Joe on Jofra ...
Geoff on Marnus ...
Here is Vic Marks on the draw at Lord’s.
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It’s all over bar the montage set to music. And that’s the first time Joe Root has ever led England to a home draw. Could he have declared a bit earlier? Maybe. Could Roy have held that regulation chance at second slip when Head was on 22? For sure, but then Australia missed a few chances too – if Roy thinks he had a bad game, he can console himself with a glance at David Warner.
The winner, of course, was not just the weather, but Test cricket. Let’s have a round of applause – not boos – for Steve Smith, who played phenomenally well before he took those blows. And a pat on the back for the selectors on both sides – all the bowlers they brought in, Hazlewood and Archer and Leach, did well. And one of them stamped his presence on the world of cricket in a way no bowler had done on debut since Narendra Hirwani of India, decades ago.
So Australia hang on to their 1-0 lead as the Ashes head for Headingley in Leeds, where battle resumes on Thursday, and England will need the win that just eluded them here. Thanks for your company and your emails.
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Match drawn!
The umps have called it off, three balls early. Fair enough. A day that had anti-climax written all over it turned out to be enthralling. Well played Travis Head, and Marnus Labuschagne, and Jack Leach, and above all Jofra Archer.
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47th over: Australia 154-6 (Head 42, Cummins 1) Head sees off Denly, turning down at least four runs in the process. Can’t work out why he didn’t take a single off the last ball.
46th over: Australia 154-6 (Head 42, Cummins 1) Leach had Cummins dropped earlier in the over, a tough low chance to Burns at silly point, which will at least make Roy feel a bit better. The win isn’t quite going to happen, but it’s still fun to watch.
Not out!
Cummins had shoved his pad well outside off.
Review! For LBW against Cummins
No shot played, to Leach... Looks tight.
45th over: Australia 154-6 (Head 42, Cummins 1) Denly manages a maiden, but there’s no real threat, understandably.
And here’s Colum Fordham in Italy. “Told my wife I’d go down to a little bar in the sleepy town of Piobbico in Le Marche, to watch the last two hours of the Test. ‘I’ll be back in an hour if it seems to be getting boring.’ Well, it’s fascinating with Leach and Archer peppering the Aussies and I’m still here lined up for a refreshing aperitivo to enjoy this amazing phenomenon that is Test cricket. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
44th over: Australia 154-6 (Head 42, Cummins 1) Cummins keeps Leach out. And the umpires decide that the light is too bad for Archer to bowl, so it’s going to be ... Denly’s part-time leg-breaks.
43rd over: Australia 154-6 (Head 42, Cummins 1) Archer hits Head on the hand, which is preferable to hitting anyone on the head. Root gives him seven close catchers – a silly point, two short legs and a leg gully as well as two slips and a conventional gully. If this is going to be a draw, it’s a very gripping one.
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42nd over: Australia 153-6 (Head 42, Cummins 0) Head cover-drives Leach for four. He’s been quietly excellent, keeping his Head while all around etc.
41st over: Australia 149-6 (Head 38, Cummins 0) “England,” says Shane Warne, “are a chance. A good chance!”
Wicket!! Paine c Denly b Archer 4 (Australia 149-6)
Just when you think this game has nodded off, it jerks back into life. Archer’s bouncer brings a hook from Paine which is caught by Denly, leaping to his left at square leg like a one-handed salmon.
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40th over: Australia 144-5 (Head 37, Paine 4) Paine on-drives Leach for four, which sends him over the wicket and allows for some kicking away. Eight overs left, and Australia have almost escaped.
39th over: Australia 139-5 (Head 36, Paine 0) Root, who’s looking more authoritative than he has for some time, keeps Archer on and gives him three short legs for Tim Paine – two in his hip pocket, one at leg slip. Paine insists on fending the short ball, which keeps all those men interested, but he survives.
38th over: Australia 138-5 (Head 35, Paine 0) So England’s chance of a win on CricViz has rocketed from zero to 3%. I’d put it a bit higher than that – say three times as high. There are ten overs left.
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Wicket!! Wade c Buttler b Leach 1 (Australia 138-5)
Oooh.... Is that a door I hear, just creaking ajar? Leach lands one in the rough, which Wade can only prod to Buttler at short leg. And Leach is on a hat-trick.
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37th over: Australia 137-4 (Head 35, Wade 0) Even a weary Archer can still rattle a helmet. This isn’t one of his sickeners – Matthew Wade ducks and the ball just glances off his lid and goes for four leg byes.
36th over: Australia 132-4 (Head 34, Wade 0) So Leach picks up a third wicket, equalling Lyon’s match haul, for far fewer runs.
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Wicket! Labuschagne c Root b Leach 59 (Australia 132-4)
Yet another sweep, a ricochet off the man at short leg, and Root seems to have held on to an excellent low catch at square leg. After many replays, it’s determined that he has. Labuschagne goes off shaking his head, just as Smith would. What an understudy he has turned out to be.
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35th over: Australia 124-3 (Labuschagne 51, Head 34) Joe Root takes himself straight off again, not unreasonably, and turns back to his favourite bowler, Jofra Archer. The force isn’t with him, the speed is a Broad-like mid-80s, but the accuracy is still there. He’s now got through 40 overs in the match and taken four for 86. In the course of his debut, he has turned into a senior player.
34th over: Australia 123-3 (Labuschagne 50, Head 34) Marnus Labuschagne sweeps Leach for four, pushes him for a single and reaches a fine fearless fifty off 89 balls – the greatest innings ever played by a concussion sub. Like for like, you say...
And here’s an unexpected email from Alexander Hayes. “Please can you tell my younger brother Oliver Hayes [24th over] that if he wants to humblebrag about his rural French idyll on OBO, he should more correctly use ‘younger’ to refer to his poo-archering son, as to my knowledge (though this would be an interesting public forum on which to enlighten the family) he has only the two offspring.” Oof.
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33rd over: Australia 118-3 (Labuschagne 45, Head 34) This is the first over of the last 15, though there may be handshakes before that. Root brings himself on, dishes up two balls of filth (both cut away with ease), and then settles with four dots. That’s drinks, with the game finally drifting towards the draw that Jofra Archer did all he could to prevent.
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32nd over: Australia 111-3 (Labuschagne 41, Head 30) Another maiden, this time from Leach – the run was a leg-bye, cricket’s perennial waste of space.
“Do not have electricity at my home in India now,” says Vivek Begwani, “and my mobile phone has just 5% charge left. Not sure will be able to sustain till the end of the Test match, just keep the Aussie boys going for me Tim, would hate to see them lose from here by the time I get an update. Already feeling the sense of helplessness of not being able to follow such a crucial end of one of the riveting Test matches.” Riveting is the word. And I’m feeling your pain with the 5%.
