So I’ve had a couple of beers. I’ve got a third on the go. And it’s time for me to update the blog. I doubt this will be my most coherent effort but the time feels right. After all, the Ashes feel like they’re slipping away once again.
We’ve been here before, of course, but I doubt even Ben Stokes at his best can get England out of this hole. And Joe Root has already been dismissed so I’m not sure who else is going to make the runs. I suspect this hole will soon become our grave.
I don’t want to sound too fatalistic but I suspected we’d be in this position once Australia made nearly 500 and the ball was already turning. The only surprise is that Nathan Lyon hasn’t done much damage. But who needs a top spinner when you’ve got Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc to take the wickets?
This Australian bowling attack is a good one. There’s no disputing that. So England’s first innings total of 301 wasn’t too bad in the circumstances. Root found some form – although I wish he’d find it more often and for longer – and Rory Burns continued to defy his critics. I think he’s shown enough in this series to warrant an extended run in the side. He’s got guts and can get his head down.
The problem is that we don’t have enough players like Burns. Everyone knows it. And I suspect it’s beginning to dawn on England’s players too. Collectively we’re just not good enough.
Jonny Bairstow is out of form, Ben Stokes is mercurial, Jos Buttler is finding the step up in class against Australia tough, and as for Jason Roy … well, the least said the better. He might well score some runs tomorrow – every dog has its day – but rarely has a much hyped prospect looked so out of his depth.
The only good news today was that we managed, somehow, thanks to some poor umpiring and a bit of luck, to avoid the follow on. This helped our survival chances quite a lot because Tim Paine was bound to be cautious with his declaration after Leeds. He needn’t have been so cautious on this surface but it didn’t seem to matter once Pat Cummins had torpedoed our first innings heroes in his opening over.
Oh shit.
In many ways today was classic England. We lost wickets, scraped the follow on target, and then briefly got everyone excited by reducing Australia to 44-4.
Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer bowled superbly well, but for a minute every patron in the ground seemed to forget that Australia were actually 240-4 when you added their first innings lead. In reality Australia already had too many runs on the board.
The prospect of England repeating Leeds was always an illusion. This pitch isn’t like Headingley where the surface improved as the game went on. This one is deteriorating slightly. And with Steve FFS Smith still at the crease reality soon began to bite hard.
How does Smith do it? I still have no idea. His pads are always covering the stumps, so he knows exactly what he can leave, but he has an uncanny knack of scoring off any delivery that’s straight. You think the bowler has a hope as the ball’s honing in on his pads – especially as some part of the stumps is usually visible thanks to his quirky feet – but somehow the bat always comes down in time to deflect the ball away.
Many batsmen have played this way in the past – Javed Miandad and Mohammad Azharuddin immediately spring to mind – but they occasionally missed those straight balls. This gave the bowlers a chance.
Smith, on the other hand, never misses. He’s super human. His innings of 82 today extinguished any lingering hopes England’s most optimistic supporters might have had, but it was a relative failure for Smith in the context of his remarkable run of scores. I can only conclude that he’s a complete and utter bastard!
So can England bat out day 5? I’m afraid the weather seems unlikely to help us. Roy might biff a few, Stokes might bat out some overs, Bairstow might score a pugnacious thirty odd, and Jos will probably get his head down for a while, but overall I can’t see us pulling off another miracle with our longish tail.
I hate to say it folks, but I think today really was the day we kissed the Ashes goodbye. But we can have no complaints if that’s what transpires tomorrow. The ECB have prioritised white ball cricket over the last four years so they’ve made our bed.
Now we have to lie in it.
James Morgan
And still people cling onto the belief that Bairstow is good enough. He isn’t out of form at all, he is quite simply not a test match batsmen. He used to threaten to be but since changing his mindset and technique for white ball he’s basically torpedoed himself. He should be immediately dropped from the team and the test squad/contracts.
Roy.. he will come off at least once as it’s Sod’s law but again.. will never ever be a test batsmen.
Buttler bless him at least tries !! But just isn’t good enough to succeed consistently
Picking Overton.. wtf .. and no, the answer isn’t the golden child Curran who bowls dinner pace and biffs
Do you think TP would have enforced the follow on ? I think he might have done as a result of Headingly. After that, what combination of runs and time could you have safely set England when you’re first objective is not to lose.
Sorry. ‘Your’!
I agree that the Ashes are probably now gone – I don’t see eight wickets lasting the day.
I don’t find this as engaging as other Ashes contests, though – compare 2005, when two very good sides contested a fascinating contest. In contrast this has two decent bowling sides, but (apart from a notable exception) not much batting.
I’ve never been a fan of Bairstow nTest cricket – why not pick Foakes?
I don’t think Root is a good captain, but as for his first-baller, how doy ou play that?
No idea. Bowl the identical ball to Steve Smith and see how he does it? Because it sure as hell wouldn’t get him out!
