Day two reaction
And Geoff Lemon on Smith’s neverending run of scores …
That’s it for today’s blog; I’ll leave you with Vic’s match report for the Oval. Thanks for your company - night!
And Barney Ronay on Sam Curran and Steve Smith …
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Here’s Sam Curran
“That wicket is pretty placid, so to bowl them out for 225 is a great effort. The ball swung more as the day went on, and I’ve been trying to swing it more consistently back into the right-handers – I’ve been working on my wrist position and a few things on the ball with my fingers. Trying to bowl more maidens is another way I’d like to improve.
“It was really enjoyable bowling at the best batsman in the world. We’ve tried a lot of things but he’s been incredible. Hopefully he doesn’t get any in the second innings! I’ll be honest, the ball that got Matthew Wade was natural variation. If I don’t know, the batter’s not gonna know! I probably bowled a little too full for the hat-trick balls. But yeah, good fun.
“I’d like to get a little bit quicker. Hopefully it comes naturally and with a bit of hard work. With the schedule it’s not easy to work on different things. At the moment I’m trying to be as consistent as I can – look at Jimmy, or Cummins and Hazlewood. I do get a bit excited now and again when I’m swinging the ball into the pads, but I’m slowly getting better.”
That was another flawed and highly entertaining day’s cricket. Steve Smith made his lowest score of the series, 80, while Jofra Archer bowled masterfully to take his second six-for of the series. Sam Curran (3 for 46) and Marnus Labuschagne (48) also had good days.
England will return tomorrow as clear favourites to win the match, although they’ll want plenty of insurance against a matchwinning epic from Smith. That’s the one thing he hasn’t achieved in the Ashes - his highest score in the fourth innings is 33, and he has never batted in a successful run-chase against England. Yet.
Before he gets to bat, Australia’s champions, Cummins and Hazlewood, will go to the well one last time in an attempt to turn an Ashes retention into an Ashes victory.
Stumps: England lead by 78 runs
4th over: England 9-0 (Burns 4, Denly 1) That was quite an eventful final over. Denly was dropped off the third delivery, an ostensibly simple chance to Harris in the gully. But he lost sight of the ball and it split the webbing on his hand.
Funnily enough, Gary Naylor emailed 15 minutes ago to say it was becoming very difficult to sight the ball because of the low setting sun. Naylor knows.
Burns is not out! It pitched miles outside leg, and that’s an unusually poor decision from Kumar Dharmasena. That’s stumps: England lead by 78.
Burns is given out LBW to the last ball of the day - but he’s reviewed it! I think this pitched outside leg.
3rd over: England 4-0 (Burns 0, Denly 0) Burns does well to defend a full inswinger from Cummins, whose last ball of the day is another nasty bouncer. Burns ducks under it and then smiles, knowing he shouldn’t have to face any more deliveries today.
2nd over: England 4-0 (Burns 0, Denly 0) Joe Denly, who drove back to the ground from Whitstable this afternoon following the birth of his second child, faces up to Hazlewood. The third ball zips past the edge, but the rest of the over is defended solidly. Two more overs for England to survive.
1st over: England 4-0 (Burns 0, Denly 0) Cummins ends a blistering first over by ripping one past Burns’ outside edge. Burns has surely earned the respect of the Aussie pace attack this series; whatever the era, that must feel so good for an opening batsman.
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0.3 overs: England 4-0 (Burns 0, Denly 0) Pat Cummins, who looks justifiably radged off at having to bowl tonight, starts the innings with a ferocious assault on Rory Burns. His second ball hits the shoulder and flies for four leg-byes; the next delivery hits the glove and deflects onto the grille, which means a break in play while Burns is assessed. He seems okay.
Jofra Archer’s debut Test series: 4 Tests, 22 wickets at an average of 17.27. I’m pretty sure that no England bowler since the war has taken as many wickets against Australia in what was also their first Test series, although Frank Tyson had only played one Test before he obliterated Australia in 1954-55.
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England lead by 69, which is a decent bit of Steve Smith insurance for the fourth innings. They have around 20 minutes to bat tonight.
Siddle steered Archer low to the right of gully, where Burns plunged to take a stunning one-handed catch. It was very similar to that legendary Stokes catch at Trent Bridge in 2015, although the ball wasn’t quite as far behind Burns. It was still a truly great catch – and it gives Jofra Archer the second six-for of his short Test career: 23.5-9-62-6. He is the gift that will keep on giving for the next decade. I have no idea what we’ve done to deserve him.
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WICKET! Australia 225 all out (Siddle c Burns b Archer 18)
What a catch from Rory Burns! This is right up there with Ben Stokes’ brab to dismiss Adam Voges four years ago.
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WICKET! Australia 224-9 (Lyon b Archer 25)
Five wickets for Jofra Archer! Lyon is cleaned up by a brilliant slower yorker that thuds into the base of off stump. That’s Archer’s second five-for in four Tests. He is a glorious cricketer.
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68th over: Australia 224-8 (Siddle 18, Lyon 25) Jack Leach comes into the attack, an interesting gamble given Lyon’s aggressive approach. His first over is pretty quiet - three singles, all swept.
“Woakes should be given credit for the disguise he put on that ball to Smith,” says Ian Copestake. “He offered an innocuous-looking delivery that was in fact so innocuous it was nocuous.”
67th over: Australia 221-8 (Siddle 17, Lyon 23) Lyon makes room to blast Archer over cover for four more - and then he’s dropped by Leach at fine leg! Oh dear, that was a pretty straightforward chance after Lyon top-edged a hook. In fact, Leach took a nice low catch but lost control of the ball when his arms hit the ground.
66th over: Australia 215-8 (Siddle 16, Lyon 18) England lead by 89, which is plenty on a wearing pitch. But if Australia can reduce that to 40 or 50, a few England players might start to recall the unwelcome precedent of Melbourne 2013. Lyon adds four more, wafting Woakes breezily over mid-off, and then pings a short-arm pull for six! Haha, that was a sensational shot.
“This is so, SO excellent, Rob,” says Guy Hornsby. “I will fight anyone that says Test cricket is not the finest sport in all of humanity. And I have no idea who’ll win this Test match. Though it would be so England to be facing 340-9 at lunch tomorrow.”
65th over: Australia 205-8 (Siddle 16, Lyon 8) Siddle, who is an excellent No9, waves Archer confidently through the covers for four more. This is Archer’s 22nd over of the day, although his pace is still good - the follow-up bouncer is clocked at 86.5mph.
“So now we know Smith’s weak spot,” says Derek Walmsley. “Bowl over 1100 deliveries at him, and then watch his concentration go to pieces.”
If only this was a 15-Test series. He’s shot to bits.
64th over: Australia 201-8 (Siddle 12, Lyon 8) So, we could be heading for the first drawn Ashes since 1972. That’s such an unlikely statistic - no drawn series in almost 50 years. Yep, I can count.
