England ahead on points after Day 1 in Manchester
Ashes Day 15: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Ashes Day 15: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Wednesday 19th July 2023
Australia 299–8
Boy was I excited this morning. Bacon sandwiches were cooked and consumed amid tales of biblical weather in the offing for the coming weekend, shortened passages of intense cricket, Jimmy Anderson bowling at his home ground and at the end of Old Trafford named in his Hall of Fame honour, and of a visiting Australia that hadn’t lost an Ashes Test Match here in Manchester since the forever known “Botham’s Ashes” of 1981. England, with Ben Stokes winning the toss and electing to insert Australia into bat on a hard, fast looking and straw coloured wicket, cannot afford to lose or rather, they have to win. No if’s, but’s or cricketing draws, England have to win to keep The Ashes alive. To do so, or at the very least, go a long way towards a desperately needed victory, England have to bowl Australia all out today lest their visitors score at least 300+ runs and perhaps more importantly, bat out an entire day expected to be short of one or two due to inclement weather. If Australia bat the entire day, England may have to try and force a win whilst dancing between the Manchester raindrops. All of which is for the future and written in real time today, Australia hold the upper hand after two hours of fever pitch Test Match cricket.
Act One: “The Chuckle Brothers” take the morning session
I have long christened Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne as the aforementioned chuckling brothers as they’re both good value on the “stump mikes” whether chirping like songbirds in the field or with bat in hand. Strolling to the Pavilion at the Lunch Break with their team score on 107–2, Messrs Smith and Labuschagne whilst not exactly rescuing the innings so far have certainly stabilised it with an unbroken 46 run partnership that has seen Smith overtake his batting partner with a run-a-ball 33 as Labuschagne has doggedly nudged and notched his way to 29 from 60 balls received. Whilst not as loud as David Warner with his pronouncements of “NO RUN!”, both of our chuckling brothers are far more demonstrative in their flamboyant leaves of the ball or nods of appreciation for a good ball they’ve managed, in their own uniquely batting styles, to narrowly miss.
107–2 at lunch doesn’t begin to tell the full story of a morning and early afternoon of Ashes cricket that yet again sailed the tides of the cricketing seas that enchant your favourite cricket correspondent so. Usman Khawaja was the first Australian casualty of the morning as he was rather suckered into repeating a clip through the “Mid-Wicket” region but from a straighter delivery from Stuart Broad that rapped into his pads in what appeared, at first sight, to be too high, but even on review the ball was striking the very top of middle stump and Australia were 15–1. Broad had a mixed opening session with some costly wayward bowling but he’d snagged the vital wicket of the brilliantly obstinate and obdurate Khawaja, his 599th Test Match wicket, and now stood one wicket away from joining a select club of only four other cricketers to have taken 600 Test Match wickets.
Whilst Broad, Anderson and Mark Wood nagged away for the second wicket of the morning, the fighting alley cat from Paddington otherwise known as David Warner went rather unnoticed and slightly under the radar with a run-a-ball 32. Despite being the heaviest of the morning’s run scorers, Warner’s runs came in clusters of 4 or 5 balls received, then he’d rest on his bat at the non-strikers end for what seemed like an over, maybe two, and then he’d re-engage with the game and score some more quick and carefree runs. He downfall reflected this, playing at a wide delivery from Chris Woakes he should have left well alone, but Woakes had deserved his wicket and England were on top with Australia 61–2.
Smith (33 not out) and his chuckling brother Labuschagne (29 not out) can’t be allowed to bat all afternoon.
Their 46 run partnership must be broken early.
Act Two: The “chuckle brothers” depart in an even afternoon session
A session of bookends for both teams, missed opportunities and regrets for Australia, brilliant pressure bowling from England, and a pleasing and oh so cricketing statistical oddity that saw the Aussies score 39 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in the first hour, and 41 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in hour two. 80–2 on the session is “honours even”, bookended as it was by the early dismissal of one chuckle brother before the other departed on the cusp of the Tea Break to a rather tame shot out of character from the dogged resilience that had before it. Smith was the first to go for 41 from 52 balls received, the last of which was an express pace fireball from Mark Wood that smashed into his pads that even on DRS review would have crashed into the top of his middle stump. It was a brilliant delivery but Labuschagne and new partner Travis Head simply continued in the vein of the match so far with every Aussie batsman aside from Usman Khawaja getting in, getting established, and contributing to sizeable batting partnerships. Whilst Head was peppered with short pitched deliveries, one of Wood’s early missiles crashing into the side of his batting helmet, Labuschagne eased his way to a half century from 114 balls before mere minutes before the session break, a “soft dismissal” according to ex England captain Michael Atherton accounted for his prized wicket. He simply, in the cricketing vernacular, “played around a straight one” from Moeen Ali and even on DRS review he was stone cold in front of his stumps and he had to go, throwing his head back and chuntering to himself as he disconsolately trudged back toward the Pavilion.
