Root's Caution Backfires as Aussies Stand Tall in Lord's Draw

Of everything that Australian supporters can take out of the just completed 2nd Test, the main one is this – four weeks ago, did anyone actually believe we would be leading this series 1-0 after Lord’s? That Australia is in this position is thanks mainly to its two finest players, and though much of the remainder of the team is in various states of disarray it augers well that Australia in now just one victory away from retaining the Ashes trophy. 

At the start of the final day, England held the upper hand even if many thought otherwise. The loss of Smith for the remainder of the Test with concussion gave the home team the upper hand given they could score enough runs quickly enough to force a result. Anything over 200 to win and leaving 60 overs to bowl would have been a tantilising strike for both teams, but it all relied on the courage of the England captain and his belief that his bowling attack could take down an Australian batting line up that minus Steve Smith could only manage 126 runs in total in their first innings. In the end Root flinched despite the absence of Australia’s best batsman, and refused to declare until his team was safe from defeat by leaving Australia requiring 267 runs for a win, but left his bowlers only 48 overs to achieve a victory they needed. Australia’s final total of 6/154 proved only that if ten more overs were available England would have been in the box seat. I suspect captains such as Ian Chappell, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Michael Clarke would have declared earlier in the hope of victory. Despite Root’s words of encouragement about his bowling attack at the end of the match, his actions spoke otherwise. 

Both Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head have again shown their tenacity and fight in the Test arena in holding off the English charge. Labuschagne had enormous boots to fill as Steve Smith’s concussion replacement, and copped his own clanger second ball. Yet he battled on and played his most important innings in Test cricket, seeing off the danger period and playing some lovely shot along the way. He seems to improve with each innings at this level. Head was fortunate to be given a life after a simple catch was shelled in the slips by Jason Roy when he was on 22, but apart from that he again played with ease and showed good defence against pace and spin. Neither of these two are the finished product yet, but they are both showing the kind of attributes that make you think they could become good value through the coming years. 

I’m not against Joe Root claiming the catch that ended up dismissing Labuschagne, nor am I against the third umpire going with the soft signal given by the standing umpires. Both of those things are fair enough. What does annoy me is that, in general in the past, those types of disputed catches are rarely given the soft signal as ‘out’, and the third umpires rarely rules in the favour of the fieldsman. And yet here this is exactly what happened, in the final hour of a Test match that was desperately trying to be saved by the batting team. I am probably biased in this thought, but you suspect that if England had been batting and a similar incident had occurred that it would have been unlikely to have been signalled out nor overturned by the third umpire. 

Stuart Broad’s continued excellence and encouraging signs on the final day from Jack Leach were overshadowed by the performance of Jofra Archer in this Test. Perhaps not since John Snow has England had a fast bowler to equal Archer’s pace fear factor. Those old enough to have seen it (not me, I’m afraid) still talk of Snow’s pace and vitriol in the 1970/71 Ashes in Australia, and how he single-handedly wrested the Ashes out of Australia’s hands. Archer, in this Test at least, has proven his equal, hitting the Australian batsmen repeatedly with an action that appears from my position safely in front of the TV screen to hide his intentions, which when combined with his pace is causing problems for the batsmen. It was fascinating to watch if not face, and in the short three days between Tests I assume a lot more focus will be put on trying to combat what he has to offer. Ball machines from 18 yards at 150kph into the body perhaps. England will be salivating at what he can produce over the rest of this series, but on the other hand the pressure on him to reproduce those kind of fireworks for another three matches may also be a difficult thing to match. 

How on earth was Ben Stokes awarded player of the match? In a game where Steve Smith refused to buckle, and where Jofra Archer’s bowling was the talk of both innings, how did Stokes get the award? A century on the final day? Yes, he batted well but not better than Smith. And he didn’t offer much with the ball while Archer was dangerous throughout. Whoever was deciding on the award should never be allowed to do so again. Rubbish. 

Changes will no doubt be considered for Headingley on both sides. Both teams have the same batting woes, and none of Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, Joe Denly or Jason Roy will be convinced they will be selected. While there are no immediate replacements for England’s woes, Marcus Harris would not be the worst selection at the top of the order for Australia. With such little time for recovery Australia will consider resting Cummins and Hazlewood to avoid any possibility of injury, even though neither will want to miss a Test. Pattinson is likely to play, but at whose expense is an open question. Smith would appear unlikely to recover in time, leaving Labuschagne as his likely replacement given his fine innings in his stead. 