“Are these the worst batting stats, ever, for two teams in an Ashes series?” asks John Jones. “Woeful.”
They aren’t even close. In the 19th century, 150 was usually a good score. In fact in the 1888 series, the average runs per wicket was 11.11. The average this year, 29.81, is the lowest in an Ashes series since 1998-99.
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63rd over: Australia 198-8 (Siddle 9, Lyon 8) Jofra Archer returns, hunting the second five-for of his short Test career. Siddle thumps a full delivery through extra cover for three, and that’s your lot.
62nd over: Australia 195-8 (Siddle 6, Lyon 8) Woakes, you could argue, is the only England bowler who has got Smith out in this series - once at Edgbaston and once today. The other dismissals were all when Smith was hitting out in pursuit of quick runs.
The new batsman Lyon gets some quick runs of his own, twice thick-edging Woakes for four.
“Rob, you said that Curran might not be in if Stokes was fully fit,” says Adam Roberts. “But what was the thinking for the 4th Test? As I asked during the OT Test, ‘What does Overton bring to this team that others such as Curran (or Woakes) don’t?’ OK, Overton did well as a batsman but Curran is a proven performer with bat and ball.”
I assume they thought that pitch would offer more bounce, as Old Trafford often does. If so, they misread it, but I understand the logic.
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Breaking news: Steve Smith is out. Where’s Walter Cronkite when you need him? Smith walked across his stumps to the new bowler Woakes, missed the usual flick to leg and was plumb LBW. He didn’t even bother to review. It’s often said that you can’t bowl straight to Smith, but he does get out LBW a fair bit. He also flicks millions of deliveries for four, so there’s that.
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WICKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Australia 187-8 (Smith LBW b Woakes 80)
Yep.
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61st over: Australia 187-7 (Smith 80, Siddle 6) Leach continues with a maiden to Siddle.
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60th over: Australia 187-7 (Smith 80, Siddle 6) Curran moves around the wicket to Siddle, immediately slipping one past the outside edge, and them moves back over to beat Smith with a short ball. That’s drinks.
Meantime, I love this stat. Steve Smith’s lowest score of the series is 80 not out. Only three players - Stokes, Burns and Wade - have a highest score in excess of 80.
“Interesting,” says Gary Naylor. “Very interesting.”
I’ve been wondering about this all series. If the regulations are adhered to, both sides should end the series with 0 points. Am I wrong?
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59th over: Australia 185-7 (Smith 79, Siddle 5) Jack Leach replaces Jofra Archer, who has figures of 20-9-48-4. Smith shows all three stumps and takes a delivery right off middle stump, like the bohemian genius he is. He has moved stealthily to within 21 of another hundred.
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58th over: Australia 182-7 (Smith 76, Siddle 5) If England do rip it up and start again, Curran and Pope are the kind of young players they should invest in. Curran’s big-match temperament is so impressive, and he almost picks up a fourth wicket when Siddle survives a couple of LBW appeals after playing around the inswinger. Both were missing leg.
“Sages were writing Curran off as being destined to be a batsman who bowls last season, but I saw that the hat-trick ball was up at 88mph and he seems to have increased his pace compared to last year,” says Tom Bowtell. “If he can get up regularly to 85 and keep the swing, he could be quite the player.”
I suspect the length of his Test career will be determined by his ability to Chamindavaas wickets when the ball isn’t swinging. When it does swing, he’s a big threat, but when you pick an XI you can’t be sure whether the ball will swing.
57th over: Australia 182-7 (Smith 76, Siddle 5) Smith is beaten by Archer, swishing outside off stump with fast hands. The next ball is short, forcing Smith to bend his back to get out of the way. This is a terrific contest - not quite as good at Lord’s, but still a fascinating struggle between a supernatural genius and a future all-time great.
56th over: Australia 179-7 (Smith 75, Siddle 4) “Wonder if perhaps it was a huge mistake to not pick Curran for the first four Tests,” says Abdul Basit. “Could have added vital runs that might have saved the last Test, could have maybe taken much needed wickets. It was always a bizarre decision to drop him, and maybe Root missed a trick.”
I don’t think they know his role, and he might not have played here had Ben Stokes been fit to bowl. I suspect they were burned by those Tests in the West Indies as well. He’s such an exciting player, though; with the possible exception of Jack Crawford, no England allrounder has had as big an impact at such a young age.
55th over: Australia 179-7 (Smith 75, Siddle 4) Smith cuts Archer for four, another emphatic stroke, before slicing a less deliberate boundary between second and fourth slip. Archer has bowled beautifully at Smith today - but he still hasn’t dismissed him in this series. Their battle has been a bit like Anderson v Kohli last summer.
54th over: Australia 170-7 (Smith 66, Siddle 4) Siddle edges the hat-trick ball - an attempted yorker that turned into a low full toss - all along the ground for four. We talk a lot, probably too much, about what Sam Curran can’t do; we should focus more on his priceless ability to make decisive contributions with bat and ball.
That was a classic left-armer’s dismissal, a big inswinger that trapped Cummins in front as he pushed around his front pad. It was actually Steve Smith who encouraged Cummins to review, thinking it was missing leg. In fact it was hitting middle and leg, so Australia lose a review. More importantly, Sam Curran is on a hat-trick!
WICKET! Australia 166-7 (Cummins LBW b Curran 0)
What an awful review. I assumed he must have inside-edged it, because it was absolutely plumb.
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Cummins goes first ball - but he’s reviewed it!
#Ashes2019 In a series full of great seam bowling, Jofra Archer now has the best average of all (bar Mitch Marsh)https://t.co/ZIIC15feZB
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) September 13, 2019
WICKET! Australia 166-6 (Paine c Bairstow b Curran 1)
Well bowled Sam Curran! Paine tries to drive a tempting, full-length delivery that moves away a fraction to take the edge, and Bairstow does the rest. Curran has quietly had an excellent day.
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53rd over: Australia 166-5 (Smith 66, Paine 1) Smith gets a leading edge off Archer that lands safely on the off side. He’s had a fair bit of luck today, at least by his standards. The next ball whistles just past both the outside edge and the off stump; Smith nods in appreciation. A maiden. Both players look like they are building towards another mighty head-to-head contest.
52nd over: Australia 166-5 (Smith 66, Paine 1) A fine maiden from Curran to Paine. He has an LBW shout turned down - missing leg - and then slips one past the outside edge.
“A ‘renaissance in fast bowling’,” sniffs Mark Dawson. “Really? The Aussies have a couple, which doesn’t help much when it comes to assessing Smith’s status. India now have one, who’s probably the best quick Indian bowler ever but hardly Holdingesque. England have Anderson and Broad, both excellent but I’d suggest also not in the McGrath/Marshall class. Archer might be, and quite soon. Time always lends lustre, but I’m with Neil Thapa: today’s bowlers aren’t on the same level as those faced by Border, Ponting and Waugh. Which is not to disparage Smith: you can only beat, dispirit, and humiliate what’s in front of you.”
