Aussies bounce out the Bazballers! Lords Test perfectly poised
Ashes Day 7: Lords Cricket Ground, London.
Ashes Day 7: Lords Cricket Ground, London.
Thursday 29th June 2023
Australia 416 all out
England 278–4 (trail by 138 runs)
Act One: Smith the centurion but England fightback to win the session
Australia started the day on their overnight total of 339–5 but resumed against an old foe they heavily defeated yesterday: the English weather. Yet again spits and spots of rain greeted the players as they took to the field under darkened skies and the most perfect of bowling conditions once again but whereas yesterday England were profligate with their catches, this morning they grabbed them, where luck evaded them, the lady smiled once more and through good bowling, persistence and the snaffling of key chances, they dismissed the 5 remaining Australian batsmen for just 77 runs. Make no mistake, 416 on 1st innings is a mighty total from the visitors, but England were quickly into their stride this morning, grabbing a tiny piece of luck along the way too.
Whilst Steve Smith (85 not out overnight) was happy to watch from the other end or nudge the occasional single, Alex Carey was the early run scorer this morning for Australia, taking his overnight score of 10 to 22 with 3 boundary 4’s before being dismissed by Stuart Broad with a wicked delivery that at first glance seemed too high to be “Leg Before Wicket” (LBW), an opinion shared by the on field umpire. A referral proved everyone wrong except for Ben Stokes and whomever in his team suggested referring to the TV umpire, Carey had to go and only 7 runs later Mitchell Starc had to go too, slashing an edge through to Jonny Bairstow off the bowling of Jimmy Anderson.
25 minutes into the day’s play and England had snagged 2 vital wickets for the cost of 19 runs, leaving Australia on 358–7.
Steve Smith, that unorthodox magician with a cricket bat went next, but only after a 35 run partnership with his captain Pat Cummins had increased their 1st innings total to 393–8 and only due to a wonderful catch from Ben Duckett at a wide 4th Slip or Gully position. Smith slashed a Josh Tongue delivery that seemed to squirt almost sideways, but at quite some pace, and Duckett took a tremendous catch to dismiss the centurion, his 32nd all time Test Match century. Worryingly, the master craftsman with a style all of his very own looks in ominous form and full of runs in yet another Ashes series in England.
With his vice-captain gone, Pat Cummins could only watch as Ollie Robinson “bounced out” Nathan Lyon for 7 before he had Josh Hazlewood caught at Slip by Joe Root for 4, and the Australian 1st innings closed on 416 all out. England opening batsmen Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett safely navigated a cricketing “no lose situation” of a mini session of 20 minutes before the Lunch Break, and they rested easy with their lunchtime sandwiches with England 13–0, trailing by 403 runs on 1st innings.
Act Two: Crawley and Duckett build strong English platform
England “won” their second successive session of the day as with chance free cricket and an attacking zest when needed, Zak Crawley (48) and Ben Duckett (38) first reached the hourly drinks break unbeaten with the team total on 88–0 before Duckett methodically inched his way to 62 not out at the Tea Break alongside new partner Ollie Pope who scored a rapid 32 not out to leave their team on 145–1 at the break, but still trailing by 271 runs. The only blemish on a brilliant session for the hosts was the wicket of Zak Crawley who, as so often happens, was dismissed shortly after the scheduled break for drinks. Two short of a half century, Crawley was deceived in flight by a Nathan Lyon delivery around his legs that was smartly gathered by Aussie wicket-keeper Alex Carey before he whipped off the bails with the Englishman far from his crease.
But it was England’s session and Australia had to put a stop to the bleeding.
So they went “old school”.
Act Three: 45 minutes of mayhem!
Today’s final session had a little bit of everything, from the match ending and possible series ending injury to Australian spin bowler extraordinaire Nathan Lyon, to a seemingly innocuous collision with the ball that saw a juicy “shiner” of a bruise develop above the right eye of their captain Pat Cummins, a cricketing “life” for Joe Root, the calming influence of the captain who replaced him Ben Stokes, and Australia, an angry, bloodily defiant World Champion Australian team, going old school with their tactics that sets up a perfectly poised Test Match going into day 3 tomorrow.
England scored a huge 133 runs in the final session but with those runs coming far too quickly and easy for the liking of Pat Cummins, he changed his team’s more orthodox bowling attack to one of all out short pitched bouncers, and the Bazballers of England couldn’t resist the temptation! Whilst I called for restraint and to simply tire out a now depleted Aussie attack without their talismanic spin bowler, Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Ben Duckett all “holed out” in the cricketing vernacular, unable to resist hooking or pulling the short pitched barrage of bowling coming their way, with Duckett agonisingly falling just 2 runs of an Ashes century at Lords. Pope reached a carefree 42 runs before he hooked into the gleeful hands of Steve Smith on the boundary edge before Joe Root, given a “life” when on just 1 run with Cameron Green “bouncing” him out too but bowling a no-ball in the process, then top edged a hook that saw Smith once again sprawling and diving forward to take a wonderful catch from the very tip of the Lords turf. Root’s departure saw England collapse a little from an imposing and dominant 188–1 to 222–4 before his young Yorkshire protégé Harry Brook chanced his arm on his way to 45 not out overnight alongside a reserved, resilient and dogged skipper Stokes who finished 17 not out overnight.
A mammoth 355 runs have been scored today between the teams for the loss of a combined 9 wickets and with England finishing the day on 278–4 and trailing by 138 runs on 1st innings, they have clearly dispelled with any concerns or disappointments from yesterday and comprehensively “won” today to redress the balance in the Test Match as a whole. One may argue that Duckett’s 98, Crawley’s 48 and Brook being 45 not out at the close this evening sees them edging ahead slightly and if, as in previous days in their cricketing revolution, they score rapidly in tomorrow’s first session they could, could, be level on 1st innings with Australia come the afternoon session and, hopefully, with wickets in hand.
Such is the optimism of an England fan who can clearly see that Australia are a tough nut to crack and a mighty fine team of World Test Champions. But today they had to resort to Plan B and will seemingly have to do without their spin bowling leader of the team in Nathan Lyon. The hosts meanwhile are 138 runs behind on 1st innings and resume in the morning with their skipper and a nerveless 24 year old Yorkshire dasher for company.
I’d say it’s game on and I can’t wait for the morning session. Day 3 is often so pivotal in a Test Match and this one is perfectly poised to be a cricketing cracker.
Thanks for reading. My daily diary entry for yesterday’s first day in this Test Match is linked below or alternatively, please see my “library” here for other cricket articles and a cave of wonders of other rambling musings too:
Indiana Jones and a Quest for the Ashes
Ashes Day 6: Lords Cricket Ground, London.medium.com