Aussies on top as the storm clouds gather in Birmingham
Ashes Day 3: Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Ashes Day 3: Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Sunday 18th June 2023
Father’s Day here in England brought with it the unwrapping of a Beatles psychedelic “Yellow Submarines” t-shirt, a bacon sandwich for the son who kindly gifted it to me, and Ashes cricket on an overcast day both here in Shropshire and Edgbaston in Birmingham some 40 odd miles to the south. Trailing by just 82 runs on 1st innings, I had Australia down as slight favourites overnight with two “set” batsmen returning this morning and five wickets still in their particular cricketing “shed”, and England simply had to grab these wickets as quickly, and as cheaply, as they could. I also foretold in yesterday’s diary entry that a 1 innings shoot-out was in the offing and that England need to make huge 2nd innings runs for their bowlers to defend in pursuit of victory on Day 5.
Writing in real time, England have set-up that single innings shoot-out.
Act One: Australia 386 all out (trail by 7 runs)
Carey bowled Anderson (66)
Resuming on his overnight not out total of 52, Carey received an immediate cricketing “life” with only the fourth ball of the morning’s play as Jonny Bairstow spilt a difficult but makeable catch from the inside edge of his bat. He would add 14 more runs to this, his second reprieve of the match, before crashing Jimmy Anderson for 2 consecutive boundary 4’s before the English veteran gained his revenge with a “peach” in the cricketing vernacular that cut back through Carey’s defences before brushing the top of his middle stump. A gem of an innings yet again from the pugnacious wicket-keeper batsman who took advantage of the extra gifts bestowed upon him to escape with his batting life when on 26 and 52 to compile an impressive, innings steadying partnership of 118 with Usman Khawaja.
Khawaja bowled Robinson (141)
Yesterday’s centurion added a further 15 runs to his overnight not out total of 126 before losing his off stump to a fired up Ollie Robinson and all whilst facing one of the strangest set fields I’ve ever seen on a cricket field! With Australia having reduced the overnight deficit from 82 to 21 at the fall of Khawaja’s wicket, England captain Ben Stokes had run through his fielding playbook until the found page entitled “Umbrella”. Normally reserved for the umbrella ring of catchers in the Slips behind the batsman, here Stokes had a ring of close-in fielders either side of the wicket, six in all and all in catching positions and I’ve never seen the likes of this before and perhaps poor old Khawaja hadn’t either! Robinson sent his off stump spinning out of the ground and the 36 year old Aussie batsman received an ovation fit for an Ashes century maker.
Lyon caught Duckett bowled Robinson (1)
5 team runs later and with the deficit on 1st innings just 16 runs, Lyon hooked a Robinson bouncer directly and simply into the hands of Ben Duckett on the boundary, and our one innings shoot-out loomed as large on the horizon as the coming Lunch Break and the thunderstorm forecast for early this afternoon.
Boland caught Pope bowled Broad (0)
Scott Boland lasted just 5 deliveries before the inventive captaincy of Ben Stokes stationed both himself and Ollie Pope at the “Bat/Pad” and “Silly Mid-Off” positions and Broad simply snorted a bouncer that Boland could only fend off into the waiting hands of Pope.
Cummins caught Stokes bowled Robinson (38)
Aussie skipper Cummins was magnificent with a flashing blade as he carved 3 huge boundary 6’s on his way to a well made 38 before with one big hit too many, he skied a simple catch for his captain counterpart Ben Stokes to snaffle comfortably, ending the Australian 1st innings on 386 all out, and just 7 runs adrift of their hosts on 1st innings.
We have ourselves a one innings shoot-out!
“Ashes to Ashes”
Out Now! Hot off the Press!medium.com
Act Two: England 28–2 (lead by 35 runs)
For 30 odd minutes post the Lunch Break, England opening batsmen Ben Duckett (19 not out) and Zak Crawley (7 not out) eased their way comfortably to 26 carefree runs before a rain shower delayed play for over an hour. When play resumed it was under the darkest of black overhead skies and with a thunderstorm on the horizon, Australia brought the storm themselves, and for 22 minutes, were almost unplayable. 2 runs were added (both leg-byes) in 22 minutes that saw a numerically pleasing 2 wickets tumble, and Australia are back in the driving seat of this opening Ashes Test Match.
Duckett caught Green bowled Cummins (19)
With the storm coming and that blackened sky growing darker with every passing minute, England simply had to survive. Duckett couldn’t resist a wide delivery from Aussie skipper Pat Cummins that he so often guides in the area between the “Gully” and “Point” positions, but Cameron Green sprawled low and wide to grab a ridiculous catch an inch or two from the sodden turf, hurling the ball high in the air and screaming with utter delight at his incredible catch.
3 balls later, the Australian storm had arrived in earnest.
Crawley caught Carey bowled Boland (7)
Boland hit his nagging length and off stump line that drew Crawley into a limp defensive shot and he feathered a tiny edge through to Alex Carey behind the stumps. England had lost 2 wickets in 3 balls for the addition of zero runs and Australia had wrestled away the favourites tag in this Test Match once more.
Act Three: Cloudburst ends Day 3 with all results still possible
Such are the vagaries of Test Match cricket and after a cloudburst had dumped a good couple of inches of rain upon an already sodden Edgbaston, play was finally called off for the day at just past 6pm amid spits and spots of rain and an ever threatening dark sky above. The quintessential beauty of this grandest of all games also resides in the pure sporting theatre of luck, chance and other factors totally out of your control, one of which being the weather. From bowling out Australia and taking a slender 7 run lead into the 2nd innings, England then had those oft recurring “no-win situations” in cricket and for near on 20 minutes they lost their no-win mini-game and their hosts have arguably grabbed pole position with 2 days remaining.
82 runs and 5 Australian wickets separated the teams at the start of play. By the end of a rain shortened day, 35 runs and 8 English wickets now separate two teams anxious to score a first victory in the win column in this 5 Test Match series.
With the loss of 2 cruel wickets in the gathering afternoon storm, I make Australia slight favourites, still, but we have one hell of a match on our hands should the English weather behave itself again.
“The Uno Ashes”
Dad 0 (4)
Lad 3 (9)
As the heavens opened in Birmingham, 40 or so miles away I was thoroughly defeated by a jubilant son who wiped the floor with me, beating me 3 games to 0 to now hold an aggregate lead of 9–4. He won a tight first game before whitewashing me in the second and triumphed comfortably in the third.
All in all, it was rather a day to forget!
Thanks for reading. My daily diary entries for Days 1 and 2 are linked below:
Root century but it’s honours even after Day 1 at Edgbaston
Ashes Day 1: Edgbaston, Birmingham.medium.com
Khawaja century edges Aussies ahead in 1st Ashes Test
Ashes Day 2: Edgbaston, Birmingham.medium.com