India have a lot more than one, I would say, and South Africa had a very good attack when Smith faced them. He also averages around 100 against 90+mph deliveries. I was referring as much to the moving ball, which was previously his weakness.
51st over: Australia 166-5 (Smith 66, Paine 1) A bouncer from Archer to Smith beats everyone and goes for four wides. I missed much of that over as I was getting my hands dirty on Statsguru.
Steve Smith’s current series average is 147.40, the highest in Ashes history (min: three innings). He’s fourth on the list as well.
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50th over: Australia 160-5 (Smith 66, Paine 0) You couldn’t make it up department: Steve Smith has been dropped by Joe Root! He flapped at a wide bouncer from Curran - it might have been a slower one - and edged it towards the slip. Root and Stokes both leapt towards the ball, and it hit Root’s right palm before falling to the ground.
Full list of players to bat as often as Mitchell Marsh at No.6 in Test cricket, with a lower average:
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) September 13, 2019
Dwayne Bravo#Ashes
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49th over: Australia 160-5 (Smith 66, Paine 0) Tim Paine survives a huge LBW shout first ball. It was sliding down, I think, and there might have been an inside edge as well. Still, it’s a wicket maiden from Archer, who now has 20 wickets at 17.45 in his debut Test series.
“I should have got Brian Bolus as he was a Notts man at one time,” says John Starbuck of Robert Smithson’s list. “Nice to see Slasher Mackay in the list though; his reputation disguised how dogged he must have been.”
Slasher Mackay and Trevor Bailey is the great lost T20 partnership.
WICKET! Australia 160-5 (Marsh c Leach b Archer 17)
Four wickets for Jofra Archer. Marsh has been suckered out by the short ball. He jumped across his crease and pulled flat and hard to fine leg, where Leach crouched to take a comfortable catch.
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48th over: Australia 160-4 (Smith 66, Marsh 17) Broad tries something different to unsettle Smith by bowling a delivery from behind the stumps. Four runs. It turned into a half-volley and Smith laced it through extra cover.
“I have an opinion on all this Steve Smith brouhaha,” says Neil Thapa. “Make no mistake he’s a great batsman and will go down as one of the greatest of all time. Having said that, I can’t help but wonder what his numbers would be like if he had played 10-20 years ago. I grew up watching and falling in love with cricket when players like Wasim, Waqar, Kumble Pollock, Murali, Warne, McGrath, Steyn (peak), Shane Bond, Akhtar, Lee etc and even though I am not slating the bowlers we have today in any way, I just think those guys were on a different level. Which is why, even though numbers would suggest Smith is second only to Bradman, for me at least, players like Ponting, Kallis, Lara, Sachin, Inzamam, Sangakkara will always rank higher.”
I’d have said the same around 2015, when most English people were Steve Smith deniers. But two things have changed since then – there’s been a renaissance in fast bowling, and pitches have become much tougher for batting. This series in particular has convinced me that he would have got runs even in the mid-1990s, which I think was a golden age of fast bowling.
47th over: Australia 156-4 (Smith 62, Marsh 17) A bit of extra bounce from Archer surprises Marsh, who does well to drop it short of the slip cordon. A maiden. Archer has been superb today: 15-7-31-3. The rest have combined figures of 32-7-123-1.
46th over: Australia 156-4 (Smith 62, Marsh 17) Stylish stuff from Marsh, who drives Broad through cover point for four. Broad hasn’t been at his best today; perhaps the tight schedule has caught up with him, or maybe he needs the Ashes to be on the line to produce his best.
“Pretty sure I’m not the only one who hopes Marsh gets a few,” says Gervase Greene. “Not because he’s a very good player - though he is - but because of the unfair weight placed on his shoulders every time he’s taken block. The trouble with being a family guy, I guess. But I like him for the fact he has never, ever let any dissatisfaction or sense of grievance ever infect his game. Or a press conference post-mortem. Or anything. Quite a feat, really. For that alone, but more, I rate him.”
Indeed. It’s a pretty admirable trait, especially at a time when most of us are picking fights with our own shadow on the internet.
45th over: Australia 148-4 (Smith 60, Marsh 12) Jofra Archer returns to the attack after tea. The wicket of Steve Smith would top off a spectacular debut Test series, surely the best by an England bowler since Dominic Cork in 1995. A good bouncer has Smith falling over to the off side, as he did when he was struck at Lord’s; this time is goes safely over his shoulder. Smith hooks loosely later in the over, too, but the ball lands well short of deep backward square.
In other news, nobody was able to get Robert Smithson’s teaser in the 37th over. Here’s the answer.
“Next plan should be mental disintegration of Smith by exposure to Pythonesque sledging,” says Ian Copestake. “Elderberries and all that.”
Tea
44th over: Australia 147-4 (Smith 59, Marsh 12) A poor ball from Broad is cut easily for four by Marsh, and that’s tea. It was another intriguing session: 25 overs, 92 runs, two wickets. But Steve Smith is still batting, and that might be considered a problem for England.
43rd over: Australia 143-4 (Smith 59, Marsh 8) Curran goes around the wicket to Smith, who belts him through mid-off for four. Next plan!
“Re the question of safe places,” says Risha Mohyeddin. “Why is everyone so sure of Warner’s position in this Aussie team? He’s had a shocking series. Does he have something on the selectors that we don’t know about?”
It’s not a sure thing, because he was really has had a shocker, but I suspect most people think he has enough credit in the bank.
42nd over: Australia 137-4 (Smith 54, Marsh 7) Broad replaces Leach, starting with a maiden to Marsh. He’s an attractive batsman, particularly when he thumps those front-foot drives, but his Test record is fairly modest. He averages 26 from 32 Tests - but he did hammer 181 against England at Perth in 2017-18.
41st over: Australia 137-4 (Smith 54, Marsh 7) “As this has been a difficult series for batsmen not called Smith or Marnus, who would be considered to have enough in the bank to not have their place in doubt?” says Grif. “Warner will be alright, but how about Denly, Buttler and Bairstow? Wade? Both sides could see a few changes moving forward from here.”
Burns, Stokes, Root and probably Warner are safe. Everyone else is up for discussion, I reckon.
40th over: Australia 132-4 (Smith 52, Marsh 4) Bish, bosh: Smith charges Leach to muscle an emphatic six over wide long-on. That brings up his 10th consecutive fifty against England. The man is an absolute disgrace to the law of averages.
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39th over: Australia 124-4 (Smith 44, Marsh 4) Curran has bowled pretty well to Smith, giving him a different problem to solve; a new spirit to crush.
“As others have noted, Bairstow’s fake dismissal of Smith should have led to a five-run penalty,” says Aeddan Shaw. “Could this be a new England tactic, securing a win by umpires missing something that would otherwise have meant they lost (see the World Cup final and, kind of, Headingley). All will be revealed on Monday when England win by three runs...”
