Shattered – Day 4 at Edgbaston

The last time I checked in (on Friday evening) England were in a great position – just a few runs behind Australia’s first innings score and with plenty of wickets in hand.

And then it all went pear shaped thanks to a mini collapse on Saturday morning and another Steve Smith hundred. Is there any more frustrating sight in world cricket than Smith defying convention for hours on end?

England had a poor day on Saturday and a really poor one on Sunday. Now the best we can possibly get out of this game is a draw. And let’s not forget that Australia will be delighted with a draw at fortress Edgbaston. It will feel like Brisbane felt for us in 2010 – a huge fillip.

The worst case scenario, of course, is a big Australia win. That would do wonders for their confidence and set them up beautifully for Lord’s and the rest of the series. I don’t even want to contemplate that outcome; but contemplate it we must.

Can you see England batting out the day? Cricket is one of the archetypal betting sports but I wouldn’t put money on us this time. We’ll need our lion’s share of luck against Lyon. But this pitch isn’t offering the seamers much assistance now. It is possible to save the game.

However, I just wonder how fresh our batsmen feel. They’ve spent days in the field; they’re coming off an emotional World Cup win; plus they’re not exactly the best at digging in and batting time. I suspect that Root and Stokes will be the key players.

So where has it all gone wrong? I guess we just weren’t ruthless enough (or perhaps I should say relentless enough) with the bat in the first innings. And sadly injuries have killed us with the ball.

I’ve heard many people argue that Steve Smith’s twin hundreds in this match represent possibly the greatest individual performance in Ashes history. I’m afraid I can’t agree. As well as Smith has played – and that’s obviously magnificently – he was feasting on weakened attack that was missing it’s best bowler in Jimmy Anderson.

What’s more, it was pretty clear to me today that Chris Woakes wasn’t fit either. He bowled just five overs and not at all in the morning session when the team really needed him. When he did finally get a bowl in the afternoon session, he claimed the wicket of Smith but was well down on pace. Something was clearly up. Woakes bowled just one over more than Root and only two more than Joe Denly.

Not many attacks can cope with the loss of two key bowlers mid-match. It essentially means that England played with nine and a half men on Sunday. And of course, when teams go a bowler down (let alone two) it increases the workload of the other bowlers and renders them less effective.

I’m sure England’s batsmen would’ve had a field day too if Cummins had been ruled out of action after just four overs and Pattinson had picked up a knock too. England had to resort to part-timers for much of the day. And that’s just bread and butter for a players as good as Smith.

Part of me wonders whether this misfortune is the cricketing Gods evening things up after the World Cup. We got every break going during the latter stages of the tournament, not to mention the final itself, and now the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way in The Ashes.

Having said that, the bowlers at Root’s disposal didn’t bowl particularly well either, and that just made matters worse. Broad and Stokes tried tirelessly but the lifeless pitch gave them little assistance. And as for Moeen Ali, well, let’s just say that the knives are out. He currently looks as clueless as I do at nhl betting. Is his England career over?

When you’re missing one and a half seamers, your spinner has to stand up, take responsibility, and at the very least tie down an end. I hate to say it but Mo failed spectacularly. And his confidence looks shot.

When Mo finally produced a superb delivery to bowl Paine, it only seemed to emphasise how poorly he’d bowled beforehand. What’s more, it was impossible not to worry what Nathan Lyon might do on the same surface on day 5.

I’m in two minds on Mo’s future. Part of me feels that he’s unselectable at present. But then again one cannot ignore that his record at home is actually very good for an orthodox off-spinner. One shouldn’t toss away all that experience on a whim.

However, it’s not a straightforward decision whether to retain him for Lord’s. Although Steve Smith averages less against left arm spinners than any other type of bowling – which suggests that Jack Leach should automatically come into the side – we must remember that Australia have plenty of left-handers in their team.

What’s more, apparently the statistics say that Leach is much more effective against right-handers than lefties. I should also mention that Leach’s record at Lord’s isn’t particularly good, whereas Mo usually does quite well there. It’s a tough one.

Perhaps the solution is for England to find room for two spinners in the side? I’m not sure how they’ll manage this but our plethora of all-rounders does provide quite a lot of flexibility if the management feel compelled to gamble.

Finally, I should say a word or two about Jonny Bairstow. He has batted poorly in test cricket for a while now and his keeping today was substandard too. He just looked scruffy and his hands looked hard.

Many people on social media are suggesting that Jonny should be dropped – retribution, perhaps, for his tantrums in the past – however I can’t see what good this would do. Yes there’s a strong argument for bringing in Foakes, but Foakes has been injured and not available for Surrey of late.

