Tea and Biscuits at The Ashes
The Gabba, Brisbane, Day 4: It’s the hope that kills you. Australia take a 1–0 lead in the best of 5 Ashes Series.
The Gabba, Brisbane, Day 4: It’s the hope that kills you. Australia take a 1–0 lead in the best of 5 Ashes Series.
Before I commence with the day’s play, can I please direct you to the following two links that hopefully give you a flavour for the sofa bound, sleep deprived and biscuit munching narrator:
A cricketing journey
Why I’m going to Australia at 2am this winter for lunch and why cricket memories never fail to make me smile.medium.com
Tea and Biscuits at The Ashes
The Final Countdown. 2 sleeps. 3 days. 2 nights? I’ve lost count as the battle for the Ashes begins to flicker into…medium.com
MORNING SESSION: England 297 All Out. Australia need 20 runs to win
They say it’s the hope that kills you, and this morning was full of hope for England, for Malan, for Captain Root, and for a possible exciting Test Match ahead that could extend well into Day 5. But it’s the hope that kills you.
Yesterday I half jokingly stated that England would be skittled by Tea. This morning I hoped the Skipper would still be batting at Tea and his team 100 runs ahead and possibly setting up an exciting first Session tomorrow morning. After losing 8 wickets for just 77 runs and yet another of those vaunted England batting collapses, they barely made it as a team to the lunch break, let alone enjoying an afternoon Tea in the bowels of The Gabba.
Alas, it’s the hope that kills you.
Australia had but a handful of overs to bowl this morning before they could enjoy the luxury of unwrapping a brand new red cherry and really taking the attack to England, but their visitors only made 26 runs against the softer older ball and lost both Malan, Root and Pope in the process. England went from a commanding overnight position of 220–2 to 234–5 in the blink of an off spinner’s eye, that off spinner being Nathan Lyon (or Gary, Gaz, Gazza or indeed Goat) as he took his 400th Test Match wicket and finished the innings with figures of 4–91.
Before the innings and indeed the batting collapse had ended Ben Stokes received yet another unplayable delivery and fell for just 14, Buttler wafted at one from Hazlewood and gave Carey another catch behind the stumps and the England tail was gently blown away with a minimum of fuss. England had to be batting and with wickets in hand come the Tea break. Instead, Australia will knock off the 20 runs required for victory in a matter of minutes after the lunch break and take a 1–0 lead in this 5 Test Series.
In happier news(!), it’s been a fun morning here in the UK as first the main worldwide Fox Sports feed went down (power outage apparently), then came and went again, then resumed with just one camera from each end (evoking memories of Botham’s Ashes in 1981 and their rudimentary and limited camera angles at that time) before there was a total blackout again and I had to resort to the beautifully traditionally “Test Match Special” (or TMS for short) who because of virus restrictions have to take their radio “feed” from ABC Grandstand Australia, another throwback to early mornings of old back in the late 1980’s and listening to a grainy feed on a transistor radio (ask your Grandad kids!) and just about connecting to a signal. Strangely, writing this particular paragraph has pleased the inner 14 year old in me, and one of the many and varied reasons why I adore watching Ashes cricket at 2am half a world away.
But alas, England are heading for a heavy defeat.
It’s the hope that kills you.
AFTERNOON SESSION: Australia 20–1 and win by 9 Wickets
It’s 3.11am local UK time and the Australian machine looks well oiled after knocking off a simple 20 runs for a commanding and dominating 9 wicket victory.
The hope may kill you, but here’s some positives for England: Malan and Root scored positive and commanding runs and are off and running in the Series. Mark Wood has been sensational with the ball and must play in the next Test, as must their world class talents of Chris Broad and Jimmy Anderson. England need to wrap Robinson and Stokes in cotton wool before the 2nd Test but I’ll leave you with some even more positive English news.
The ultra positive news is the next Test in 5 days time is a Day/Night match and this would ordinarily suit the swing bowling of Broad and Anderson and indeed the high octane stuff from Wood. Plus, and here’s the rub dear reader, if you are a novice to Test Match cricket, or prefer the razzamatazz of the one day version that begins to resemble baseball far too much even for this massive baseball fan, or indeed you find cricket slow and dull, day/night Test cricket is pure unadulterated cricketing theatre. The ball is apt to swing around corners under the lights, batting is incredibly difficult, more high percentage shots taken, more cricketing drama unfolds, and oh so importantly, the kicker is the matches start at 4am UK time, not midnight, so even if you dip into the cricket at say 8am breakfast time, you could see 4+ hours of wonderfully exciting cricket.
Thanks for reading. “Tea and Biscuits at The Ashes” will rise like a phoenix from amid a cloud of biscuit crumbs in 5 days time. Treat yourself to some early morning cricket folks.
Does wonders for the soul.
I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this ramble through Day 4 and if so, please do take a peek at my rundowns of days 1, 2 and 3:
Tea and Biscuits at The Ashes
The Gabba, Brisbane, Day 1: England win the unwinnable toss and are bundled out for just 147. Australia on top.medium.com
Tea and Biscuits at The Ashes
The Gabba, Brisbane, Day 2: Australia 343–7, leading by 196 and running hot, whilst England are running dangerously…medium.com
Tea and Biscuits at The Ashes
The Gabba, Brisbane, Day 3: Australia 425 All Out. England 220–2. Against all the odds, the visitors land a huge sucker…medium.com