Heh. That would have been a particularly miserable enforcement of the laws – it’s not like Bairstow was seeking to gain an advantage. It was just a bit of fun. Once Smith has won the match with his usual double hundred, he should go out on the field and repeat Bairstow’s trick while paying tribute to Andrew McDonald.
38th over: Australia 119-4 (Smith 43, Marsh 0) England beseech Marais Erasmus to give Marsh out LBW to Leach. Not a flicker from Erasmus, and England decide - rightly - not to risk their last review. It was missing leg.
“My Yorkshire terrier, Butch, has a habit of jumping on the lounge pouffe just before Australia lose a wicket!” says Pete Higginson. “He’s been on three times today. Now I’m tempting him to jump on for a fourth time with a juicy dog biscuit.”
A box of Bonios will be with you by 4pm.
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37th over: Australia 118-4 (Smith 42, Marsh 0) A wicket maiden from Curran, who switched ends to replace Woakes.
“From what I can tell, (and assuming Andrew Samson hasn’t already made this point on TMS), Marnus is now fourth in the all-time batting averages for those without a century (min 10 innings),” says Robert Smithson. “Points available for those who can guess the other three (most recent in the 60s).”
It’s a great question. And I haven’t a clue. I was going to suggest Bruce Laird but he played after that.
Wicket! Australia 118-4 (Wade LBW b Curran 19)
Yep, Wade goes. It was a very full delivery that beat Wade’s attempted flick to leg and hit him low on the front pad. Replays show it was hitting the outside of leg stump, and that’s good enough for England. Wade walks off shaking his head about something or other.
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AUSTRALIA REVIEW! Wade has been given out LBW to Sam Curran. It’s tight but I suspect this will be out.
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36th over: Australia 118-3 (Smith 42, Wade 19) Jack Leach comes into the attack for the first time in the match. His fourth ball hits Wade on the pad and whistles just wide of Buttler at short leg. At first I thought it hit the bat or glove as well, although replays weren’t conclusive.
“Anyone who is still complaining that Steven Smith is an ugly batsman does not like cricket,” says Gary Naylor. “I cannot begin to describe what a privilege it is to watch him bat, especially today, when he has played some gorgeous strokes. I decided a while ago that he was the best batsman I’ve ever seen and, incredibly, he’s getting better.”
Steady on, Gary. It’s possible to prefer watching David Gower or Mark Waugh without being outed in polite society as a secret cricket-hater. But I do know what you mean, and I’m starting to grudgingly accept that he’s even better than Lara and Viv.
35th over: Australia 115-3 (Smith 41, Wade 17) That’s a very attractive shot from Wade, a hold-the-pose back-foot drive through cover point for four. Woakes is having another bad day. I’m not sure which came first: Woakes’ poor form or Joe Root’s mistrust. Each perpetuates the other, I know that much.
34th over: Australia 109-3 (Smith 40, Wade 12) This, as the magnificent Ricky Ponting observes on Sky Sports, is a big innings for Matthew Wade. A score here should ensure his place for the Australian summer, when batting will be a darned sight easier than it has been this summer. I’ve just seen that Wade appeal again - he clearly got an inside edge on the ball, but the third umpire disagreed and went to ball tracking. Australia would have gone mad had he been given out, and they’d have had every right to do so.
33rd over: Australia 107-3 (Smith 40, Wade 10) Wade works Woakes through midwicket for three to move into double figures, and then Smith drives majestically through mid-on for four. He’s closing in on yet another half- century.
Wade is not out He played around a nipbacker from Woakes that hit him on the flap of the back pad, but it was missing leg stump so England lose a review. He probably hit it as well, although the third umpire didn’t think so.
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Thanks Geoff, hello everyone. Let’s start with an England review for LBW against Matthew Wade. I don’t think this is out.
32nd over: Australia 100-3 (Smith 36, Wade 7) This is So Steve Smith. Twice Curran thinks he has his man, swinging a ball into the pads. Twice Smith just picks him off for two runs through midwicket. I wonder if someone has suggested to England that this isn’t working?
Smith goes past Greg Chappell’s 702 and George Headley’s 703, one against the Windies in 1975-76, the other for the Windies against England in 1929-30.
There are still 30 players ahead of Smith, which seems bizarre. But he’ll knock a few more off, you feel.
I’m out, with drinks on the field, and Rob Smyth is now your best cricket friend.
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31st over: Australia 94-3 (Smith 30, Wade 7) That last boundary takes Smith to 701. So for series returns he’s gone past Clyde Walcott’s 698 against England in 1953-54, and Doug Walters’ 699 against the West Indies in 1968-69.
Woakes bowls wide to Wade, who creams a square drive for four.
30th over: Australia 90-3 (Smith 30, Wade 3) Archer versus Matthew Wade. This could be interesting. Around the wicket to the attacking lefty. Full rather than short, Wade defends. Then punches the next ball straight, runs! Leach has to belt across from mid-on to long-off, throwing back in.
Now here’s a little vignette. Smith is running to the safe end, the throw going to the bowler. But Bairstow tricks him. Straight up panto. Comes to the stumps as though he’s about to receive the ball. Smith see it and dives! Full length, splat, sending up a cloud of debris. Then gets up to find dirt all down his front and Bairstow cackling madly.
So Smith steps across and slots the next ball off his pads for four.
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Wicket! Labuschagne lbw Archer 48 (83-3)
Archer gets him! All that fast stuff has got him on the back foot, so he’s hanging back when he gets a fuller ball. He plays it badly, coming across the line of the ball rather than straight. But with his weight back he can only jab at the ball with no control. Can’t get in front of his pad, and Archer nails it. Dead in front.
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29th over: Australia 81-2 (Labuschagne 46, Smith 26) It’s not entirely clear what Woakes’ game is. In at the legs this time. He’s got Steve Smith out lbw twice in Test cricket: once at Lord’s after Archer had knocked him out, and once in the night session at Adelaide when the pink ball was hooping. It’s a maiden, Smith patient.
28th over: Australia 81-2 (Labuschagne 46, Smith 26) Archer! Another fizzing over, but again it doesn’t take a wicket. He draws a thick edge from Labuschagne, down through the gully for four. Then bowls a proper bouncer that has Marnus doing gymnastics to get out of the way.
27th over: Australia 77-2 (Labuschagne 42, Smith 26) Broad has been seen out, Woakes is back. It’s a maiden, though most of it goes past Smith’s leg stump to the wicketkeeper, back of a length. Weird and deliberate, or just... bad?
Trevor Tutu emails in. “We are all looking forward to the Newlands Test, and South Africa always deserves to win. What I see is that Australia has managed to benefit from South Africa’s loss. The commentators are saying that Labuschagne has modelled his technique on that of Smith. May I suggest that he looks like Kepler Wessels?”
What do all the Wessels enthusiasts think?