Furthermore, it’s possible that Bairstow kept so poorly simply because he’s rusty. Throughout the World Cup he was a specialist fielder. I’m no keeper but it must be extremely hard to turn up for a test match on a turning pitch and suddenly turn it on.

Before I sign off I should quickly mention the timing of Paine’s declaration. It was too late. I suspect Michael Clarke would have pulled out 50 runs beforehand. There’s no way on God’s earth that England were going to chase 340 (let alone 390) on that pitch with Lyon bowling into the rough.

So why was Paine so cautious? I suspect it’s because he would’ve been delighted with a draw before the game and he wanted to make absolutely sure it couldn’t be taken away from him. I get it in the circumstances – even though it was overly cautious.

I suppose it just underlines the fact that Australia will be cock-a-hoop whatever happens on Day 5. The blueprint for any Australian Ashes win on our shores is to get through Edgabston unscathed and then attack at the other venues.

It’s exactly the same for England teams touring Australia. Just survive the Gabba. Just survive the Gabba. And if we can do that …

I’m afraid it doesn’t bode well.

James Morgan

Written in collaboration with NZ Betting & DDS Hunter

34 comments

  • Moeen can’t keep his place based on that performance James. He’s been a passenger.
    Lucky the Aussies didn’t give themselves 12-14 overs tonight and allow any of their bowlers to get into a rhythm. They really missed a trick there.

    • I think Nathan Lyon just ended Moeen’s Test career.

      And to be honest, I’m relieved. Moeen has been a great bloke and a valiant cricketer, but his batting and bowling averages show that he’s really not that good. Test cricket is a game of specialists, not allrounders — and especially not bits-and-pieces allrounders.

      • Disagree. If he could find batting form again, a batsman who averages 35+ and bowls really well /on occasion/ is hugely worthwhile.

        The problem is, he’s /never/ been consistent enough to be the sole spinner in the side, which means he has to justify his place in the side as a batsman. Which he can’t at present. And with Ben Stokes in the side as the all-rounder he has to justify his place at 3, or 5 (assuming Root bats 4). Which clearly he can’t.

        As you say, we don’t need two all rounders.

  • It’s too bad James. Those who play all 3 formats are bound to be exhausted and also need time out from International cricket to come down from the adrenaline high of the WC.

    Losing Jimmy and Woakes to a significant degree was a hammer blow. Looking ahead it seems that Jofra is fit so at least we should have him in our Lord’s attack. But it’s not good enough. There are too many bowling injuries and jaded players. The schedule is beyond reason.

    I would drop Bairstow as wicket keeper in a trice if Foakes were to be available. I would not be averse to YJB having another go at 3 fighting for his place. It could do him the world of good.

    I’m concerned about Buttler. He is doing ok but somewhat sporadically. Stokes should bat above him.

    I would not be surprised if the same team, barring injured bowlers, (hopefully), will be playing at Lord’s. It’s generally the way they do things. I would like to see Curran in the team.

    It does seem rather demoralising to be left batting out time on day 5. I hope they succeed in that. We should do it, but it will be extra bad if they fail.

  • Yes it’s important not to read too much into Smith’s batting here – else we may have a batting equivalent of Mitchell Johnson in the 5-0 defeat, where it only took a test and a half before England realised they were facing an opponent to whom they simply had no answer. But the fact remains without Smith Australia’s first innings would have been blasted to scrap; instead they’re now in a position of complete dominance.

    If they had some more test batsmen England might hope for a draw. I’m afraid however that it is time to drop the World Cup references; that was a different format and was never going to bear on the Ashes, any more than England’s historic occasional ODI success mattered a hill of beans when they were losing test matches.

  • Must be right that Woakes was carrying an injury that meant he couldn’t bowl in the morning. It looked very odd trying to keep going with Broad and three spinners, all of them below Test standard, and put too much pressure on Stokes. Moeen looks incapable of bowling with any sort of snap, so maybe he is injured too, or maybe it is just a confidence thing; the moon ball that Smith tried to smash, tennis fashion, looked like the yips.

    And, although Lyon is bowling confidently, he seems not yet to have worked out how to bowl on this slow sort of track. Too much overspin, too short. If he finds a better line and a slightly better length, he could be a handful. But, so far, it looks as if he can mostly be played off the back foot without too much risk. So there must be a chance that England bat all day, given how little there is for the quicks.

