Lyon, Khawaja, Staarc and many others. Shot in extreme close up with soft lighting, these tell you an almost different story. The heroes now become human with all their misgivings and failings. Pat Cummins with his almost beautiful eye-brows is so young, so emotional and breaks the stereotype of the mean Aussie quickie. One of the most enduring images is that of Nathan Lyon sitting in the dressing room in anguish, caressing his bald pate with his hand. And that one moment where Usman Khawaja actually breaks down in tears tells you how much these lads look forward to playing for their country.
5. This is story-telling at its best. The pain and the passion that goes into the Ashes is captured so beautifully and the numbing scenes of Archer felling first Smith and then Labuschagne almost seem like how it is meant to be. The series focuses on the mind games that these players go through – the journey of Finch over this period is truly poignant – debut, debate over which slot to play at, failures and then becoming the ODI captain and yet never ever fully sure of himself. Cricket at the international level is not for the faint-hearted. As Peter Handscomb ruefully mutters “Cricket is such a fickle game…. All it takes is some self-belief to get things going” While the highlight of the series is quite clearly the Ashes rivalry and how JL manages to mentor his boys to believe in themselves, do watch out for some interesting side-stories – the ones that stood our for me were the story on mate ship
and how it is different from friendship, the Zampa-Stoinis love café story, Smudger and his weird twitches and sheer intensity, shots of greats like punter and Tugger helping out the boys and of course the superlative commentary “England are up a creek without a paddle”
“The Test” is the stuff that makes you fall in love with cricket all over again. It belongs to Justin Langer and captures for you an amazing tale that begins with shame and traverses the journey to redemption for the Australian cricket team. It is everything that sport has to offer!
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