26th over: Australia 77-2 (Labuschagne 42, Smith 26) Smith has gone past the 692 that Virat Kohli scored in Australia in 2015-15. And the 693 that Patsy Hendren got in the West Indies in 1929-30. And the 696 that Arthur Morris got here in 1948. So in Ashes contests, only Mark Taylor (839) and Don Bradman (758, 810, 974) have more runs in a series for Australia.
Labuschagne is hit in the arm by Archer, and there’s a long break as the the doctor comes to check him out. Eventually he’s patched up and will continue, getting through the maiden over.
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25th over: Australia 77-2 (Labuschagne 42, Smith 26) In that last over, Smith in this series went past the 687 that he made in Australia during the previous Ashes. He’s happy to leave Broad for three balls of the over, but when there’s width Smith tries to clobber it. Short and wide, he played a cut shot with a lot of flourish. He doesn’t time it, into the ground to point, who fumbles but not enough. Smith scolds himself in the middle. Broad follows up by overpitching, and this time it disappears for four! Through cover. Smith moves along.
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24th over: Australia 73-2 (Labuschagne 42, Smith 22) Beautiful from Archer, as he nips the ball in, and Labuschagne nicks into his pads. Ducks a short ball, defends, but then the pressure breaks, too straight as Marnus stabs a single. Smith wanders across and makes it look easy against a good line outside off, flicking it through square leg for two runs. Then pushes a single through cover.
Richard Stanton emails in. “In Australia, where I guess many of your readers are sitting, TMS is on the ABC app as a ‘pop-up channel’ called Men’s Ashes.” Thanks Richard. If you flick on your old analogue radio it might also be on ABC Local. The callsigns of 774 in Melbourne, 702 in Sydney, and so on. Not too sure what the broadcast schedule has been.
23rd over: Australia 69-2 (Labuschagne 41, Smith 19) They’ve taken out cover for Broad, who bowls short, and Smith smokes him through the gap for four! A back-foot punch, gorgeously efficient, just timing the ball away with the bat close to his body. Lovely stuff. Then Smith laces the next ball to cover, who has been moved into the gap, and Archer prevents another boundary.
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22nd over: Australia 65-2 (Labuschagne 41, Smith 15) Archer gets to bowl to Smith now. Starts with a bouncer, predictably. Smith ducks, leaves, blocks. Then gets across his stumps and works a shot to midwicket for one. Off strike. He does it so easily.
21st over: Australia 64-2 (Labuschagne 41, Smith 14) Broad from the Pavilion End, wide, and Labuschagne lashes him for four! Up and over backward point, carved that way with an open face. He’s played a couple of big shots wide of the stumps today, which seems more daring than he has been before. Perhaps deciding the conditions today are more favourable to taking the initiative. It raises the 50 stand from 89 balls.
20th over: Australia 60-2 (Labuschagne 37, Smith 14) Archer warms up with a gimme, and Marnus takes it. Off the pads through midwicket. Fourski. Then flicks a single to fine leg. Not Archer’s finest of the summer. Give him a minute.
We’re back, everyone’s fed, and Archer has the ball. A few people have asked for the overseas TMS link, which is here.
“At least the harvest labourers (16th over) traditionally get plenty of cider as part of the job,” writes John Starbuck. “Lunch at the Oval might not be quite the same.”
It’s a model of temperance as far as I can see.
Lunch – Australia 55-2
There lies the break. Australia bowled out England this morning while conceding only a further 23 runs. Not a bad result for the visitors. Then the Australian innings proceeded as it has done all series: the openers gone cheaply, and Smith not gone at all. He’ll be back after the break, and maybe after the next break, and the next as well. Archer bowled with vim this morning, Broad was not especially effective, and Curran has posed a couple of questions when he has got it right.
England still have a chance to take a decisive advantage, but they need wickets after lunch. I’m going to find some (lunch, not wickets) myself, and will rejoin you shortly.
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19th over: Australia 55-2 (Labuschagne 32, Smith 14) Curran to take us up to the lunch break, and he’s too wide when he’s across the batsmen, and again picked off for a single and a leg bye from the balls on the pads. Australia’s (only) two batsmen have done it again.
18th over: Australia 53-2 (Labuschagne 31, Smith 14) Woakes to Labuschagne, and again bowling on the legs for the batsman to clip for four. The Australian 50 comes up. Woakes goes a bit short and draws a glove from Marnus, a false stroke at least.
17th over: Australia 49-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 14) Curran is improving his line against Smith. An appeal for a swinging ball that hits pad, then an even bigger one when Smith shoulders arms and lets it hit his pad. But both times the ball is angling across too much. The second one was outside the line of off by the time it hit him, and would have been going further away. Smith isn’t bothered, and again kicks the ball away from the sixth delivery of the over. It’s a maiden.
16th over: Australia 49-2 (Labuschagne 27, Smith 14) Here is Chris Woakes. Underbowled in the first three Tests, not picked in the fourth, and left until the 16th over for a shot in the fifth. It’s been a strange Test summer for him, tactically. And he starts poorly, perhaps trying too hard. On the pads, Smith ticking a run before Marnus clips four. Then even further down leg for the Labrador to glance to fine leg for another boundary.
“I’ve just loaded up the OBO to see how things are going,” writes Tom van der Gucht. “Seeing Smith and Labuschagne are batting, I may as well not bother checking it again until tomorrow afternoon. These two will still be ploughing out the runs then as the England bowlers toil away in the autumnal field like harvest labourers.” Come, Tom. If a van der Gucht can’t appreciate a Labuschagne, what sort of world are we living in?
15th over: Australia 40-2 (Labuschagne 19, Smith 13) Smart running from Smith! He plays just a defensive push, but it rolls past Curran the bowler and near the non-striker’s stumps. Yes! shouts Smith and sprints after the ball, knowing that he’s going to the danger end as Broad has to get across to field. Marnus responds and they get through. It nearly brings about a wicket two balls later though, as Labuschagne drives at width once again, edging for four! Past Stokes at third slip, who dives and nearly gets a fingertip to it. If Stokes misses it, anyone would have missed it. Labuschagne has looked ropey against Curran, drawn into a few shots.
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14th over: Australia 35-2 (Labuschagne 15, Smith 12) Archer bowls another maiden to Labuschagne, mostly too wide to play but one ball fizzes past the edge.
“You seem pretty certain that Ultra Edge is playing up,” writes Steve Phillips, “but are ignoring (from what I can see) that TV replays only have a certain number of frames per second, and so will not always capture the point of impact, while Ultra Edge is a continuous line. The fact that they don’t always match is a result of this for tiny snicks. This is much like the debate on extremely tight offside and VAR - the point of contact with the ball will not always be in an exact frame, so we can’t be sure. But that’s a debate for another day / thread.”
That’s a fair point, Steve. In today’s case though the issue is that Warner’s replay shows a gap between bat and ball regardless of the frame. The trajectory doesn’t (I think) take it past the edge. And the other part of the issue is that the UltraEdge microphone can pick up any noise near it, not just ball on bat. It’s not that the technology was wrong, it’s that it sometimes gets interpreted wrong.