  • You really think this lot can bat all day? I doubt it, but the weather forecast might save them. When will Ed Smith learn you can’t keep going into Test matches with a load of one day players.
    In 10 Tests against Australia Moen has taken 11 wickets and averages 26 with the bat. With Leach chomping at the bit it’s a no brainer. Anderson isn’t fit and yet they made him bat! Stone should have played. Foakes is fit and should replace Bairstow whose pants at the moment.
    Trouble is unless someone can work out how to get Smith on the front foot, we’re probably stuffed anyway whoever we play.
    But wrong team selection. I think Bairstow ,Anderson and Broad run the show because Root doesn’t.

  • Bairstow has to go. He’s failed for well over a year and yet again just looks like he’s trying to smash every ball white ball style..that simply isn’t good enough in test cricket. Sack him off for foakes

    Anderson out for archer

    Moeen out for leech

    Woakes if injured causes a problem as we can’t afford Curran the plodder as he will get murdered

  • Smith’s performance in this test put me in mind of another of the Australian batsmen to achieve the feat of scoring two centuries in an Ashes test: Steve Waugh. And particularly the Steve Waugh of 1989. My memory of that summer is that it was oppressively hot and that, throughout, SR Waugh barely lost his wicket, if at all! Although, perhaps my memory has played a trick on me, since I was certain that very same summer witnessed my failed attempts to convince Lisa Jones to accompany me to a screening of the movie Cocktail. Yet IMDB suggests that this particular unsuccessful romantic endeavour took place in the summer prior.

    I’m not sure if there are many other similarities between the two series, although, combining injuries with any number of out-of-form, out-of-position, or just plain not-quite-good-enough players, who knows how close England will get to the 29 mark, by the final test!?

    There seem to be so many question marks hanging over the side, but no clear answers about who comes in and makes the team stronger. Leach for Ali makes sense, yet his average increases away from Taunton, as it does against left-handers. Bairstow could be left out, with Buttler taking the gloves, since Foakes is injured. But who comes into the side? How do go about replacing Anderson? If Woakes isn’t fit, who replaces him? Does Curran’s competitive spirit make up for his lack of pace and height? He does, after all, seem to have the happy knack of taking wickets and scoring handy runs.

    Perhaps, Roy, Denly, Ali and Bairstow will be the players who save the test and some of these questions will recede. On the other hand, maybe the other similarity between ’89 and ’19 will be the final scoreline: 0-4. A home Ashes series defeat would certainly double-underline, in red, the cost of ODI success.

  • Was there today and the most disappointing aspect was the captaincy of Root. Once again there’s too much thinking going on in the modern game. There are a few basic rules of captaincy to be applied before you start experimenting. These are independent of conditions and the first is you bowl your best bowlers against their best batsmen. What sort of advice was Root given for him not to bowl Woakes all morning, and this on his own turf and instead go to the ineffectual Moin and part timer Denly who both went for over 4 an over and caused precious few problems with huge footmarks to aim for. Then to cap it all he brings himself on and continues to bowl spin against the tail after Paine was out. Pace bowlers rarely like pace bowling and surely Broad and Woakes were the better bet initially. Denly bowled more overs than Woakes in this innings. There was altogether too much letting the game drift without any clear tactical purpose. Root was clearly influenced by the footmarks and seemed obsessed with spin, whatever it’s quality. The only bowler to consistently look competitive was Stokes, Broad becoming a moody side show before the end.
    The pitch looks low and slow with less consistent turn than expected. Even Lyon with the new ball caused only a couple of tremors, though the effects of the heavy roller will soon wear off. You feel if Australia are going to win, which must be favourite now, Lyon must take the lions share of the wickets.
    A couple of selection issues are becoming clear to everyone. Moin must go,sub standard with bat and ball, along with Bairstow, who missed another couple of stumpings today as well as fumbling repeatedly, along with his poor batting technique.This would allow Leach and Foakes back in to give the side more solidity. If Archer’s fit he must play at Lords. Put Anderson back into the county scene to prove he can stay fit under match conditions, not just pass fitness tests before a game. We need to stop the rot before we get steamrollered. Yes, f Anderson had been fit we all know it would have been a different story, but he wasn’t and it isn’t. Presently Australia look a different class with Warner and a Stark yet to come to the party.

  • Woakes has to be either injured or was ill. Stokes bowled admirably in tough conditions but so many more over than Woakes and looked totally shot and wincing when he went off. It’s super bad captaincy if Woakes doesn’t have an issue.

