Honours even after Day 2 at The Oval
Ashes Day 21: The Oval, London.
Ashes Day 21: The Oval, London.
Friday 28th July 2023
England 283 all out
Australia 295 all out (lead by 12 runs)
Well that was a bizarre day of Test Match cricket!
We had a run-out that wasn’t a run-out, the England captain taking a leaping, boundary jumping catch to end a day’s play also containing an Australian team who batted themselves into complete and total inertia, French Aristocrats apparently waving handkerchiefs in cricketing defeat, a “three-card trick”, Australians “falling into traps” and one of their greatest exports entertaining everyone listening on the radio to listener’s limericks.
It was that kind of day!
The Aussie Angle
Commencing the day on 61–1 and 222 runs behind England’s 1st innings total of 283, Australia rather got stuck in a morning session whereby they simply couldn’t score any substantial runs and at one point were being outscored by the “byes” conceded by England wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow! In a morning where they only scored 54 runs in 2 hours of play, it was enlightening to note that in addition to the free runs whizzing past Bairstow to the boundary, Usman Khawaja struggled to score any meaningful runs in front or square of the wicket whilst his partner Marnus Labuschagne struggled to score any runs at all! Khawaja scored 21 total runs in the morning session before becoming the first of five wickets to fall in the afternoon session and all after Labuschagne had painstakingly taken his overnight score of 2 to 9 from a mammoth 82 balls received! Labuschagne eventually fell to a quite brilliant one-handed catch from Joe Root at 1st Slip (the first of 3 wickets for Chris Woakes) but the South African born batsman cut a disconsolate figure as he chuntered and trudged back to the pavilion complaining (I would guess) at the poor light afforded the batsmen this morning from the gloomy dark clouds hovering above The Oval.
I spent the afternoon session in the company of Jim Maxwell, Phil Tufnell, Jonathan Agnew and the rest of the radio crew of “Test Match Special” (TMS) and in between Jim entertaining everyone with limericks supplied by their army of listeners, TMS painted the picture of an Australian team rather folding in on itself and losing 5 wickets for a paltry 71 runs in the process. Travis Head apparently gave away his precious wicket with the insouciance of a French aristocrat, wicket-keeper Alex Carey fell to a three-card trick from England’s “Golden Arm” Joe Root and whilst I was wondering why on earth Root and Carey were playing cards in the middle of a Test Match, Mitchell Starc “fell into the leg trap” set by Mark Wood, and Australia limped to the Tea Break on 186–7, still trailing England’s 1st innings by 97 runs. Then came the run-out that wasn’t a run-out as Steve Smith used his extra cricketing “life” to score an invaluable 71 before his captain Pat Cummins steered the ship into a 12 run lead on 1st innings with the able assistance of the bespectacled Todd Murphy who simply took aim before repeatedly hooking Mark Wood high into the stands for 3 huge boundary clearing 6’s on his way to an invaluable 34 runs from just 39 balls received.
Australia started the day ahead on my judge’s scorecard but ended it even.
The England fightback
I have long expressed concern that England can’t (or will struggle badly) to bowl Australia all out and yet they did so today, with a bowler down too, and with a little more luck, they could and should have done so with a handsome 50+ run lead. As it is they enter tomorrow trailing on 1st innings by just 12 runs in a one innings shoot-out with every bowler chipping in with Australian scalps and Chris Woakes yet again leading the way with three invaluable dismissals. In the absence of the injured Moeen Ali, Joe Root and Harry Brook combined to bowl 10 overs in emergency and only conceded 27 runs between them as Root snagged 2 wickets with that golden arm of his, Jimmy Anderson finally got a wicket his bowling has thoroughly deserved and Stuart Broad (today’s best bowler by far) and Mark Wood grabbed 2 wickets each.
So even with a man down England bowled Australia all out and I was proven wrong again! But (and it’s a huge BUT), their batsmen have to now bat all day tomorrow into Sunday, thus giving their bowlers as much rest as possible before they begin their assault on taking 10 Australian wickets once more and this time, for victory, and to square The Ashes Series at 2–2.
Tomorrow is a fresh day for all concerned with Australia starting with rested bowlers and a brand new “cherry” to bowl with and England will be starting their 2nd innings from scratch, trailing by 12 runs.
Game on and as ever, I can’t wait for play to start in the morning.
“Uno Ashes”
Dad 6 (26)
Lad 7 (45)
Two sessions played today and at 4 games to 1 after the first session I was sure I had the lad on the run and my Lazarus like return from the dead to beat him on aggregate was on. Alas, the cheating scoundrel (Beautiful teenage son, surely?, Current Affairs Editor) rallied to win 6 out of the last 8 games to now enjoy a thumping 19 game aggregate advantage with only Sunday’s games to come.
Alas I’m a beaten man.
But seeing his delight in winning is a strange pleasure all of its own.
Thanks for reading. My recap from Day 1 here at The Oval is linked below:
Aussies take charge after Day 1 at The Oval
Ashes Day 20: The Oval, London.medium.com