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31st over: Australia 110-3 (Labuschagne 41, Head 30) Stokes bowls a maiden to Head, which is a minor triumph after he conceded 16 off his first two overs.
“Dearest Tim,” begins Mac Millings. “Darren Thompson (25th over) can rest assured that Gary Naylor is purely a figment of the fevered OBO Collective Imagination. And I should know – I’ve met him.”
30th over: Australia 110-3 (Labuschagne 41, Head 30) Facing Leach, Labuschagne produces a tuck for two and a sweep for four, then plays and misses at a snorter out of the rough, and misses two more sweeps, one of which brings a noisy appeal for LBW. He seems to have mislaid that calm temperament he showed against the new ball.
29th over: Australia 104-3 (Labuschagne 35, Head 30) Head rubs it in with a couple of fours, through the covers, one of them via an uncharacteristic misfield from Denly. The sun is back out now, and England’s hopes are virtually extinguished.
Dropped! Head by Roy
Stokes persuades Head to fend away from his body, the chance is a straightforward one, but Roy fumbles it at second slip. He’s had a nightmare here.
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28th over: Australia 96-3 (Labuschagne 35, Head 22) Leach returns with four men round the bat, and again there’s an ooh and an aaah as one keeps low. In the second innings, Leach has outbowled Lyon, who took none for 102 earlier.
27th over: Australia 96-3 (Labuschagne 35, Head 22) Stokes comes on, half an hour after the OBO demanded it. Head greets him with a back-foot force for four and then repeats the shot, with less conviction but the same result. In between, Stokes almost nabs him with a yorker, only to realise that it’s angled in too sharply.
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26th over: Australia 88-3 (Labuschagne 35, Head 14) Labuschagne spots a wide one and cuts for four. After all those quips about the impossibility of finding a like-for-like replacement for Smith, they seem to have found one.
Not out!
He was struck outside the line, and was playing a shot, so we never get to ball-tracking, but Woakes is getting warmer here.
Review! Fow LBW against Labuschagne
Woakes thinks he’s goddim...
25th over: Australia 84-3 (Labuschagne 31, Head 14) Head glances Broad for four.
“Who is this Gary Naylor bloke?” wonders Darren Thompson on Twitter. “He seems to get a mention every day on OBO for years. Is he a sage, is he a mate, or is he a Gary? A Gary that asks/comments the most pertinent questions and I am not jealous of. Not at all.”
24th over: Australia 80-3 (Labuschagne 31, Head 10) The lights are on to counter the encircling gloom, which prompts Root to take Leach off and turn to Woakes. He makes both batsmen play but doesn’t get past the edge.
“The runs” is the subject line from Oliver Hayes. “My youngest has just archered the contents of his bowels up his back (and my front), his brother simultaneously crashed a jam jar to the tiled floor, and the rather over-sensitive washing machine is leaking spectacularly in the face of heavy spin (sorry). All this is fading wonderfully into irrelevance as I grin from ear to ear listening to long-wave coverage of the cricket from rural France.”
“Never mind archered,” says Amelia Vine, “you could just be leached instead?”
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23rd over: Australia 77-3 (Labuschagne 30, Head 8) Archer gets his breather at last as Broad returns. Labuschagne sizes him up with a leave or two and then pulls out a classy cover drive.
“Afternoon Tim,” says George Browne. “Is there anything better in all of cricket than absolute fire at one end and a confident spinner at the other?” Well, yes – a tied World Cup final, followed by a tied Super Over. But I take your point.
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22nd over: Australia 73-3 (Labuschagne 26, Head 8) Head has the guts to drive Leach out of the rough and gets his reward with four through the covers. He celebrates by keeping out a grubber of the kind that did for Bancroft. It may be lucky this pitch didn’t have five days’ full wear and tear: it would be a minefield.
“I know we talk about 2005 a lot,” says Guy Hornsby, “but I’ve not felt as excited about a Test debut since KP came on the scene. And like that incredible Test, Archer has taken it by the scruff of the neck. We may not win this, but there’s a real frisson for his potential career.”
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21st over: Australia 69-3 (Labuschagne 26, Head 4) Root, who just loves his new toy, keeps Archer on. First ball, Labuschagne has a waft at a short one outside off. Second ball, delivered from round the wicket, he manages a canny shove for a single towards midwicket. Third ball, 90mph and full, Head tucks off his pads for four. Last ball, up at 92, there’s an appeal for LBW, but again it’s too legsideish. Archer needs a breather, if only to digest his tea.
An update on the Thonger Dilemma (2nd over and 16:59). “Please tell Tom Atkins,” says Kim Thonger, “I’ve compromised by watching Tarantino with the TMS channel streaming discreetly into my hearing aid. Should be an interesting audiovisual experience.”
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20th over: Australia 63-3 (Labuschagne 25, Head 0) Labuschagne keeps out Leach, who’s been quietly excellent in this match, giving Root the control that Moeen couldn’t. England’s chance of a win on CricViz has slid back down to 7%, which is seven more than Australia’s.
19th over: Australia 62-3 (Labuschagne 24, Head 0) Root is in danger of overbowling Archer again – this is his ninth over and his pace is down to 86 or so. Get Stokes on!
18th over: Australia 59-3 (Labuschagne 21, Head 0) Labuschagne lives dangerously against Leach, sweeping when there’s a man on the 45 waiting for the top edge, but he gets away with it and works a single to midwicket. Australia need another 208 off 30 overs. “I don’t think they’re going for them,” says Warne.
17th over: Australia 58-3 (Labuschagne 20, Head 0) Archer gets one past the outside edge, but Labuschagne responds with a couple of good leaves. “Looks really well organised,” says David Lloyd, who once spent a winter dodging thunderbolts from Lillee and Thomson, on far quicker pitches than this.
16th over: Australia 53-3 (Labuschagne 20, Head 0) Travis Head decides to treat Leach to the sweep, and misses. Chastened, he tries a prod, and thick-edges just short of Joe Root at short square leg. Then he shapes to sweep again, pulls out at the last moment, and is nearly bowled, before jabbing down on one that keeps low. “He’s all over the place,” says Shane Warne. “Wonderful over from Leach.”
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15th over: Australia 49-3 (Labuschagne 20, Head 0) Archer continues from the Pavilion end but is only bowling 87-88mph. He must have had one celebratory cupcake too many.