107–2 at Lunch was Australia’s morning. 80–2 in the afternoon session sees Australia on their traditionally unlucky number of 187 for the loss of 4 wickets and slightly, ever so slightly ahead of the game at this very early stage. Aside from Khawaja once more, every batsman has established an innings, scored at least 30 and contributed to partnerships to date of 46, 59 and 63. But Warner, Smith and Labuschagne, their top 3 prized wickets with Travis Head arguing his case to make it a top 4, scored 124 runs in 4 hours of Test Match, and each are now sitting in their leisurewear, watching the action from the players balcony.
Australia have let England off the hook, a repeating pattern of sorts for the series as a whole.
Act Three: The brilliance of Chris Woakes and Alyssa Healy’s bat
I commenced this real time volume by stating that if Australia score 300+ runs and bat all day England may need to “force” a win and hope the weather Gods are as kind as they were today. Old Trafford looked a picture as the grey gloom of the morning gave way to the brightest of afternoon and evening sunshine and one can only hope the weather doomsayers are wrong and this becomes a template for the days ahead. Australia didn’t quite reach 300 but at 299–8 they did bat all day and being the contrarian that I am, I’m still calling it a winning day for England as snaffling 8 Australian wickets in a day is always a cause for celebration so early in the Test Match whilst I blithely ignore the prophecies of biblical rain come the weekend.
112–4 in the session was an English triumph, started by history maker Stuart Broad and his 600th Test Match wicket, and ended by a non-cricketing hat-trick of wickets from Chris Woakes that definitely tipped the balance in favour of his team by the close of play. Broad “bounced out” a hooking Travis Head into the grateful hands of Joe Root on the boundary before Woakes took centre stage, prising apart yet another 50+ run batting partnership by the Aussies, ripping out 2 wickets in 5 balls before ending the day by curtailing yet another burgeoning batting partnership that ensured England are just ahead on the overnight judge’s scorecard.
Woakes ended the day with figures of 19 overs bowled, 4 maidens, 4 wickets for just 52 runs. In a 5 ball spell he dismissed Mitchell Marsh with a brilliant delivery that not only, in the cricketing vernacular once more, “squared him up”, but deceived Jonny Bairstow slightly behind the stumps who had to dive full length on the turf to take a remarkable one handed catch, before trapping Cameron Green “dead” in front of his stumps 4 deliveries later. Marsh and Green had eased their way to a 65 run partnership whereby Marsh (as he did at Headingley last week), scored quickly and heavily on his way to 51.
Another half century. Another 50+ run partnership.
Another Australian regret on a day full of them.
Alex Carey would fulfil every category above as his established innings and partnership of 39 with Mitchell Starc was risk free and rather easy before he under-edged the new ball of a now tired looking Woakes through to Bairstow behind the stumps. Starc was accompanied by his skipper Pat Cummins to the close of play minutes later and at 299–8 it’s England’s day. As he demonstrated by winning the 1st Test Match in such a dramatic fashion, Pat Cummins can bat, Josh Hazlewood a lot less so, but don’t discount the bat of Alyssa Healy currently in the hands of her husband Mitchell Starc. He remains 23 not out overnight and, should he and Cummins get on a roll in the morning and crash 50 or more quick runs, the tides in this Test Match may gently begin flowing in their favour.
This Test Match is perfectly poised.
Rain. Rain. Stay away. Come back another day?
Thanks for reading. A selection of my latest publications away from the weird world of cricket are linked below:
The Day The Reds Came to Town
Portsmouth 0 Liverpool 3, 8th August 1982.medium.com
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning — Part One (2023)
“There’s no place I won’t go to kill you”.medium.com
A stroll on the banks of the River Severn
Wednesday 5th July, 2023.medium.com