13th over: Australia 35-2 (Labuschagne 15, Smith 12) No margin for error for Curran with his left-armer’s angle to the right-hander. On Smith’s pads, he’s worked away for two runs. Trying to push the ball further across, he’s too wide and laced through cover for four. Smith is up to a dozen already. Just the 292 to go.
12th over: Australia 29-2 (Labuschagne 15, Smith 6) Archer again, and Smith is away! Flowing cover drive, through the fuller ball. Jack Leach gives hot pursuit to the longest boundary out in front of the scoreboard, and wins a huge cheer as he dives to catch up and flick back for three. Too much width thereafter to Labuschagne, who leaves alone.
“Given the slow over rates,” suggests Martin Gillam, “why not save time by simply having Australia start every innings at 20 for two, with Smith and Labuschagne batting? And not that those two need a gilding of their achievements in this series, but I imagine they pad up quite quickly at the change of innings.”
Very good.
11th over: Australia 26-2 (Labuschagne 15, Smith 3) Time for Sam Curran. Player of the series last year, not getting a chance until the fifth Test this year. Left-arm, angled across Labuschagne. He takes advantage of the angle to cover-drive four, but misses another attempt. There’s an inch between bat and ball, but there’s a spike on UltraEdge again. So that’s out under the new rules, isn’t it?
10th over: Australia 22-2 (Labuschagne 11, Smith 3) Archer is doing it again! Bowling a fascinating spell, I mean. He aborts a celebrappeal after realising the ball took an inside edge into Smith’s pad. It was also way high, but any contact with Smith’s pad is a victory. Then Archer pulls the length back, cuts the ball away, and makes Smith waft off the back foot at fresh air. Meanwhile on TMS, Glenn McGrath is carefully saving a moth and releasing it out the window. Big mean fast bowler indeed.
9th over: Australia 22-2 (Labuschagne 11, Smith 3) It’s Broad who knocks the release valve with his elbow, sliding onto the pads where Marnus can clip him for four! That has been one of the strengths for Labuschagne: even when he’s defending for a long period, he’s still ready to take on the scoring chance when a bad ball comes.
“Am I correct in thinking that when Bradman scored his 974 runs in a series there were 6 Test matches rather than 5? If this is the case then surely an average needs to be worked out for this and Smith doesn’t need as many. However if he does get them playing less matches then it surely puts him as King of All Batting Superheroes.”
You’re not quite correct, Paul Frew. Bradman only batted seven times for his 974. From memory that included scores of 14, 1 and 8. The other four knocks went alright.
Smith is currently in his sixth innings, so he could have seven if he bats again.
He gets off the mark here, walking across to Broad to clip two, then a single. So he’s 301 short of passing Bradman.
8th over: Australia 14-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 0) ... but the real action is at the other end. Archer versus Smith again, with some pace in the pitch and some sunshine around. Archer looks much happier than in the freezing wind of Manchester wearing about three cricket jumpers.
Smith has a flash outside off stump. Archer fields a defensive shot and throws it at Smith. But soon enough the batsman is into his rhythm, stepping across to get behind the ball outside off, and to hop and fend off the one into the body. Maiden.
7th over: Australia 14-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 0) Broad makes Labuschagne play at nearly every ball this over, and it’s another maiden. England turning the screws...
6th over: Australia 14-2 (Labuschagne 6, Smith 0) Archer’s 18th wicket in his fourth Test of this series. He has one ball at Smith, a bouncer on a good testing line that Smith ducks forward under. Smith needs 304 in the match to break Bradman’s record of 974 in a series. Anyone backing him?
Heeeeeere’s Smithy...
Wicket! Harris c Stokes b Archer 3 (Australia 14-2)
Caught at slip! Harris’ unhappy tour continues in the vein of Warner’s, as Archer angled in from around the wicket, perhaps took the ball away slightly, and even though Harris was just blocking from the crease the ball strikes high on the shoulder of the bat and into the cordon, low and dipping on Stokes at third slip who takes the catch well.
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5th over: Australia 14-1 (Harris 3, Labuschagne 6) Broad now, and Marnus is leaving whenever he can. He has played a greater proportion of leaves than any batsman in the series. He does nick one when he can’t get the bat away in time, though, and it bounces through to the cordon.
4th over: Australia 14-1 (Harris 3, Labuschagne 6) Archer again, bowls one lovely delivery to Harris that leaves him like a Communards song. A maiden.
“With all the talk in England about the lamentable batting, has a similar thing been happening in Australia?” asks Michael Hall. “Do you think this series might see the end of Warner, or does he still have enough credit from before Sandpapergate to see him through the winter?”
He still has 21 Test tons, so he’ll be in the side for the home summer for sure. Get his groove back in home conditions. It would be a silly overreaction to turf a player with that record on the back of a bad series.
3rd over: Australia 14-1 (Harris 3, Labuschagne 6) Broad to Labuschagne, angle, into the right-hander’s pads and a big appeal. Not out. Maybe a touch high, maybe just outside the line. Runs in the over though as well: Harris clips three, Marnus two, then a short ball from Broad is cracked through midwicket by Marnus for four. Well timed shot.
2nd over: Australia 5-1 (Harris 0, Labuschagne 0) Any rate, it’s another failure in the book, and another paltry opening partnership. England’s 27 in the first innings here remains the best opening stand of the series for either side.
Archer started from the Vauxhall End. Warner got an edge second ball, played with nice soft hands into the ground, into the gap in the cordon, into the boundary cushion for four. But tried to lather the fifth and instead got a bath. Marnus in the Middle starts early.
WICKET! Warner c Bairstow b Archer 5 (Australia 5-1)
Controversially out. Width from Archer, and short. Warner swats at it wide of off stump and misses, from all appearances. Bairstow goes up, and the cordon half goes up. Then after a long chat they send the not out decision to DRS. On the replay it looks to me like there’s daylight between bat and ball. The ball is close to the edge, but never clearly touching the bat. Yet when the UltraEdge comes up, there’s movement on the graph. Not a spike, like leather on willow usually creates, but a flatter bobble. Which could be the batsman’s spikes on the ground, or something else. But the third umpire says that there’s movement, and that’s enough. Erasmus has his decision overturned on the basis of very sketchy evidence. Warner played a bad shot, but I don’t think you can look at that replay and credibly say he hit the ball.
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1st over: Australia 1-0 (Warner 1, Harris 0) Warner will take first ball, choosing to face Broad. Wanting to be positive, take on the challenge. He’s done that a couple of times recently and it hasn’t worked. Three ducks in 10 balls against Broad.
You can see why with the first two balls. One is wide. The next is very wide. Warner slaps at both of them, and misses. You can hear Jim Maxwell chuckling at the back of the TMS box. “He’s going to need a longer bat,” says Michael Vaughan. The second one should have been called wide, really. Third ball...