“Mr Labuschagne,” says Jason Ali, “has a rather grand name. Moreover, you can have a bit of fun making anagrams from it. One of my favourites is Agnus Bleach. It’s the sort of moniker a character from The League of Gentlemen might have.”
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14th over: Australia 47-3 (Labuschagne 18, Head 0) Leach continues and Labuschagne, after kicking him away, works a single into the leg side. He’s shown great temperament. But then comes Bancroft’s downfall, and England’s chance of a win on CricViz jumps from 7% to 15.
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Wicket!! Bancroft LBW b Leach 16 (Australia 47-3)
A grubber! And Bancroft goes back, fatally. That was about as plumb as plumb can be.
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“Tell Kim Thonger to stay with the cricket,” says Tom Atkins, referring to a dilemma from the 2nd over. “Tarantino films are like the West Indies – magnificent back in the day but nowadays patchy with the odd reminder of their former brilliance becoming increasingly rare. The Bluray will be out later in the year when the evenings get too cold and dark for cricket.”
“How long,” wonders Gary Naylor, “before ‘to archer’ becomes a thing? ‘I thought Anthony Joshua was finished, but he absolutely archered Andy Ruiz in the rematch.’ ‘You don’t really want to go archering blokes in Bristol.’ ‘Root was archered in The Walkabout but he’s getting his revenge now.’”
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“Perspective,” says the subject line of an email from Matt Dony. “Yeah,” it goes on, “but he’s no Alan Igglesden, is he?”
13th over: Australia 46-2 (Bancroft 16, Labuschagne 17) Poor old Labuschagne, facing Archer again, is rapped on the glove. Undaunted, he gets three for a push past gully, Bancroft then pops one into the leg trap, but it’s off the thigh pad. And finally Archer bowls that brutal bouncer of his, and Bancroft jags his head out of the way, exemplarily. And that is tea, with Australia needing another 221 off 35 overs. “Serious Test cricket,” says Nasser. He can say that again. See you shortly.
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12th over: Australia 43-2 (Bancroft 16, Labuschagne 14) Now Jack Leach comes on, and after being innocuous from round the wicket, he goes over and instantly gets one to spit past Labuschagne’s outside edge. This game isn’t going to sleep yet.
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11th over: Australia 42-2 (Bancroft 16, Labuschagne 13) Yes, Archer is changing ends, and his first ball eases quite effortlessly past Bancroft’s outside edge. A couple of balls later, Bancroft takes one – for the team – in the midriff. It’s almost time for tea, which could be the most welcome break of these two young batsmen’s lives.
“Once Jofra Archer becomes accustomed to the subtleties of the longer form of red-ball cricket,” says Paul Griffin, “I think he could be rather effective.”
10th over: Australia 42-2 (Bancroft 16, Labuschagne 13) Leach was a decoy: it’s Chris Woakes replacing Archer, or perhaps enabling him to change ends. Labuschagne sizes him up and then on-drives, handsomely, for four.
“Jofra Archer,” says the editor of Cricinfo, Sambit Bal, on Twitter, “is a once-in-a-lifetime bowler. He is not only going to take lots of wickets, he is also going shatter the confidence of a few batsmen.”
9th over: Australia 38-2 (Bancroft 16, Labuschagne 9) Bancroft again flirts with Broad’s leg trap. He’s been positive but far from convincing. And now Jack Leach is loosening up.
8th over: Australia 36-2 (Bancroft 14, Labuschagne 9) Whatever you think about people batting on after being hit on the head, Labuschagne, like Smith yesterday, is showing that he is not short of ticker. He cover-drives Archer for four, then plays and misses, but keeps his cool to squirt another four wide of the slips. Joe Root seems to be whipping up the crowd to make more noise, which brings a tut from Nasser Hussain, who wants to see more than two slips. “The crowd can’t set the field for you.”
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7th over: Australia 28-2 (Bancroft 14, Labuschagne 1) Broad is almost a bit-part player but he very nearly nabs Bancroft, flicking loosely and just evading the diving Stokes at a deepish leg slip.
An email from Rob Smyth, of all people. “Can you have a concussion sub for the concussion sub? (Serious question)” I guess so...
6th over: Australia 20-2 (Bancroft 7, Labuschagne 0) Archer follows up that blow, understandably, by bowling line and length to Labuschagne, who misses the first ball and leaves the next. What a bowler Archer is, though. He now has two for five in this innings, and he has made the most dramatic Test debut at Lord’s since Bob Massie in 1972.
Labuschagne hit on the helmet
Not again... Archer’s bouncer thuds into Labuschagne’s grille, and makes that sickening noise that rang around the ground yesterday. He gets straight back to his feet, thankfully, but is being checked by the team doctor.
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Wicket!! Khawaja c Bairstow b Archer 2 (Australia 19-2)
Another one for Archer! A classic nick behind. Australia’s top order has been awful in this series, even worse than England’s. And they don’t have their Bailout Man today, alas. Here comes the first concussion sub in Test history, Marnus Labuschagne.
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5th over: Australia 21-1 (Bancroft 7, Khawaja 0) Bancroft is a reassuring figure for fans of the opposing side. He gets a wide one from Broad and wafts at thin air, but recovers well to clip for four and reduce the target to 250.
“Hey Timmy,” says Sarah Helsham, in an email from a few minutes ago. “Last we spoke, we were in Hoi an Vietnam reading the stream of game 1. Me and Shaun (English man and Aussie girl) couldn’t watch, so thanks for the Guardian. We are back home in Sydney now and thankful for our TV – can the Aussies pull off another win? With my hero Steve out, I am not so sure, and of course it all depends on when England declare - shauno thinks, against his better judgement, that a declaration will never happen. But they just did after smashing us about a bit.... Can Warner pull put some 20/20 form and bring us a victory? Doubt it.” Well, you got that right. “Keep up the good work mate.”
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4th over: Australia 13-1 (Bancroft 3, Khawaja 0) Fortified by his third Test wicket, Archer puts his foot on the pedal and greets Khawaja with a 92mph snorter. He follows up with a yorker, which Khawaja clips neatly but not past the man at square leg. Archer bowled far better than his figures in the first innings, so he was owed that wicket.
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Wicket!! Warner c Burns b Archer 5 (Australia 13-1)
Warner flops again! He was looking purposeful but the first ball he faces from Archer undoes him – it’s on off, straightening a touch, he pokes forward, and Rory Burns takes a sharp low catch at third slip. Game very much on.
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3rd over: Australia 12-0 (Bancroft 2, Warner 5) Four leg byes as Warner misses a tickle off Broad. He then misses an upper cut, before each batsman takes a quick single. CricViz, which was giving Australia 0% chance of a win a few minutes ago, has raised them to 1%, with England lording it on 7%.