It’s going to be a very short day tomorrow, unless it rains for 8 hours solif of course.
The thing that most struck me was the paucity of the England attack once Broad and Archer had to be rested. A lot of the focus, rightly so, is on the batting’s shortcomings, but did anyone really expect Overton to be a handful as far as the Aussies are concerned? The pressure was immediately off when he came into the attack. I do think Leach is a decent spinner and should be persevered with but England desperately need a good quality third seamer. Woakes has been strangely ineffective, underused, and dropped. Is there anyone fit who can bowl at 88/90 mph? Stone, injured. Wood, injured. Jamie Overton? The cupboard seems pretty bare. Plunkett would have been better than C Overton. Don’t start me on the batting.
OK so we could implode and the match be over by lunch tomorrow, but we do have 4 exceptionally talented players all quite capable of scoring centuries on what is still a pretty decent batting wicket. The odd ball is keeping low but Roy and Denly seemed pretty confident in their stroke making late in the day.
Don’t understand why Broad and Archer continue to bat above Leach. It’s counter productive to us prolonging innings by giving the likes of Stokes and Butler some sort of security. Quite why Butler played his suicide stroke with Leach at the other end I dont know. At that stage every over we could extend our innings was key and as we had saved the prospect of the follow on so there was no real pressure.
After Stokes heroics at Headingly the Aussies must have some doubts at the back of their minds, so it’s up to us to promote those doubts by showing good match management. If we could get out of this match with a draw I reckon we’d be favourites at the Oval, so that should be enough incentive to knuckle down.
The above is called being a supporter, which is by definition giving support, not giving up.
Marc, your optimism is admirable – I will support the team through and through. It’s not their fault that several of them shouldn’t probably be in this team at all, If England ask, of course you play.
But I’m not too upset if they lose simply because there is a small chance it might deliver a kick to ECB Towers that their approach to test cricket is rubbish.
As for giving up, well, supporting England in these situations has often been a triumph of hope over experience and there comes a point when even that fails you!
Yeah the ECB are definitely to blame!
Prioritises white ball
Picks players like Roy, Buttler and Bairstow
You’re right fella, it is their fault
Everyone is glad you see it now
Has there ever been an England defeat that wasn’t the ECB”s fault?
Maybe it’s just more appealing for you to blame administrators than put it on the players who were overcome by a better team.
Australia have the world’s #1 batsman and #1 bowler. Is that the ECB’s fault too?
Heaven forbid you acknowledge Australia were simply better. Far easier to make it about the ECB. Again and again and again.
Fair point. The England players are definitely not stepping up.
I often wonder what actually goes on in the England dressing room. Do they even realise how badly they’re playing?
Has there ever been a defeat that wasn’t the ECB’s fault?
I suspect that Root’s reign as captain will soon be over. The question is: who will succeed him? I’m pretty sure that if it were offered to him Stokes would grab it with both hands. There seems to be an atmosphere of forgive and forget over his history.
I expect Oz to complete a victory today – and frankly they deserve it. Their half team is better than our half team.
We always make the best player captain and then ruin him in the process. I would consider Broad. He’s a strong personality with intelligence. Plus I can’t see it affecting his form. The only problem is that he’d probably burn our reviews within two overs.
The main reason for choosing our last two captains has been that they were the only players even remotely suitable who were likely to keep their place for the series. If you replace Root – which we need to do for his own sake, Broad is the only player similarly qualified. As for playing an experienced player from the county circuit, the only England qualified county captains are Burns, Vince ans Ballance.
Part of the reason that the cupboard is so bare is that since central contracts, England players play virtually no County cricket so never get the chance to learn their captaincy trade from old pros.
A very pertinent comment about Broad, James….suddenly he has matured (if that’s the right word) into a very thoughtful and intelligent cricketer, his interviews these days are informative and enlightening. He really has ‘stepped up’ in Jimmy’s absence. If Root is to be relieved of the captaincy I would have no hesitation in Broad taking over.
A thought about Bairstow, he played exactly the same shot as Roy in the first innings yet does not seem to attract anything like the same amount of criticism. I suppose it’s because he is considered to be ‘world class’ but he certainly woudn’t make my World X1 to play Mars in the inter-planetary cup
I think it’s because (a) it was a very good ball that got Jonny, and (b) Jonny gets bowled so much that people are bored of talking about it! :-)
I do feel YJB has had his time. He’s not a good keeper and his batting doesn’t make up for that. Roy might have been a decent Pietersen lite no 5 in a better line up and on flat wickets. But we don’t have one and these are English pitches. Roy also got out bowled through the gate in both innings which is worrying. Buttler is clearly trying to get to grips with test cricket but one century in over 30 tests isn’t enough for a specialist batsman. Root is weighed down by the captaincy and his conversion rate is worse than ever.