Warner’s off the mark! Gets a run this time, angled in at the stumps and he jams his bat down, gets a leading edge along the ground into the covers for one.
The David Warner v Stuart Broad contest will now re-commence.
Thus far:
lbw Broad for 2
caught behind from Broad for 8
bowled by Broad for 3
lbw Broad for 0
caught behind from Broad for 0
lbw Broad for 0
“Geoff, what is the proportionate response to those saying ‘but it’s his natural game’ or ‘it’s a World Cup hangover’ to Buttler being bowled from a T20 shot in the first half hour of the day? A court order banning them from every cricket ground and the OBO?” asks Dominic O’Reilly.
Well, he played some T20 shots off Hazlewood yesterday and it worked quite nicely. I just think he didn’t need to go after Cummins, specifically. But it’s easy to criticise after that fact.
The sun is shining gloriously. Great day for batting.
England bowled out for 294
Buttler and Leach added 68 in all, which made a big difference, but didn’t add enough additional runs this morning to wrest the initiative. Andrew Samson on TMS says that England add an average of over 50 runs while Jack Leach is at the crease in Test cricket. So 294 doesn’t look like a huge total, but runs on the board can be worth more than you think. It’s a total bigger than Australia would have hoped for after sending England in, certainly.
The main question, as ever in this series, is what Steve Smith can do. He might make 294 on his own, like Alastair Cook once did at Edgbaston. England must get him. But that’s been the story forever.
WICKET! Leach b Marsh 21 (England all out 294)
Five wickets for Mitchell Marsh! His first time in Test cricket! He spreads both arms to the sky and beams, gloriously, like the English September sun on his face. What a lovely moment for a player who gets more than his share of barbs, but retains that cheerful outlook regardless. He’s done the job for Australia! And he did it by pitching up. Some swing, on the pads, and Leach tried to work the ball square but didn’t get it.
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87th over: England 294-9 (Leach 21, Broad 0) Buttler out from the first ball of the over, so Cummins... bowls everything else short at Broad and doesn’t look like getting him out. They haven’t got their balance quite right.
Wicket! Buttler b Cummins 70 (England 294-9)
The specialist goes before the tailender! Full and at leg stump, Buttler clears his leg and tries to pump the ball straight, instead he misses and it hits his pad outside leg stump and ricochets back onto the timber. It didn’t feel necessary to play such a big shot at that stage, with Leach hanging in there and runs to be collected rather than plundered.
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86th over: England 294-8 (Buttler 70, Leach 21) Buttler is doing a half-and-half sort of job of farming the strike, turning down a single to deep point from the third ball, then taking one from the fourth. Marsh bowls to Leach, who edges him for four!
85th over: England 289-8 (Buttler 69, Leach 17) Buttler blocks a couple from Cummins then winds up for a wipe but finds the field. He flirts with the idea of giving himself room outside leg, so Cummins tries to follow him and instead bowls straight to fine leg for five wides. Buttler glances a single from the re-bowled fourth ball. Cummins has two balls at Leach... and they’re both short. Have the Australians learned nothing from Headingley.
84th over: England 283-8 (Buttler 68, Leach 17) Mitchell Marsh to take the almost new ball from the other end. Interesting move. Perhaps Paine wants to get him a fifth wicket? Perhaps they think he’ll swing the ball more. Hazlewood would normally be your pick, though? A couple of defensive shots from Leach, given he farmed the strike. And then there he goes! What a shot! A square drive for four from Leach, when he gets width and strides into the ball. He follows up with a brace, a more modest checked drive to cover. This is wonderful stuff from Leach.
83rd over: England 277-8 (Buttler 68, Leach 11) Thanks JP, and good morning from The Oval to everyone around the world. It’s cricket time. Whatever you make of Buttler (he’s very good, sorry) he is here to do something fun this morning. Hopefully. Pat Cummins will start with the ball. Can Buttler and Leach put together more of a stand to annoy the Aussies? They put on 45 together last night, from memory. Buttler wants to get his eye in, and waits and watches against Cummins, until the fourth ball cuts in and ricochets for a leg bye. Buttler takes it, perhaps thinking to minimise Leach’s time on strike. But Leach is having none of that, pushing a single to cover! Resigned to his fate, Buttler blasts a wide ball through cover point for four.
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Ian Forth can have my final post of the morning before Geoff Lemon strides in confidently to mark his guard. “Each new series brings new entrants in what the legendary Irish writer Flann O’Brien once termed the catechism of cliche,” Ian emails. “In honour of the great man, allow me to observe. Q. Out of what has the fielding position of forward short leg these days gone? A. The game. Q. To what did the World Cup Final after eight weeks, six days and seven hours of incredible entertainment, marked by the joyous participation of a capacity crowd at the Home of Cricket come down to? A: This.”
“The argument over whether a specialist wicketkeeper who can’t bat is more vital for a team than a so-so wicketkeeper who CAN bat has a long history,” begins Roy Greenslade (of this parish?). “I pine for the arrival of a re-born Godfrey Evans. Look at that record: 219 dismissals in 91 Tests and the first English player to reach both 1,000 runs and 100 dismissals and then 2,000 runs and 200 dismissals in Tests.”
Some revamped England XIs starting to filter through now.
“I’d like to see a top seven of Burns, Sibley, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler, Foakes given a run, and dropped players (Roy, Bairstow, Ali, Denly) who want to make it back into the side need to demonstrate why they should.” That’s from Joe Cross.
George Brown has gone for “Sibley, Burns, Denley, Root, Stokes, Bairstow / Buttler, Buttler (Wk) / Foakes (Wk ), Archer, Leach, Broad, Anderson. We’d drop YJB for a bit and tell him that we need his runs more than we need his gloves - he’s only getting back in the side as a batsman, partly to upset him (this always seems to produce his best) and partly to show him that he’s not untouchable.”
But Peter Davies gets the last word. “I have a suggestion: pick an England team consisting of 10 bowlers and a keeper. This would mean every innings would consist purely of dogged lower order resistance, and we might get some runs. And one of them might know how to get Smith out, as a bonus.”
Anthony Galvin has done the over rate math(s). “I was at the Oval yesterday and it cost me about £1.30 an over. I’d be happy to have a pay-per-over seat, which would take care of rain delays, extra hours etc.. The bars at the Oval are cashless and able to refund the money for your returnable beer glass back onto your card at the end of the day, so technology isn’t the problem here. Make this a problem for the money men and they’ll soon get onto the players if they are refunding everyone on the way out of the ground!” Amen!
“Your man Duncan’s point on wicket-keepers living in a post-Gilchrist world is an interesting one,” emails Richard McConnell. “I am personally mystified that Foakes, who is a vastly superior keeper and a decent bat, can’t find a place in the team this summer. With all the questions around Root’s role as captain and his waning average with the bat, how much of as burden are the gloves on YJB and Buttler? It feels like a team built on a foundation of compromise. Bring in Foakes and let YJB and Buttler fight it out.” Hard to disagree. Funny how in victory that “foundation of compromise” (a lovely turn of phrase) is celebrated as flexibility and boldness. At the end of the day it comes down to scoring runs and taking 20 wickets as often as possible.