2nd over: Australia 6-0 (Bancroft 1, Warner 4) Heeere’s Jofra, snaking in from the Nursery end, from where he bowled that Super Over, five long weeks ago today. He’s a little stiff, only manages 85-87mph, but his line is so good that there’s no run from Bancroft’s bat, just a no-ball.
“Afternoon Tim.” Good to hear from you, Kim Thonger. “We are very worried, for two reasons. We have tickets for Tarantino’s latest movie, at 17:20 today. 1. How on Earth do we choose between the twin joys of his plot twists, and a final session climactic showdown at Lords? Coin toss? 2. Our daughter can be squeamish. She can just about cope with Tarantino gore-fests but if we choose the cricket should we make her look away?”
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1st over: Australia 5-0 (Bancroft 1, Warner 4) Broad starts with a dud, trying to york Bancroft and succeeding only in giving him a gimme outside leg. He produces a better ball for Warner, but a bit wide of off, and Warner punches it for four as if he hadn’t been Broad’s bunny this series. Next ball is a beauty, straightening, beating Warner’s prod, going over middle, and turning Broad’s face into that emoji of astonishment that we know so well. Later in the over, there’s an inside edge. Game definitely on for now.
Are you ready for episode two of The Archer? So am I, but first it’s going to be Stuart Broad, from the pavilion end, which is where Archer was so formidable yesterday.
“Agreed,” says John Starbuck, picking up on 15:23. “Stokes is now mainly a batsman who bowls a bit. This means that they could draft in Sam Curran for Denly or Roy and go with four fast men and a spinner. I’d send Bairstow in to open and give the gloves to Foakes, too.” I’d love to see them find a way of fitting Curran in, but I’m not sure that will be it.
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The equation
So Australia need 267 to win off a theoretical 50 overs, more likely around 47. That’s a good decision by Joe Root, giving his bowlers a slim chance of taking ten wickets – in the first innings of this series, at Edgbaston, Australia were eight down in the 44th over, and that was with Steve Smith immovable at one end. Game on, if only for a bit.
Declaration! England 258-5 (Stokes 115, Bairstow 30)
And that’s that, after one last over from Siddle that turns into party time. Stokes sees a full toss and straight-thumps it for four, then swings a six into the stand.
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70th over: England 242-5 (Stokes 100, Bairstow 29) Bairstow celebrates Stokes’s ton with a six. The mood has turned, rather more sharply than anything from Lyon.
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Hundred! Stokes 100* off 160 balls
A nudge round the corner off Lyon, and he’s there. That is a very fine hundred, partly because it was far from flawless – dicey at first, then dogged, and finally domineering. His first fifty took 106 balls, the second only 54. It’s almost official: Stokes is now a batsman who bowls.
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69th over: England 235-5 (Stokes 99, Bairstow 23) Stokes takes a quick single off Siddle, hoping for two, but it’s not there. Bairstow then does likewise and manages it, which stops Stokes getting the strike. One more over, if that Thorpe signal is to be believed. England lead by 243.
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68th over: England 232-5 (Stokes 98, Bairstow 21) Graham Thorpe, England’s batting coach, points three fingers at Stokes from the balcony, suggesting that he has three overs to get his hundred before the declaration. It shouldn’t take that many – he’s seeing it so big now, he shovels-pulls Hazlewood neatly into the gap between deep square and long leg.
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67th over: England 224-5 (Stokes 91, Bairstow 20) Siddle manages a few dots, so Bairstow improvises and dinks a four through the deserted slips. It’s not often that England accelerate when Jos Buttler gets out but that’s exactly what has happened here. These two have added 63 in ten overs, and the crowd are loving it.
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Afternoon everyone and thanks Geoff. Remaining japery! Makes a change from all the leaving japery Britain is having to stomach at the moment.
66th over: England 215-5 (Stokes 87, Bairstow 15) Lyon is off, spin hasn’t worked. Hazlewood comes from the Nursery End, pace both ends. Stokes charges him, slogs across the line, and misses utterly. Maybe there was a message from Root. Get your ton fast, we’re having a Guy Rundle. Stokes then tries a pull shot and misses. Then another big wallop, and not only misses but gets rammed straight in the bowl of Jatz Crackers. Sits down for a minute to compose himself. Doesn’t compose himself. Charges again, has another big smear, and gets a bottom edge past leg stump for two. Tries a glide to farm strike and hits point instead. Then finally connects with the sixth ball and crunches a cut for four!
That’s my lot for Lord’s. See you at Headingley. To guide you through the remaining japery from here, it’ll be Tim de Lisle.
65th over: England 209-5 (Stokes 85, Bairstow 15) I think you can say that England are safe now, with the lead over 200. Stokes charges Siddle, starting a new spell, and spanks him through cover for four! Then nails another drive but only for one this time. Bairstow clips a couple. Australia could still lose it from here but it would take a huge collapse. They’d have to bowl England out actually, because I doubt England will declare. Unless this hitting is a prelude to declaring. Safest option is to bowl maidens but not take wickets now?
64th over: England 201-5 (Stokes 80, Bairstow 12) Stokes. Lyon. Edge. You know the drill. Yet again, Stokes plays a false shot but gets away with it.
Enough of this nudging about, he says. With two balls left in the over, he clatters them both into the Tavern Stand for six. Slog-sweeps, one after the other. A man out there on the rope but not required. Sorry, Richard.
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63rd over: England 187-5 (Stokes 66, Bairstow 12) YJB nearly goes the same way as Buttler, top-edging the Cummins short ball. This time it lands safely out at midwicket for a run.
“Why was Buttler hooking in this situation?” asks Richard Mansell. “Time and wickets are more important than runs, and it’s straight after lunch. It’s an unnecessarily high-risk shot in the circumstances. He didn’t need to play that ball. Didn’t S Waugh stop hooking because he realised the risk wasn’t worth it?”
Not sure I agree. If you survive a ball, that takes time out of the game. If you score runs from it, you double that time. Because then Australia have to score the runs back. Some discretion is still required, but strokeplay is an asset in this situation.
62nd over: England 185-5 (Stokes 65, Bairstow 11) Still no wickets for Lyon. He’s had his near chances, but hasn’t broken through. It’s not a true fifth day, given we’ve only had two days of wear on the pitch, but he would have expected more of himself. Two singles from the over.
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61st over: England 183-5 (Stokes 64, Bairstow 10) Stokes is collecting runs pretty comfortably now, driving Cummins out through the covers for a couple. Has a big wallop at a wide ball before more successfully pushing one away for a single.