Root’s conversion rate is almost as bad (16/44) as Atherton (16/46). Atherton at least had the excuse of playing against pretty formidable attacks throughout his career – and a back injury at the end of it which hardly helped him.
Not sure that root is facing a worse pace attack than Atherton. At least from Australia, and Bumrah Rabada, Boult and the current WI crop aren’t too bad either. . In 3-4 years we might be in a position to judge it as better.
I would suggest the frequency of reaching 50 and failing to convert is more likely to be mental problems.
The difference is that Root’s averaging 48 whereas Atherton averaged 37.
James is probably right, the Ashes challenge ends today. Let’s be honest SS has been the stand out Aussie and his runs have put them into the winning positions over the series. I guess there’ll be an autopsy after the oval. What will be the outcome is any ones guess and will no doubt give us plenty of blog content to mull over. My gut feeling will be that the ECB will think that a close Ashes loss will be a price worth paying for winning the World Cup in the same summer, which should never have been allowed to happen.
Regarding players, Root’s time as captain must be in doubt. Other than his successful reviews he isn’t a good on field captain.
Bairstow & Butler will no doubt see out the series after that who knows. Roy needs a score today to have any chance of keeping his place.
Deserved win for the Aussies. They had the best batsman (by far) and the best pace bowling attack. An excellent series so far in spite of (or because of ) the amount of mediocrity on display.
Test cricket rules and Ashes rules most of all.
Well, England did better than I was expecting. What a play Cummins is! The four top order wickets he picked up were the difference today. Lyon seems out of form, and Starc is inconsistent, but with England 4 down a lunch the Aussies could just keep chipping away.
I thought Labuschagne should have bowled more at Headingley, so nice (from an Aussie perspective) to see him pick up a crucial wicket today.
From an England perspective, the whole approach to Tests needs to change (this has been evident for at least 3 years). Perhaps a new coach will fix it.
? Burns (capt) Denley (maybe) Root Stokes Bairstow (maybe) Foakes(+) Woakes Archer Stone Leach (obviously Anderson and Broad play if fit, but will they be fit?) looks like, more or less, the best we can do. Pope knocking at the door, of course. Bairstow most at risk. Sibley to open, presumably?
Denley looks like a short-term fix, but if he can offer a bit of grit at 3, at least that allows us to get someone (maybe Hameed) ready to replace him.
I have loved watching the Australian pace attack this summer, they have bowed so accurately and made it very difficult for us to score. They have adapted wonderfully to English conditions and bowled as a team. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been a joy to watch with their skill and movement along with controlled aggression and ability to keep bowling so well for long periods. The back ups , particularly Pattison, were great support. Taking on these bowlers as well as Steve Smith will be difficult for anyone. Interesting to see how they develop from here.
Bairstow must go
Roy must go
Buttler must go
Overton must go
Foakes in
Sibley in
Pope in
Woakes in
Root out as capt and broad in
Malan back as back up batter
Burns as Captain.
Otherwise, that’s not a bad team. But is it worth changing now, or waiting until the winter?
I’d change now just to make a statement to Bairstow and co that white ball techniques and mentalities won’t be tolerated any longer
For me, it’s been an enjoyable ashes series. The players from both sides did well to make it competitive (but not boorish) especially given the ridiculous idea of scheduling straight after a world cup. England have some talent issues. Perhaps the easiest way to improve would be to move Root out of the captaincy and down to number 4 (or even 5).
1 Burns
2 Crawley
3 Sibley
4 Northeast
5 Root (statistically, Root’s best position is 5)
6 Foakes
7 Stokes
8 Archer
9 Stone (once fit)
10 Broad
11 Leach
Thought Willis made an Interesting point in the post match analysis, pointing out how many times the white ballers have got bowled in this series. It is supposed to be the most difficult dismissal for a bowler to get, yet the likes of Roy, Bairstow and Butler seem to be candidates quite often.
This is a great opportunity to change tack and give a chance to more suitable technicians, but I doubt anything will happen with the present crew in charge, other than maybe the Roy experiment will at last be discarded, as there are plenty of alternatives for another middle order man.
The fact remains that although we’ve kept the series alive with a few individual performances, as a team we’ve never really been in the hunt and this against a really vulnerable batting line up. Take Smiths runs out and what is there that’s better than ours? Anderson has been a major blow of course, along with injuries to Wood and Stone, but their bowlers have simply bowled better as a unit.
We have to start asking why our quickies seem so physically fragile. Everyone seems to have fitness issues constantly. There are so many training fads nowadays that over use of the gym is an epidemic.
I remember a Fred Truman story where he was on the way to Australia by ship, as they did in the 50’s, giving the team time to unwind after a long season and when Peter May, the captain, asked him to join the others jogging round the deck, he replied in typical Truman style that he’d just bowled a thousand overs that season and was going to, ‘have a bloody good rest’.