An hour after the evening tea break in Adelaide on this third day of the 2nd Test, Australia held the absolute ascendancy in the Test and the series. The bowlers had been terrific in the first three and a half hours of the day, reducing England to 7/142, a lead of 300 runs with just three wickets to get, and the outside possibility that they could wrap up the Test before stumps. At the very least, by cleaning up the final three wickets for say 30 runs and enforcing the follow-on, Australia would surely be on the cusp of a 2-0 series lead by stumps. And then through the same brainless bowling tactics we thought had gone the way with Brett Lee’s retirement Australia allowed the lead to be whittled to just 215, before handing England the advantage of bowling with a new ball under lights and the game exploded. If ever there was a case of someone taking their foot of the throat of the enemy thinking the battle was over and then that enemy jumping up and stabbing them in the heart, this was it.
That first three hours for Australia was a triumph. The early dismissal of Vince was perfect, and got Root to the crease early. His dismissal was perfect cricket from Pat Cummins. The good length ball stroked through the covers for four was followed by the well pitched up ball wide of off stump that drew Root to it like a moth to a flame, and he edged it to third slip perfectly. Beautiful bowling and good plans. The patience of Nathan Lyon to draw Cook forward who complied by steering the ball to slip. The pace and bounce of Cummins to get the inside edge of Malan’s bat was all class. Five wickets down at tea, and then after tea two brilliant caught and bowled’s to dismiss the dangerous pair of Ali and Bairstow, by Lyon and Starc. It was brilliant cricket by Australia, and they were so far on top it was deliriously delightful.
And then then decided to hand that advantage back to England on a platter, and allow the visitors to claw their way back into the match, just ever so slightly.
No matter how much Australia had decided that the fast short pitched bowling was their key and master stroke to keeping England on the back foot, if it isn’t executed perfectly, or if it is so overused it isn’t a surprise anymore then it becomes obsolete. This tended to be the case for the rest of the England innings. Woakes and Overton wouldn’t lie down, didn’t lie down. They fought hard, and with that fight they had their little slice of luck, but it was more than deserved against what started to become a brainless assault in the middle section. Having done all of the hard work on the top order, Australia thought the tail would just roll over, and they did not. Instead of using their abilities to knock over the tail with conventional fast seam bowling on a responsive wicket, Australia decided to just bash the ball into the surface and force the batsmen to get themselves out. It may have worked in Brisbane, but here it didn’t. Woakes and Overton stuck to it, and did a wonderful job in not only surviving but it decreasing the lead with every over. Australia has been guilty of this in the past. Surely someone could see this wasn’t working and they needed to reassess. A lead of 300 was eventually whittled back to ‘just’ 215, with Woakes scoring 36 and Overton 41 not out on debut, the highest score of the innings. Theirs were brave efforts and would have been saluted by the England dressing room.
In cricket it is often said that you should always do what the opposition would most hate you to do. Given the chance to have to bat against Australia’s pace attack under lights with a new ball, or the chance to bowl against Australia’s top order in the same conditions, it’s a no-brainer that England would not have wanted to bat again. And yet Australia declined to enforce the follow-on, and decided to bat again. Seriously – what the hell is going on there? EVERYONE knows the best time to bowl is the last two hours of the evening’s play in these day/night Tests, and the Australian captain handed this opportunity to England. And they took full advantage of it. Jimmy Anderson was near-on unplayable, swinging and seaming the ball both ways in as good a spell of swing bowling as he has EVER produced. The others did well too, especially Woakes, who buoyed by his batting exploits finally showed what he can do with the ball, getting both Warner and Smith. Australia finished at 4/52 at stumps, but it was the way the England team floated off the ground laughing and charged up that was the most concerning thing. They should have been down-trodden, hanging their heads beaten into submission by a superior team. But, because of Australia’s brain explosions over the second half of the day’s play, they now believed in their ability once again, that they had a chance to squeeze their way back into this Test match.
Australia is still haunted by Dravid and Laxman in 2001 when it comes to enforcing the follow-on in Test cricket, and also bythe perceived possibility that the fast bowlers may get over-worked and break down again. Those two things have poisoned Australia’s ascendancy in this Test match, and for the moment has just given England a sniff that they can come out on the right side of this match. Both sides would agree that they would much rather be in Australia’s position, 268 runs ahead with six wickets in hand and two days to play. They still hold the whip hand in this Test. But if the follow-on had been enforced, and Englandhad been 4/52, then the game would have been as good as over. Australia may well still hold a 2-0 lead in this Ashes series in the next 48 hours, but three hours of innocuous cricket this evening has given England a boost that they should not have gotten, and may well still end up being a factor in the outcome of the series.
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