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60th over: England 180-5 (Stokes 61, Bairstow 10) Heeeeeere’s Jonny! Third ball of the over, he skips down and deposits Lyon over long on for six! Over the rope at the Nursery End. Then plays a reverse-sweep for one. Not sure what the public response would have been had either of those shots cost England’s sixth wicket, at 178 in front. Lyon isn’t perturbed, drawing Stokes’ edge the very next ball, but again it flies safe. Has he had three or four of those from Lyon?
Three runs, then a huge appeal as Bairstow misses a sweep down leg. Paine was sure there was glove on it. Just as well he’s out of reviews, otherwise he would soon have been out of reviews. No contact.
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59th over: England 168-5 (Stokes 57, Bairstow 2) Cummins to Bairstow, who manages to get a glance fine for a run. Cummins is just trying discipline to these players, not looking to snort them out. Given his recent success with snorting, one wonders whether it might not be a good move. These two are pretty solid against the short ball. It did work against Buttler though. A couple of runs for Stokes through deep third.
“Why does a withdrawal due to concussion warrant a like for like replacement , but other injuries do not? I wonder if we will see a wholesale change in this area before too long?” writes Simon Weekley. We might, I’m sure it’ll be discussed. The main difference is to discourage players pushing on through injury. Someone playing through concussion is in the worst case risking their life, where someone playing through a tight calf is not.
58th over: England 165-5 (Stokes 55, Bairstow 1) Young Jonny Bairstow is the new man in, down the non-striker’s as Stokes faces up to Lyon. They trade a couple of singles, then Australia go up for DRS again when Lyon hits Stokes on the pad. That one looked with the naked eye like it was missing leg stump, and DRS thinks the same. It was straightening but not that much. There was a long delay while DRS froze and wouldn’t show the prediction, but eventually it came up: red, red, green. Both reviews gone for Australia. England lead by 173. Pop them in?
57th over: England 161-5 (Stokes 54) Thick inside edge from Cummins for Stokes, two runs through square leg. Then a single to point, before Buttler’s fateful hook to end the over.
“Sky Sports has switched from the cricket to Crystal Palace v Sheffield United. Main event my arse,” writes Ian Sargeant. They might want to switch back.
WICKET! Buttler c Hazlewood b Cummins 31 (England 161-5)
There it is at last! Match back alive? Maybe so. Cummins bowls a well-directed short ball at Buttler’s left shoulder. The batsman takes it on, but his thick top edge swirls down near the fine leg rope where Hazlewood stands firm. Five down!
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56th over: England 158-4 (Stokes 51, Buttler 31) Another miss against Lyon! This time the ball beats the edge, hits the keeper, and loops over second slip for an extra. The Stokes show rolls on.
55th over: England 157-4 (Stokes 51, Buttler 31) The sandwiches have been cleared away and the players are wandering out onto the field. Australia will need to get a rattle on if they want any chance of a win in this match. The draw will firm as each over goes by. Cummins hangs the ball outside off stump for the entire first over, and Buttler will not be drawn.
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Lunch – England 157-4, leading by 165
No wicket lost in the session, which is huge for England. Their dream realised. 21 full overs have been wiped off the total, so in theory we have 67 left to bowl at minimum. The chance of a result recedes. Stokes and Buttler, the Lord’s favourites, are doing a job again.
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54th over: England 157-4 (Stokes 51, Buttler 31) Two singles from Lyon’s over, with Stokes getting his via another edge past slip. But he make it to lunch unscathed!
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53rd over: England 155-4 (Stokes 50, Buttler 30) A maiden for Siddle, strictly speaking, though the last ball flies to the boundary from Buttler’s pad as he advances at the bowler.
Andy Hill writes in. “Am I alone in finding the jingoistic triumphalism over a cricketer knocked senseless (and potentially killed) by a ball deliberately aimed at his body repugnant? What would the pundits be saying if it was Jofra who was felled, or Leach? I thought cricket as a blood sport ended with Hughes’ death. Enough of this ‘it’s all in the game’ crap. Because it isn’t and shouldn’t be cricket. Getting Test cricket to be vastly popular doesn’t require the threat of death or lifelong injury.”
Well... it’s not jingoistic, for one. Plenty of Australians like myself were enthralled by a wonderful contest. Just as people were when Mitchell Johnson did it in 2013-14, or Flintoff and Harmison before that, or Brett Lee before that, or the great West Indies attacks, or Lillee and Thompson, or John Snow, or Wes Hall, or Typhoon Tyson. They all bowled fast and they all bowled short, and it genuinely is part of the game, since bowling moved from lobs to overarm.
No one is thrilled by injury. They are thrilled by the contest. It may be uncomfortable but that doesn’t make it untrue.
Fifty! Ben Stokes 50 from 106 balls
52nd over: England 151-4 (Stokes 50, Buttler 30) Dragged short from Lyon, and Stokes cuts a single for his 50th run. He’s got a thing for Ashes contests. I remember that century from 2013 well, on a cracking pitch in Perth when the rest of his team were a rabble. Stokes has raised his game here to help England out of a really difficult spot. Buttler raises the team 150 by slamming a drive through cover for four.
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51st over: England 145-4 (Stokes 49, Buttler 25) Siddle again, drawing false shots as he does. A thick edge from Stokes for two, a skewed shot in the air towards point for one. Siddle just keeps beaming. An unexpected Ashes adventure. Loving life.
50th over: England 142-4 (Stokes 46, Buttler 25) Lyon to Buttler, who pads the ball just wide of the short leg! Gets an extra through square. Paine has two slips and a short leg for the left-handed Stokes, I like that. Lyon zips a straighter ball past the outside edge. Hands on heads. A push into the ground to slip. Then a nudged run.
“Is Marnus allowed to bowl optimistic leg spin on the grounds that Smith does?” asks Charlie Tinsley. “What would stop Australia picking another pace bowler for instance?”
Marnus can bowl, like anyone in the XI can bowl. It’s just up to the match referee whether a player constitutes a like for like replacement. Marnus is a batsman primarily, so that’s alright.
49th over: England 140-4 (Stokes 45, Buttler 25) Siddle will replace Hazlewood, Australia rotating all three quicks from the Pavilion End while Lyon camps out at the Nursery. A good early over too! Pace, plenty of movement down the slope too, and Stokes doesn’t look very much in control for much of it, fishing about on his off stump.
Here’s our initial report on Smith, with some comment from Archer.
48th over: England 140-4 (Stokes 45, Buttler 25) Stokes goes back to looking ropey against spin, edging into his pads a couple of times as Lyon works away, trying to draw that one final error. Last ball of the over, Stokes is able to slide it off leg stump fine, and some hard running earns him three.
