Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come Again Some Other Day?
Ashes Day 17: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Ashes Day 17: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Friday 21st July 2023
Australia 317 all out and 113–4
England 592 all out (lead by 162 runs)
Day 3 of this Ashes Test Match comes in two halves and in the style of Christopher Nolan, we must review this intoxicating day in reverse:
Act One: Where I End And You Begin
Khawaja caught Bairstow bowled Wood (18)
With a maximum of 50 minutes to bat until the afternoon Tea Break, Khawaja and regular opening batting partner David Warner looked comfortably set and had weathered the opening bowling blast from England’s James Anderson and Stuart Broad. On the cusp of the break and with only his second delivery of the day, Mark Wood’s extra pace and bounce snagged the faintest of edges from Khawaja’s bat and he had to go.
Australia are 32–1 and still trail England’s 1st innings total by 243 runs
Warner bowled Woakes (28)
The fighting alley cat that is David Warner continued a repeating pattern of his entire tour to date, Headingley aside, by “digging in”, restraining from his usual array of elaborate attacking shots and establishing a solid platform from which to build a big, match saving innings. But Warner fell once more in the 20’s and/or after getting himself in and set, this time by “dragging on” an otherwise innocuous delivery from Chris Woakes that flicked off the under-edge of his bat before crashing into his stumps.
Australia are 54–2 and still trail England’s 1st innings total by 221 runs
Smith caught Bairstow bowled Wood (17)
Steve Smith joined his wise cracking and cricketing brother in arms Marnus Labuschagne and for 43 runs they made batting look comfortable and rather easy against an England bowling attack regularly rotated by captain Ben Stokes. Whilst Moeen Ali was particularly poor and both Anderson and Broad wholly ineffective, Stokes returned once more to his speed merchant from Ashington, and he came up trumps with the most prized and valued wicket of all. The situation appeared a perfect set-up for Smith, the number one ranked batsman in the world. His task was to bat for as long as possible, a task both he and Labuschagne revel in, but for some inexplicable reason he wafted tamely at a leg-side bouncer and gloved a simple catch through to Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps. In the vernacular of cricket it was a “strangle”, a “waft” and a real “gift” of a wicket, but you try telling that to Ben Stokes as he hurtled toward bowler Wood, a guttural roar of delight accompanying him as he embraced his fast bowler. This was a BIG wicket.
Australia are 97–3 and still trail England’s 1st innings total by 178 runs
Head caught Duckett bowled Wood (1)
“Man of the Series” in the last Ashes 18 months or so ago, Travis Head has been deliberately targeted every time he’s walked to the wicket and immediately faced short pitched “bouncers” to unsettle him, disrupt his rhythm and crucially, prevent him from scoring huge, match changing runs. The ploy worked once more as Wood’s lifting delivery beat him completely, forcing him into a ragged defensive shot that saw the ball loop gently to Ben Duckett at a deep “Gully” position, and Wood had his third victim of the afternoon for the concession of just 17 runs from 7 outstanding overs of fast paced bowling.
Australia are 108–4 and still trail England’s 1st innings total by 167 runs
The man to stand tall amid the flurry of wickets at the other end was Marnus Labuschagne who finished day 3 on 44 not out from 88 balls received. Accompanied by Mitchell Marsh (1 from 27 balls received), they will resume, if or when the match resumes at all after the anticipated bad weather, with Australia on 113–4 and still needing 163 further runs to ensure England have to bat again for victory.
Act Two: Daydreaming
Resuming this morning on a 1st innings total of 384–4 and a crucial 67 run lead, England’s task, headed by their captain Ben Stokes, was a simple one:
Score big runs and score them quickly.
This was achieved in the grandest of fashion by firstly Stokes himself who alongside the other not out batsman from last evening Harry Brook, both rattled their respective ways to half centuries in the opening hour of play. Stokes was the more aggressive of the two as he scooted from his overnight score of 24 to 51 before he inside edged a delivery from opposing captain Pat Cummins crashing into his stumps as he continued to chase quick runs. Both Stokes and Brook should have been run out in the early going this morning but both survived, with Brook following his captain with a half century before he too edged his way to his demise, top edging a hook shot to Mitchell Starc on the boundary edge to give Josh Hazlewood his second wicket of the innings, and the second of an overall 5 wickets in the innings for the tall paceman from Tamworth, New South Wales.
Following the departure of Stokes came the cameo innings of the day from Jonny Bairstow. With the ethos of chasing quick runs still the only item on the England agenda, the Yorkshireman cruised to a run-a-ball half century, reaching his 50 with a towering boundary 6 that set the tone for the onslaught that followed. Running out of partners, Bairstow raced through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s before being joined in a last wicket stand by James Anderson and whilst the veteran bowler held his ground and supported him, Bairstow “farmed” the strike when not crashing the ball to the boundary for more quick runs. 99 not out from just 81 balls received, Bairstow was left agonisingly just 1 run short of an Ashes Test Match century as Anderson was finally dismissed by Cameron Green, but Bairstow left the field to the rapturous acclaim of yet another sell out Old Trafford crowd before receiving the biggest of smiles and hearty pat on the back from his captain.
99 not out! In an Ashes Test Match!
But Bairstow’s job was done, as was England’s, and with 50 or so minutes leading to the Tea Break they had an almost certain match winning lead of 275 runs on 1st innings, and with two full days remaining in this Test Match, this incredible Ashes series could still go to The Oval with the score 2–2 and effectively a one-off match to decide The Ashes.
Act Three: Karma Police
But therein lies the rub.
It’s exactly 12.18am on a dark and early Saturday morning after the Friday night before, and it’s raining. OK I may be two hours away from Manchester but if the weather reports and those damn doom mongers are to be believed, it’s going to rain everywhere here in England for the entirety of Saturday into Sunday, completely washing out today’s play and threatening the viability of any play on a Sunday also threatened with heavy rain showers. Best case scenarios seem to suggest, weather permitting, a couple of hours play or maybe an elongated session of play on Sunday, at best, and lest we all forget, England HAVE to win this Test Match to have any hope remaining in this series. A drawn game here in Manchester? Australia retain the Ashes regardless of what happens at The Oval next week.
So I’m wrapping this article early to perform some reverse rain dances. I may even recreate Tim Robbins’ hands on knees prayers to the almighty in the pouring rain after escaping Shawshank Prison.
I also think we’re gonna need a bigger boat.
See you tomorrow.
Weather permitting.
Thanks for reading. My recaps from days 1 and 2 are linked below:
England ahead on points after Day 1 in Manchester
Ashes Day 15: Old Trafford, Manchester.medium.com
Crawley punishes Aussie “school team” as England dominate at Old Trafford
Ashes Day 16: Old Trafford, Manchester.medium.com