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Have they gone?
Good. Now me serve you this delicious day of test match cricket.
We have already got to Lords and we’ve taken our seats early to witness the Ruth Strauss Foundation day ceremonies. Ruth Strauss, the wife of former England captain Andrew died of a rare form of lung cancer. This day was a fund raiser for her foundation. Patrons were asked to wear red for the day. Players entered the field and presented their caps to Andrew Strauss to be auctioned later. Andrew Strauss rang the bell and everyone stood holding up their red 4/6 cards.
Joe Root tossed the coin and Tim Paine called called “tails”. Tails it was and Australia chose to bowl first. This took many “experts” by surprise, but I though it was the right decision on a test that is sure to be cut short by the weather. Australia, already 1-0 up in the series could not afford to bat and get skittled for a small score.
The teams took the field and at 11 am the cricket started – at last!
Pat Cummins took the first over from the members end and bowled to Rory Burns.
First over was a maiden.
Josh Hazlewood took the new ball from the Nursery end. Bowling to Jason Roy he beat the bat a number of times. I saw the fourth ball thought my camera lens. It caught the edge and was gleefully accepted by Tim Paine behind the stumps – England 1-0 – dream Start for the Aussies!
Roy c Paine b Hazlewood 0. England 1/0
This brought Joe Root to the wicket. Root is England’s best batsman and the Australians would be keen to get him early.
Hazlewood was bowling beautifully. right on the spot moving the ball both ways off the seam. Root was looking quite solid, playing the ball very late in his customary manner. In Hazlewood’s fourth over he beat the bat again, but this time it thumped into Root’s pad plumb in front. Root considers reviewing the decision but turns and walks slowly back to the members. Got him!
Root lbw b Hazlewood 14. England 26/2
Joe Denly come to the crease.
Burns was surviving. Missing the ball on numerous occasions, even taking a few on the body. His technique is very unusual and doesn’t allow easy evasion of the short balls.
Peter Siddle replaced Cummins at the Members end but looked out of sorts. His usual accuracy not there in his opening spell. Nathan Lyon was also tried quite early without success.
England go to Lunch 76/2. Session to Australia.
During lunch we caught up with Rendel, Rob and his wife for a drink at the Nursery.
After lunch Hazlewood was brought on back at the Nursery end and removed Denly caught behind.
Denly c Paine b Hazlewood 30. England 92/3
Jos Buttler replaced Denly.
Burns was still there and brought up his 50 in 199 balls. His luck ran out however and was brilliantly caught by Bancroft at short leg off Cummins for 53. What a catch by Bancroft! Diving full stretch to his left this ball seemed to bobble in hand before clutching it tight. It happened so quick the umpires referred it to the 3rd umpire for verification. The slow motion replay showed what a great catch it really was.
Burns c Bancroft b Cummins 53. England 116/4
Ben Stokes comes to the crease. another danger man for the Aussies.
Drinks in the middle session it was my shout for the beer. I made my way down the grandstand and to the Gents. While I was doing my business a big cheer went up from the crowd. Other guys in the toilet asked “what happened – boundary or wicket?”. Another guy said “sounded like a few groans in that”. Sure enough Buttler was out caught behind off Siddle.
Buttler c Paine b Siddle 12. England 136/5
Out comes Jonny Bairstow. England were teetering on the brink here. Will he rescue England yet again?
Stokes looked ominous cracking 3 boundaries, but only lasted 22 balls succumbing to Lyon, trapped in front of the wicket.
Stokes lbw Lyon 13. England 138/6
Australia are into the tail with Chris Woakes striding to the crease.
Bairstow and Woakes safely guided England to Tea at 201/6
Shortly after Tea the fine partnership between Bairstow and Woakes was broken with Woakes gloving a ball down the leg side to be caught by the Australian captain. Woakes reviewed the decision but the replays show a clear touch on his glove. Bairstow and Woakes put on 63 runs and pulled England out of a dangerous position.
Woakes c Paine b Cummins 32. England 210/7
New kid Jofra Archer came to the crease with a huge cheer from the crowd. This was Archer’s test debut and English fans had great expectations for the 24 yo Barbados born speedster. England fans were waiting on his bowling debut rather than his batting however. Can he stick around with Bairstow to take England to a decent score?
Short answer: “no”. He took the long handle and scored a couple of boundaries before getting himself tangled up and spooning a leading edge off Cummins to Khawaja at Gully.
Archer c Khawaja b Cummins 12. England 230/8
Stuart Broad came in. Broad has an annoying habit of hanging around and scoring a few runs when Australia least need it. We were hoping he wouldn’t do it again. He followed Archer’s template with a couple of boundaries of 15 balls before being bowled by Lyon.
Broad b Lyon 11. England 251/9
Bairstow was batting well. England are lucky to have such a reliable batsman at number 7. He brought his 50 off 82 balls with 7 boundaries. He looked in control from his very first ball. Running out of partners he looked to score runs quickly and mistimed a slog-sweep off Lyon to pick out Khawaja at deep square leg. That’s the end of the English innings. Jack Leach remained not out 0.
Bairstow c Khawaja b Lyon 52. England 258 all out
A great effort from all the Aussie bowlers sharing the wickets. Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon getting 3 each and Siddle with 1. The standout bowler was Hazlewood with a brilliant opening spell in the first session. His first two wickets set up a difficult day for the home side.
As for the batting, only Jonny Bairstow impressed with his 52. Burns scored 53 but never looked comfortable and was lucky to survive as long as he did. Chris Woakes provided great support to Bairstow with 32.
Is 258 enough? A tricky hour of play remained for the Australian openers. David Warner and Cameron Bancroft strode to the pitch to the boos of the English “fans”.