47th over: England 137-4 (Stokes 42, Buttler 25) Stokes looks more comfortable against the pace bowling, certainly. A lovely straight drive from Hazlewood, back past the far stumps for four! Once Buttler is done crawling on the ground to make sure he wasn’t run out, I’m sure he appreciated the shot. Buttler looks less comfortable, so once he gets strike he gives up a thick edge to Hazlewood, but it scoots along past gully for another lucky four.
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46th over: England 128-4 (Stokes 37, Buttler 21) That’s a bit more like it from Buttler. Unfurls a cover drive against Lyon for four, seeing the width and the fuller length.
45th over: England 123-4 (Stokes 36, Buttler 17) Stokes takes on the bouncer from Hazlewood and pulls it well, but to the man in the deep. That raises a fifty partnership, invaluable in this match. With each over it looks more like England can save it. Though there are still a lot of overs, theoretically, left in the day. Buttler works another couple of runs off his pads. This pair should have great memories of this ground at the World Cup final, perhaps they can do something special for England today too.
44th over: England 120-4 (Stokes 35, Buttler 15) Lyon is whirring away into his 15th over. No wickets as yet. Australia need him to bag a few to be in with a chance to win this Test. Buttler scores a brace pushed towards point. The lead is 128.
43rd over: England 118-4 (Stokes 35, Buttler 13) England certainly aren’t racing after runs, so scotch that thought. Buttler does take a single in the over, off the pads from Hazlewood, who is cranking his pace up bit by bit into the 140s.
Tim Doyle on email is pulling no punches. “Eminently understandable that a competitive sportsman like Smith would want to get back out and score a century. But Langer’s leadership was nauseatingly weak - don’t raise Phil Hughes on the one hand and call your players ‘your sons’, whilst on the other hand allowing a player to go back out and risk his life in pursuit of getting onto the honours board. Another blow to the head could have been terminal and Langer should have had the courage to stop this potentially happening.”
I have some sympathy for Langer’s situation: they have a concussion protocol in place, Smith passed all the tests, and was insisting he wanted to bat. The weakness I think is with the protocols in the first place. How can it be medically reasonable to pass a player fit within half an hour of being hit, when so often the symptoms don’t manifest until much later even if the damage is there?
That’s not the coach’s call, or even maybe the individual doctor’s call. It would fall to the administration to have stricter procedures in place.
42nd over: England 117-4 (Stokes 35, Buttler 12) Oh! Lyon is going to get Stokes eventually, surely he is. Another big edge from the off-spinner, reaching for a ball outside off. Warner at slip puts in a big dive but it’s wide of him. Stokes profits by four runs.
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41st over: England 113-4 (Stokes 31, Buttler 12) Another big appeal, this time with Hazlewood having replaced Cummins, down the hill against the left-handed Stokes. It’s pitching outside leg and he nicked it. Aside from that the shout was good. Cummins talks Paine into a DRS appeal, which bears predictably little fruit. Stokes digs out a yorker for a single once his continued presence is confirmed. The only score from the over.
40th over: England 112-4 (Stokes 30, Buttler 12) Stokes cuts a short ball from Lyon for a single, then Buttler blots out the rest. Happy to play the long game today.
“Geoff, are we to assume that under the new regs about a like-for-like replacement, a team has already been dispatched to Adelaide’s Centennial Park Cemetery to ask Don Bradman to get his pads on?” writes Mark Lloyd.
You’ll have to ask Shaun Micallef, he’s the expert at raising the Don.
Cricket scandal! What would the ghost of Don Bradman think? When in doubt, just ask John Howard #MadAsHell https://t.co/OxTWCcqVnA
— Mad As Hell (@madashelltv) April 12, 2018
39th over: England 111-4 (Stokes 29, Buttler 12) Cummins to Buttler, and it’s another maiden. This time Cummins is very exercised when he hits the batsman on the pad, but he’s bowling with slope going downhill for the right-hander, and that ball is missing leg.
38th over: England 111-4 (Stokes 29, Buttler 12) Stokes knows that Lyon is the big danger for him, so he’s playing positively. A good stride for an on-drive, and Hazlewood makes a hash of the sliding save at long-on and takes it over the line. England raise Nelson: feet up.
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37th over: England 107-4 (Stokes 25, Buttler 12) Cummins bowls a maiden to Buttler, who is keen to get moving but can’t make it work. Three times he drives crisply; three times cover stops any run. Make them play.
36th over: England 107-4 (Stokes 25, Buttler 12) While I was typing that, Lyon bowled an over for a Buttler single.
Steve Smith has been replaced in the match by Marnus Labuschagne
News just in from Cricket Australia. Smith apparently woke this morning with a deterioration in his condition, which is entirely unsurprising. Hence the very strong argument that he should not have been allowed to bat on yesterday, when there was likely to be some delayed concussion. He’s now been pulled from the match. That will also likely raise some criticism from England, given that yesterday the official line was that Smith’s arm was worse than his head, whereas today his arm is apparently feeling better but his head has ruled him out of the match.
My read on the situation would be that there’s no reason to doubt he has a concussion, and the sensible thing is to withdraw him. But it also indicates that he had one yesterday. Being hit around the base of the skull by a ball at 92 miles an hour would make that all but inevitable.
35th over: England 106-4 (Stokes 25, Buttler 11) Little question for Tim Paine. First full over of pace for the day. Your stud bowler in Cummins. Why have you got a deep point instead of a third slip? There’s some logic in cutting off boundaries for aggressive batsmen, but Stokes hasn’t been pounding the rope. Two slips and a gully, and Cummins draws a thick edge that splits them for four. Stokes decides that luck must be with him, and clouts the next ball over cover with a diagonal slap for another boundary. Fast runs could be a good idea: that will put the match beyond Australia much more surely than batting time. And on this final day there might be a ball with your name on it any minute. Something similar to Cummins’ next one, that swerves back into Stokes up the hill, past his leave and over the bails.
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34th over: England 98-4 (Stokes 17, Buttler 11) With those previous four balls out of the way, we have a minimum of 88 overs to be bowled today, with play resuming 1 hour and 10 minutes late. Good luck with that. We might be here until 10pm. Lyon bowls the first full over from the Nursery End, and Buttler knocks away a single for the day’s first run. Stokes leaves a wide ball, then defends a straight one. Lyon is around the wicket to the left-hander, hoping to spin one for an edge or straighten one for a leg-before. Stokes is reaching for another ball to block it, that’s not a great sign for the batsman. He stabs a straighter ball off his pads for his first run of the day. He was dropped at slip yesterday from Lyon and was nearly bowled leaving a ball.