Staying with Australian cricket, Shane Warne has put his name to an MCC report calling for action to address the climate crisis because of its impact on cricket around the world. Tanya Aldred has more.
Warne was part of the MCC World Committee that was last month given a preview of the Hit for Six report, published on Tuesday, which examined the threats that face cricket-playing nations, many situated in areas of the world most vulnerable to the changing climate.
Geoff Lemon, our resident Australian correspondent, was finally given a new storyline to write about yesterday, in the form of the revitalised Mitch Marsh.
Shaun has made a few of the most brilliant Test hundreds of the last decade but can also slump like no other – barely a specialist batsman in history has scored in single figures as frequently. Mitch has shown glimpses of 90mph bowling and heavy run-scoring, but has never strung them together and at times has been abandoned by both.
Predictably, his selection in this Ashes squad in July brought complaints, as did his mooted selection for the fourth Test at Old Trafford, and confirmation of his eventual selection for the fifth. There must have been a moment of double-take in the Australian morning for some of his detractors who woke up to see his first-day figures of four for 35.
And Rob Little has joined in too, very much in the pro-Buttler camp. “I don’t disagree about Buttler – he has been oddly underwhelming at times, particularly in this series – but if you peruse the statistics of *all* England batsmen since his recall (May 2018) I think he does quite well (note that eg Bairstow in that period averages 24). I’d say it’d be harsh to leave him out for the winter tours.”
Mike Gershon has joined in the discussion about where Jos Buttler best fits into this England XI. “I’ve been wondering this summer how he, Bairstow and others might bat if we had a consistently solid top four, so that the potentially explosive middle order batsmen could come in against a softer, older ball, with the bowlers having more overs in their legs. Seeing Buttler revert to some of his ODI style batting yesterday was great, and it clearly put Paine on the back foot. All we need to do is find a new opener to partner Burns and an accomplished number 3 batsman. Oh, wait...” Frustrating isn’t it? But also, at what point does one cut ones losses? Sunk cost fallacy and all...
Ian Forth has failed to realise that I’m not an executive producer at a major movie studio. Easy mistake to make, mind you. “Ah, The Smith Supremacy. Cricket cognoscenti insist that Smith is great for the game, what a time it is to be alive, etc. Absolute nonsense, of course. The only thing that’s ruined this series is Smith being the ringer from the first eleven playing in the under-13s. Imagine if we’d had five Headingleys instead.” Five Headingleys AND a Boycott knighthood in the same summer? You haven’t thought this through Ian.
Barney Ronay has written about Joe Root’s misfortune.
On a crisp, browny-green south London day Root had looked at times like a man draining the last drops of juice from the tank. With good reason. Since the start of May Root has played 24 international matches across three formats, with the full hand in recent weeks of captaincy, post-match blah, dawn stress and night-time insomnia. Even walking to the wicket at first drop these last two matches England’s captain has resembled some bedraggled desert soldier emerging from the dunes at Alexandria, khakis caked with salt and sand, craving just a single cold beer and the credits.
Kim Thonger’s punched his card for the day. “I read this headline ECB faces backlash over stimulus package just now and my first thought was, aha, people are finally realising the stupidity of the ECB’s ‘The Hundred’ format and are kicking off about it. Sadly it’s about the European Central Bank printing Monopoly money or some such. When WILL all we sensible peaceful Test Match cricket fans rise up as one against the buffoons in the committee rooms? (I’m free Tuesday afternoon?)” Ha, that made think of the Death of a Gentleman movie and the excellent Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber stalking N. Srinivasan.
“Hi Jonathan,” hi Duncan Stackhouse. “What do you think of Buttler in the Test team? For some reason I rate him more than Bairstow as a Test cricketer even though he has an inferior average (32 to 35) and fewer hundreds (1 to 6). I have a feeling it’s because he looks much better in defence, allied to the fact that Bairstow gets bowled way too much. In terms of averages though, both of them would be about par for wicketkeeper batsmen. I think it was Geoff Lemon who wrote that our idea of what wicketkeepers can manage has been warped by Gilchrist (and to a lesser extent Sangakkara and ABdV, who stopped keeping to help their batting). Anyway, to the point. My 5, 6, 7 moving forward would be Pope, Buttler, Foakes (don’t ask me where stokes goes, 3?). Mainly because I feel YJB needs to be dropped and I just have a feeling that Jos might yet become our ABdV. What do you reckon?”
It’s a tough one to answer pithily, but here’s my take. I like the idea of Jos Buttler. I think his ceiling as a Test cricketer is high, if only he can find consistent form and a clearly defined role. But I think it’s time he’s picked as a top-six batsman or not at all. He’s 29 and been around Test cricket for five years now without returning the sort of numbers to demand reselection.
Apologies, I’ve logged on in a bit of a grumpy mood (any suggestions for shaking it, gratefully accepted) but it means I can’t overlook that yesterday - a fine and dry day of Test cricket - featured just 82 overs. And that includes an extra half-hour after the scheduled close. Come on ICC, come on international captains, get a grip!
Don’t take my word on the state of play at the start of day two, take Vic Marks’s.
Two contrasting half-centuries kept England afloat – just about – on an another engaging day of Test cricket. Joe Root dutifully grafted away without inspiration in the first half of the day, while Jos Buttler for the first time in the series unfurled some of his one-day magic in the final session. The upshot was that England finished the day on 271 for eight; Australia will not be too disappointed by that; England might be relieved given that they had sunk to 226 for eight before Buttler and Jack Leach combined under the floodlights.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live OBO coverage of day two of the fifth Ashes Test from the Oval.
The state of play on this second morning is reflective of much of the series. The game is unfolding on Australia’s terms after a solid but far from flawless display in the field proved enough to expose England’s frailties with the bat. Rory Burns once again made a decent start, and once again Joe Root chipped in, but neither made the Smithian contribution demanded of them, leaving the scoreboard on the dreary side once the all-too common collapse occurred. Some early evening biff from Jos Buttler put some smiles on some faces but it served only to remind England followers what they were missing when the Ashes were still there to be won.
Frustratingly, considering the state of the series, little new was gleaned from yesterday’s action to add to the planning for future contests. The dismissals of Joe Denly and Jonny Bairstow in particular were agonisingly predictable.
Australia can take heart from Mitch Marsh’s show stealing performance with the ball. They can now look forward to almost three full days during which Steve Smith has the freedom to play merry hell with all sorts of records.
I’m around for the next hour or so to keep this show on the road, but when play begins Geoff Lemon will step into the breach. If you want to share your thoughts with the world during the next hour or so you can send them to me on Twitter or by email.