    • There was no indication from the England camp that anything was the matter with Woakes as he fielded perfectly ok in the morning session apart from going off for a few minutes when Archer came on to sub. His afternoon bowling seemed ok as well, certainly better than our second rate spinners, who were on again after less than 10 overs with the second new ball, as space fillers waiting for a declaration that came a lot later than expected and gives us a life line we should never have had.
      We took our foot off the pedal yesterday and drifted with a lack of intensity as the day wore on. Of course this will be vociferously denied should some upstart journalist happen to bring it up, but it’s still the case. Even the barmy army’s renditions of patriotic fervour couldn’t seem to inspire. Only Stokes of the bowlers showed the consistent body language necessary for the fray.

      • I was keeping a close eye on the speed gun when Woakes bowled his final spell and he was operating at 78-82 mph. Broad was up at 83-86. There was definitely something up with Woakes. I’ve heard that he has a knee conditions that flares up now and again. I think this could have been the problem so England were using him very sparingly.

        The fact that Stokes, who England prefer to bowl lightly because of his batting, bowled almost twice as many overs as Woakes tells the story. Woakes bowled more overs in the first innings and was far more effective than Stokes, so it makes no sense that the latter would be preferred purely on merit.

    • Aus asked a few times also but not as frequently I don’t think. It did seem over the top. Again and again the ball passed through the rings and passed back to the team. As with anything if there is a cost less opportunity to gain advantage who is not going to take it.

      If we want to stop it should be warning then a five run penalty if you ask and its not actually out of shape – or otherwise visible damaged (eg beer damaged as in the case late in the innings). That should reduce it to cases where it does actually seem to be gong out of shape.

      As with everything these articles are written when some commentator makes a statement in part trying to fill up air time during a slow passage of play. I don’t think know that its something Mark Taylor or anyone else is really that phased about but it does waste time.

    • This is so typical of the Aussie press. I suggest Australians don’t read it if they want an impartial / sensible perspective. It’s childish trolling.

      Yes it’s wrong the players should ask the umpires to change the ball but this horrendous article missed the whole context (as usual). In the innings beforehand the Aussie bowls did exactly the same thing. And they eventually succeeded in changing the ball. The replacement ball they got swung round corners and created that mini collapse with Denly and Buttler falling in quick succession, soon followed by Bairstow. Is it any wonder that England tried the same? They probably felt aggrieved.

      The Australian press is so one-eyed. I imagine they just go for clicks as they know moaning about poms generates traffic. The English gutter press need to grow up too, but this article is from C9. I can’t see the BBC or Sky doing the same without giving the full context of events.

      • I’m an Aussie but have little idea of what the Aussie press says about sport at all as I refuse to read ’em. I’d read Haigh but he’s hidden behind a paywall.

    • The really frustrating thing about Root’s blatant time wasting was that the umpires had to convene about it becasue only one of them had the testing ring. If they both had one you’d hardly have noticed because once the umpire with the ring had the ball it dropped through first time without issue and was immediately thrown back to the bowler. Only once did Root question the ball from the city end, where the umpire with the ring was officiating, that when a Pattison 6 landed in somebody’s beer and everyone was smelling the ball. By that time the innings was almost over anyway and it wouldn’t have mattered if we were bowling a tennis ball. All the other times were at the pavilion end, so the ball had to be taken over to be tested. Coincidence, me thinks not. Even the Hollies stand got bored with it, throwing their own balls onto the field to be tested.

  • Incidentally I wouldn’t be surprised if Cummins doesn’t play at Lords. While they only gave themselves a short spell so his not bowling was not that unusual. I doubt he’s injured but I suspect they are concerned about his workload post WC and the 33 overs he bowled first innings so wanted to give him another night of rest and will limit him to about 10 overs tomorrow – probably reserving him after an opening spell to blast the tail.

    Would not be surprised if the Australian attack was Pattinson, and any two of Hazlewood, Starc and Siddle at Lords. (probably not Siddle and Hazlewood together).

  • Let’s stop pretending that Anderson would have made the difference.
    Let’s stop pretending that Root is a good captain.
    Let’s stop pretending that Ali is not in desperate form and would probably benefit from
    some time away from the game.
    There is an excellent keeper available – his name is Ben Cox.

    Congratulations to Smith and co for taking advantage of a weakened under par England team.
    Perhaps if Ed Smith were to remove his shaded he would see what’s going on out there.

    • Anderson would definitely have made A difference. Not necessarily THE difference though.

      Any time a team loses an opening bowler in the 4th innings of the match (leaving them with ten men) it’s going to have a massive impact on the game. When it’s your best bowler, a bloke who has taken more test wickets than any other seamer in history, then it’s going to make an even bigger difference.