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33rd over: England 96-4 (Stokes 16, Buttler 10) And we’re away, with Pat Cummins to finish the over that was interrupted by rain last night, with four balls to come. Bright sunshine bathing the ground now, as he hangs four balls outside off stump, and Stokes flirts with two of them but doesn’t nick. No score, England’s lead stays at 104.
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According to Gavin Robertson (“not the famous cricketing one”) Sara-Marie popped up on telly in Australia last year.
“She’s ‘started an online business, Words on Rice, selling personalised grains of rice that she writes names or messages on’, according to that organ of record Who Magazine. I wonder how that’s going?”
It sounds allrice.
If you want to hang out with Sara-Marie instead of me for a bit, here she is.
So, been getting a few emails from grumpy Australians. Let’s do this once and do it properly. The Archer ‘story’ is a massive beat-up driven entirely (surprise surprise) by the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch’s sport empire. They will be delighted at all the clicks they’re getting because of people engaging. And the fact we’re even discussing it means they’ve got what they want, which is disappointing.
The contention is that Archer is bad because he didn’t rush up to Smith after hitting him, and also some time later he was speaking to Jos Buttler and briefly smiled. There’s a split-second screenshot of the latter which is misleading. Things have been getting very ugly online, where a whole lot of people who are apparently very concerned about decency and decorum in cricket have expressed this by going to Archer’s social media accounts to call him “a f***ing dog c**t” and other similar expressions of... economic anxiety, are we calling it?
The whole thing is invented and it’s obscene. Several players rushed up to Smith as soon as he was hit. Archer was obviously a bit confused, he started walking back to his mark and then turned around. By this stage there was already a crowd around the batsman, who was moving.
When someone is badly hurt, aside from the first person checking that they’re breathing and in a stable position, the best thing to do is stay out of the way so they can get medical assistance. When you’re really in a bad way you need a doctor, not an enquiry after your health.
In any case, the idea that you should pile onto a player in his first Test because he didn’t do exactly what you think he should have done, in the brief moments following a fast-moving and quite distressing episode, is completely unreasonable. Everyone out there is a human being. Let’s not waste the day going back and forth over it.
Ah, that’s more like it. The sky is blue again over Lord’s. It didn’t take long. No doubt somewhere some birds are singing too. The hover cover bother is over. The pitch is exposed to the sunshine. The last covers are being rolled up and fastened to a buggy. The Australian bowlers are out there warming up on the practice strip, while a couple of catchers are in the cordon. A few English players are having a round of footer, how quaint. What do you do if you’re a batsman who is already out at this stage of the game? Do you have to show up for moral support or can you just stay in bed?
In preparation for the resumption of play I’m going to make a cup of tea and handover to the author of the Wisden Book of the Year. In the manner of a radio commentary changeover, the next post you see should be read in the voice of Geoff Lemon.
Morning Bill, morning all. (In Europe, any rate.) Thanks to the inestimable Jonathan Pugh Howcroft for steering the rainy morning chat. You may now address your ideas of genius to me. I can affirm from Lord’s that one half of the covers has come off, the wicket square assuming the off-the-shoulder look that was big in Australia in the early 2000s thanks to a Big Brother contestant whose name I can’t recall. She was big on lip gloss, too, I think? Not Sara-Marie, we’ll never forget her. I wonder what she’s doing now.
@JPHowcroft Surely Jofra must have already tweeted about his theme song?
— Metatone (@Metatone2) August 18, 2019
Berkshire residents, Ian Copestake needs you! “Any news from Slough on the future weather at Lord’s?”
A couple of you have suggested Ivan has confused his Woolmers and WIllis’s. Glen Thomas: “I think that your correspondent might have meant Bob Willis? RGD’s 1981 third test spell was one of the best I’ve seen. Did he not also hit Iqbal Qasim in the face, even though IQ was a night watchman? Bowling short at the tail end used not to be The Thing To Do.” Indeed he did, in 1978.
News! There will be a pitch inspection in 20 minutes.
We’re still waiting for the weather to clear and play to resume.
“Surely Archer singular” emails Jon Humphries. Perhaps, I just wonder how hummable a tune that is for the uninitiated.
“There’s been lots of indignation about Archer’s behaviour after he hit Smith for the second time,” emails Graham Pierce. “Enquiring after the wellbeing of someone you’ve hit for a second time with a 93mph bouncer is platitudinous. If you’re really worried about them then don’t bowl short pitched deliveries or at 93 mph - which is going to make cricket a whole lot less of an enthralling contest, but considerably safer.
Complaints I’ve read about about this bowling being unfair, brutal or intimidatory seem to be made by people who don’t remember Mitchell Johnson destroying the England batting lineup in 2013-4 with exceptional pace bowling, a lot of it pretty short. They forget Michael Clarke telling James Anderson to face up and get ready for a broken arm. And they forget Stuart Broad getting bounced in more or less every game since get got hit in the face.
It’s part of the game and has been since Phil Hughes’ death as much as it was beforehand. The change made after Hughes’ death was better protection at the back of the head and upper neck which has been optional and which Steve Smith hasn’t used up to now. In cycling helmets were recommended after the death of Fabio Casartelli in 1995 and only made mandatory after the death of Andre Kivilev 8 years later. It is to be hoped that the ICC will not make the same mistake the UCI did and sit on their hands.”
“Here on a Greek island with five cricket non-believers who were converted by yesterday’s extraordinary drama,” humblebrags Gary by email, “who are now wondering what’s happening at Lord’s?” Tell them to put their feet up and pour another ouzo because it is raining.
“In my youth I think there were two genuine English quickies that used to get the heart ticking” emails Ivan Kinsman, “John Snow and Bob Woolmer. And abroad watching the duo of Lillee-Thomson was spell-binding, as was Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Curtley Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and the like. Let’s hope in the modern game Jofra Archer can join this pantheon.”
Paul Griffin has probably ended the conversation around an Archer theme tune with, um, The Archers theme tune.
I know a few of you out there are searching for the TMS link for overseas listeners, well, thanks to Peter Haining, here it is.
Confirmation of the delayed start to play.
☔️ Frustratingly rain has fallen this morning, meaning start of play will be delayed.
— Lord's Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) August 18, 2019
Let's hope it clears very quickly 🙏#LoveLords | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/JCzSnIWDKI
Would it be wise for the ICC to clarify what the umpires will interpret as "dangerous bowling" for the rest of the series @JPHowcroft? If Jofra is "dangerous" when bowling short to the man standing next to Bradman, he's dangerous bowling short to anyone. Same goes for Cummins too
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) August 18, 2019
Interesting post Gary. It does feel somewhat as though that particular horse has bolted. There are limits on bouncers of course but outside of that everything seems fair game. And to some extent, why shouldn’t it? Batsmen are better protected than ever before and pitches less conducive to the type of bounce that could catch a professional dangerously off guard.