The series is still wide open, and while England may feel they are coming into the next Test with momentum, they are still under the pump. Their top order is misfiring as much as Australia’s, and the middle orders are still cobbled together from bits and pieces. It offers the best opportunity for results, as it appears unlikely either team can bat for long enough to stretch a match to a draw unless like this match almost two days are lost to rain. Smith’s absence would offer England their best chance of getting back into the series, but it doesn’t guarantee it. What is certain is that the bowlers hold the key to the Test match, and the balance of their selection for both sides will be more interesting than any considered changes to the remainder of the teams.

2nd Test Day 2: Australia Holds Sway as Lyon Levels Lillee

The first day has been lost to rain, and the second day has provided an even contest come the close, and surely the result of this Test will be as dependant on the amount of moisture that falls from the sky as it does the actual contest between bat and ball on the field. If by the remotest possibility there is no further time lost in this match then a result is more likely than not. Which way that result would swing is still not certain.

Personally I thought Tim Paine took a gamble when he won the toss and inserted England. The reasons why he did were sound, but I still come from that Richie Benaud field where you bat first wherever possible. There’s no doubt that the option taken was the one England would have least preferred though. Batting first in tricky conditions with their collapse in the 1st Test no doubt still uppermost in their minds was not what their batsmen were hoping for. We’ll know better this time tomorrow if it was the best decision for Australia’s batsmen.

The dogs will be at Jason Roy’s door once again, but he got a fair delivery early from Josh Hazlewood, and sometimes you get them. The commentators again lauded Rory Burns’ innings, but he was dropped twice in making fifty and he still wasn’t convincing. The jury is still out on his future. Joe Denly made 30 but again fell without capitalising on his start. So many England batsmen have been tried and discarded over the past decade who seem to have the same fallibilities. Vince and Malan from the last Ashes series suffered the same fate that looks to be rushing at full steam towards Denly. Perhaps that’s unfair, but the number of chances that the selectors will offer their stars such as Buttler, Stokes and Bairstow will not be afforded to someone of Denly’s calibre.

Joe Root was pinned in front of the stumps where so often Steve Smith flicks the same ball past square leg. The English media and the heavy influence of the English on CricInfo have pushed Root’s claims as one of the “Big Four” of current world class batsmen, and though he has obvious class his inability to make a score when his team desperately needs it weighs against him. (Now watch Smith go for a duck and Root score a century in the second dig).

At 6/138, Australia should have had England out for 200. That they scrambled to 258 may not look to be a much better position, but with so much time already out of the game it will be important. If they had been dismissed for 200, and Australia was 1 or 2 down for 80 at stumps, the game would have had a much more tilted perspective than it does now. The one thing that hurts Australia about leaving out Mitch Starc is that there is no go-to guy to blast out the tail like he does. 

Nathan Lyon has now taken 355 Test wickets, equal with the great Dennis Lillee and now only behind Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne in Australia's wicket taking list. Once again he has come out on what is notionally a first day pitch and managed to snare three wickets. For much of the first half of his career he seemed to have an easy ride, chosen as much for his ability to hold up an end than to bowl his team to victory. In the last three years that has turned around, and he is comfortably one of Australia's match winners on all surfaces. Early in his career the 'experts' claimed he would never be able to be a Test spinner unless he developed a doosra or carrom ball or something that went the other way. Though he dabbled with it, he disposed of these thoughts in favour of a spinners best weapons - the ability to change the flight and speed to deceive the batsman, and spin the ball as hard as you can. Since he started doing this, he has become the bowler he is today. When you look at all of the recent bowlers behind him who were unable to reach Lillee's milestone total - McDermott, Johnson, Lee, Gillespie - you can see just how difficult a mark it was to reach. That Lyon has done so, and appears to have a few years left in him yet, is a remarkable achievement.

Tonight is a good Test for Australia’s batting line up. They now all have recent runs under their belt, and they must produce that to gain a good first innings lead. Khawaja looks good, and this is his moment. It is time for him to deliver and make that big Ashes century that anchors the innings, allowing his teammates to bat around him. If he can do this and take the pressure off Smith it will hopefully allow the middle order of Head and Wade to do their business as well. It won’t be easy, but it should be a great contest between bat and ball, as long as we can negotiate our way through the dismal and frustrating commentary being offered.