      The one area where the selectors do deserve some criticism is fielding an attack with no pace or variation. As I wrote in my preview a few days ago, it rarely goes right for England when we pick 4 right arm orthodox fast-medium (or medium-fast) seamers. Even the spinner is orthodox right arm. I suspect they thought the pitch would offer more movement than it has.

      • Well let’s look at this. According to Thorpe it was Anderson himself who said that he was fit and he was trusted.
        I wouldn’t trust a Lanky bloke any day and especially on Yorkshire Day (when the Test started). There was absolutely no reason, other than Hotpot’s ego, why we should be down to 10 men. And now we’re getting stuffed.
        Culpability for our performance is spread wider, however.

        • It’s not the player’s job to rule himself out. It’s the physios’ and selectors’ job. They’re the ones at fault. To not even consider Olly Stone on his home ground? I ask you…

      • I beg to differ, with him we wouldn’t have needed to bother with Denly or Root and used much less of Moin. You don’t hit Anderson for 4 an over these days, so time would have been less of an issue.
        Just having him in the side makes a big difference to the morale of the other bowlers.
        The wicket has become so unresponsive to seam that swing bowling would have been more effective with conditions ideal for this most of the time. With a fully fit Anderson the match would have been over one way or the other by now. He is clearly the best bowler in English conditions by a street on either side.
        Literally bumped into Ed Smith, head down, outside the ground, fully suited and booted. No one even acknowledged him. He cut a rather small forlorn figure amongst the crowd. Couldn’t feel sorry for him though.
        Surely this match has exposed a couple of weaknesses that have now become so glaring even Mr Ed can’t ignore them anymore. We shall see.

  • With today’s plethora of “experts”around the England team surely they should have known that at 37 Anderson needed a bit more time out. And why make him run up and down batting with a calf injury? Brainless. 2 out of Curran, Stone and Leach should have played here surely. Moen seems to be super glued into this side, but Stone would have given some extra pace and Leach might have actually spun the ball. To call Moen a front line spinner ain’t half pushing it. And now Woakes looks like he’s carrying an injury.

  • I thought the way the umpires were testing the shape of the ball was in keeping with a lot of their decisions in this match. Dropping the ball once through the larger ring is meaningless. To test it properly it should be rotated on multiple axes and compared to both rings. A rolling pin of the same diameter as a cricket ball could be dropped through the larger ring.

    • All this fluffing around with ball is pointles. Dickie Bird would have told them just to get on with it. With all the other endless reviews no wonder games never finish on time and they don’t bowl all their overs.

  • Same personnel.. same England.. same result

    Yet again the batting is being shown up to be flat track bully and nothing else.. dead wicket and still they cba to fight and survive.. playing shots here there and everywhere and looking all sad for themselves when they get out

    Stokes apart, his was a good ball

    Roy just shouldn’t be in any red ball side
    Moeen is done
    Bairstow is done

    Clear out required both on field and behind the scenes

    This yet again, is unacceptable but will be accepted and defended I’m sure as a ‘one off’

    • Yes too much of a closed shop with senior players calling the shots.
      You know they can’t even bat one day out, awful two sessions.
      Roy played a horrible shot, but I sympathise with him, because he’s put in a position that is alien to his style of play. You just can’t have an aggressive opener against this lot. His position is 5, and maybe if England are 200/3! sometime he can play his natural game.

      • His position is simply not in test cricket. Please tell me what he’s achieved that deserves a slot in our premier sides top 6..

        Roy is a one trick pony so just leaf ehim to what he’s good at.. smacking a non moving white ball on roads with fielding restrictions and short boundaries. He is not a 5 or a 6 in test cricket.

        We over rate these players

        Bairstow is also over rated, as is buttler.. moeen keeps being talked up as ‘open with him or go st three’.. wtf . The guy has never been upto test batting

  • I completed a 500 piece jigsaw while watching this today. at least I managed to do something successfully

  • Maybe it’s time to clear out the ECB, clear out the county system admins and coaches and clear out this squad.

    Roy to go
    Burns to go
    Denly to go
    Bairstow to go
    Moeen to go
    Anderson to go

    Why.. either they simply aren’t good enough, never will be or are part of the problem with this side. Time to break it up. Even if it means losing for a few years trying out youth.

    County and amateur systems need changing back to formats that promote test values and skill sets. White ball is easier to learn than test batting

    • Pointless sacking 4 batsmen without naming 4 replacements. Who are the 4 better batsmen? (or 3, if Foakes is fit)

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