The booing of Warner, Bancroft and Steve Smith saddened me. I expected more from the Lords crowd. Warner, Bancroft and Smith served their sentences. They are very good players and don’t deserve booing.
Smith has proven the booing hasn’t affected his batting with two brilliant centuries in the first test. He’s such a talented batsman and showed tremendous mental strength to block out the crowd’s hostility. Warner on the other hand has struggled on this tour. Again an extremely talented batsman, but his mental game is yet to be proven. Broad has had his measure in recent times. The crowd were perched on the edge of their seats in anticipation.
Stuart Broad took the opening over from the Members end, while Jofra Archer made his much anticipated bowling debut into the breeze from the Nursery end. Both bowled well moving the ball off the seam beating the batsmen on numerous occasions. When Archer took the ball for the second over the English fans cheered loudly. Was he the one to bring the Ashes back to England?
The opening stand lasted 4.2 overs and 11 runs before Broad did it again with a ball sharply nipping back through Warner’s “gate” to clip the leg stump. It was the continuance of a disappointing Ashes campaign for Warner. Perhaps the demons are still in his head.
Warner b Broad 3. Australia 11/1
Archer bowled fast and did beat the bat, but he’d have to wait another day to claim his first wicket. Bancroft and Khawaja steered Australia through to Stumps without further loss.
Australia 30/1 (13.0 overs) (Bancroft 5, Khawaja 18)
Father time removed the bails to end a marvellous day of test cricket. What a thrill for me personally to witness this. It will live forever in my memory – Ashes test at Lords.
The Rest of the match
I didn’t have tickets for the rest of the match and we made our way back to Perth on Friday. The weather forecast for the remaining days wasn’t good.
Day 3
Australia resumed their innings at the start of play. Bancroft, Khwaha and Travis Head all fell before rain forced an Early Lunch. Steve Smith 13 and Matthew Wade yet to score were the not out batsman. Bancroft was Archer’s first test wicket. The Lunch score of 80/4 became the stumps score as the rain persisted.
Australia 80/4 (37.1 overs) (Smith 13, Wade 0)
Day 4
Australia resumed their innings at the start of play. Wade was out for 6 early in the session. Smith was solid as ever and was provided good support from Tim Paine to take the partnership to Lunch at 155/5. Smith brought up his 50 in 107 balls.
Paine fell shortly after Lunch for 23 when the score was 162. Cummins also provided a useful partnership with Smith and took the score passed 200. With the new ball 5 or so overs away, Archer was cut loose and gave one of the most fiery spells of bowling ever seen. He struck Smith on the forearm which caused a great deal of discomfort. After a short delay Smith resumed the battle. This was followed up by even more hostile bowling with Archer hitting Smith in the neck just below his helmet. Smith immediately fell flat to the ground and the cricket world held it’s breath. Medical staff rushed to his assistance. Smith got to his feet while the doctor assessed him for concussion. The right decision was made and Smith left the ground Retired Hurt 80 no. Further concussion tests would be carried out in the dressing room.
Siddle came out as the replacement to face the heat of Archer. He fell to Woakes for 6 after taking the score to 218. Still 40 runs behind.
Steve Smith returned to the crease to great applause and some booing. Such a shame to hear the booing – especially for such a courageous act to come out and face Archer and take Australia to a first inning lead. Smith showed his intent and hit Archer for consecutive boundaries. Fantastic stuff! Smith appeared to have no effects from being struck in the head – until he offered no shot to a Woakes off-cutter and was caught plumb in front for 92. Very un-Smith like – perhaps the knock on the head did indeed have some effect.
Lyon, Hazlewood and Cummins took the score to 250 to trail by 8 runs on the first innings. Tea was taken
Australia 250 All out
The last session was going to be tricky for the English openers. Jason Roy again proving that he’s probably not a test player was out in the 5 over c&b Cummins. This brought the English captain to the crease. He lasted just one ball nicking Cummins through to the ‘keeper. Australia had their tails up having England 9/2.
Joe Denly and Rory Burns restored some order with a 55 run partnership, but both fell in the 19th and 21st overs to be 71/4. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes took England to stumps at 96/4. This set up Day 5 for a possible result. Both sides have a sniff – but a draw still seemed the most likely result.
England 96/4 (32.2 overs) (Stokes 16, Buttler 10)
Day 5
Rain again delayed the start of play.
Marnus Labuschagne replaces Steve Smith under the new concussion law. Smith would play no more part in the game and Labuschagne would bat in his place.
Stokes (115 no) , Buttler (31) and Bairstow 30 no) batted well and took England to 258/8 before they declared setting Australia 267 to win with around 50 overs remaining in the day. Either side could still win.
England 258/5d (71 overs) (Stokes 115 no, Bairstow 30 no)
Would Australia risk going for the win? To go 2-0 would be almost an Ashes saver. Risking handing over the game to England however would undo all the great work in the 1st test.
Warner and Bancroft took the field to begin the climax to this enthralling game. Again Warner failed to impress and was caught in the gully by Burns off Archer for 5. Khawaja falls 2 overs later to Archer again – perhaps Archer is one to turn the Ashes for England!
In comes Smith’s replacement Marnus Labuschagne. How nervous would this young man be?
Bancroft lasts to the 14th over and is LBW to the spin of Jack Leach. Australia 47/3 and beginning to get anxious. Travis Head joins Labuschagne and together bring Australia out of trouble with a 85 run stand. Labuschagne is eventually out for 59 – a gutsy innings and probably saved Australia’s bacon along with Travis Head’s 42 no. Wade and Paine fell cheaply but the match was saved and ended in a draw.
Australia 154/6 (47.3 overs) (Head 32 no, Cummins 1 no)
Match Drawn
Player of the match: Ben Stokes
Points: England 8: Australia 8
How can a game go for five days – end in a draw – and be super exciting? Don’t know – just is.
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