That said, I’ve just finished reading Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket and it made me think about issues like this, and how what might be termed paternalistic attitudes to governance have been replaced.
Adam Levine has chimed in with a Jofra Archer theme song, and he’s conjured a genuinely chilling image in my mind of 20,000 Lord’s patrons tunelessly humming Ride of the Valkyries (aka Kill the Wabbit for non-opera fans). “I love the smell of Archer in the morning!”. Thanks Adam.
Private Frazer’s logged on.
@JPHowcroft While it passes the time to speculate, we do know, don't we, that England will lose their remaining batsmen for a negligible amount and lose by seven wickets?
— The Justin Horton Show (@ejhchess) August 18, 2019
Weather update: the covers are still on and the band of rain that is blowing through continues to irritate. However, the general scene is improving and although a delay to the scheduled start looks inevitable we shouldn’t lose too much time.
“Can it be that England have decided that if they can’t get Smith out they’ll set out to make him afraid by peppering him with brutality?” asks Peter Best. “It’s looking quite like a plan.” And it’s a plan I don’t object to. The short ball has been a legitimate device for fielding sides throughout cricket history. If England are deemed to overstep the mark the umpires are there to enforce the rules.
“Should we really be talking about Steve Smith’s ‘courage’?” asks Ed Rostron. “He looked very shaky after coming back out and we saw recently with Hashim Amla that the immediate concussion tests aren’t reliable. A second blow could have had serious consequences and it was foolhardy in the extreme for him to play on.”
Blue sky and sunny in Reading right now after wet start. Good weather should be with you in about 30-40mins.
— Best of the Bets (@botbforum) August 18, 2019
“Good morning Jonathan,” good morning Kim Thonger. “As the day ahead is very likely to revolve around the performance and fortunes of Jofra Archer I do think we ought to have a tune to hum collectively as a nation when he’s running in. I’d like to propose ABC’s 80s hit, Poison Arrow, unless anyone has a better idea?”
Hmmm, The William Tell Overture?
The rights and wrongs of Steve Smith returning to bat after suffering such a fearful blow to the back of his head will be debated long after this Test has finished. Australian coach Justin Langer assured reporters after play yesterday that his star batsman had passed all the necessary medical tests to be allowed back into the arena.
He wouldn’t have gone out there unless we thought he was OK. We asked him over and over again. I asked him behind closed doors two or three and times and in front of the group. What else do you do? The medics cleared him, he wanted to get out there.
After lunch yesterday Jofra Archer bowled the fastest over by an English bowler on record and three of the fastest ten overs on record. Pace like fire. #Ashes pic.twitter.com/R9AXnIFbAM
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 18, 2019
While Jofra Archer has provided England fans with at least one reason to be upbeat, the form of Joe Root is becoming cause for alarm, as Ali Martin reports.
There is a final day still to be negotiated in this Test match, one that is positively pregnant with possibilities, but it is safe to say that Joe Root the batsman will be glad to see the back of Lord’s for another year.
@JPHowcroft Hi Jonathan - may I volunteer myself as the OBO weather forecaster this morning? It’s currently hammering it down in Turnpike Lane, about 5 miles from Lords. You’re welcome, and, er, sorry for the bad news.
— Patrick (@RonPenalties) August 18, 2019
Jofra Archer announced himself to the cricketing world at Lord’s yesterday. Andy Bull was there to witness every exhilarating minute.
There can’t have been many men who have ever bowled quicker for England. Old hands ticked off the possibles: Devon Malcolm, perhaps, against South Africa at the Oval in 1994, or Frank Tyson, on the 1954-55 Ashes tour. The bars were empty now, and the crowd was baying for more. Archer was into the sixth over of his spell, but bowling faster than he had all match. As soon as Smith was back on strike, he bounced him again. Smith threw another loose hook and the ball flew just past the fielder at backward square leg for four. And then it happened.
Richard Hirst has done the math(s). “With the run-rate consistently below 3 rpo England need to bat for about 30 overs and get 185 ahead. Unlikely to get 98 overs in the day, so that should make them safe, then all they have to do is take 10 wickets!”
There are so many incredible permutations to work through if you’re so inclined. Such is the potential firepower in each batting line-up but also the capacity to collapse in quicktime, almost all outcomes can be envisaged.
Ahead of the impending chaos, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. Here’s Vic Marks on the state of play.
A mid-afternoon duel between two contrasting, charismatic characters eclipsed the match situation at Lord’s for a while. For once the back-page headlines were trustworthy. The critical contest was between Jofra Archer, England’s newest and fastest paceman, and Steve Smith, the indomitable former Test captain of Australia returning to his cherished natural habitat in the middle order, and it had a full house spellbound.
“How late do you think they can play before the light gets too bad?” asks Tim Harnedy. “With the generally slow over rate, and the rain possibly delaying the start of play, I wonder whether there might be a nail-biting finish at half past seven in the evening as the gloom descends.” I think that’s a plausible scenario Tim. Sunset is 8.18pm tonight apparently, so as close to that as the umpire’s dare I would suggest - with the assistance of floodlights, of course.
You have to get up bright and early to beat Matthew Tom to the first email of the day. “How’s the weather at Lord’s?” he asks. “On my way on a train between Reading and London and it’s sheeting down out the window.” It is gloomy. The covers are on. There has been rain this morning, but it is forecast to have passed by the scheduled start time or just afterwards. No further rain is expected for the remainder of the day.
Preamble
Deep breath everybody... and let’s begin. Welcome to day five of the second Ashes Test from Lord’s.
We embark on the final day’s play of this gripping Test with every result still possible. And there’s probably an equal chance of the obvious three occurring after yesterday’s enthralling action left us with England 104-runs ahead but with only six second innings wickets in hand.
But even this tantalising situation cannot do justice to the drama and spectacle that led up to it. Yesterday will live long in the memory for Jofra Archer’s venom, Steve Smith’s courage, and a fevered atmosphere so rarely seen in the five-day format.
How could that possibly be topped? Well, with the weather set fair enough and a full house crammed into Lord’s, I’m getting those tingles like it’s 2005 all over again.
I’ll be with you for the next hour or so but once play begins Geoff Lemon will talk some sense into you. If you want to join in this pre-play fun before Geoff arrives you can drop me an email or a tweet.
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