Rattled Australia may not recover — if Ashes series stays alive
There surely must be some psychological effect from the pulverising England has dished out on Australia if the series is still alive next week, writes MIKE ATHERTON.
All eyes on the Manchester skies now. The forecast is dismal for the weekend, but, given enough time, England will go to the Kia Oval on level terms and soaring with confidence, after another dominant and one-sided display which included an innings of savagery from Jonny Bairstow, as they made their highest score in Ashes cricket at home since 1985, and more hostile fast bowling from Mark Wood.
It was Wood’s belated introduction at Headingley, with bat and ball, that changed the mood of the Ashes and it was his introduction here that proved critical again. He took three wickets in seven overs spread over three spells, including Australia’s best player, Steve Smith, for the second time in the match, a scalp that gave him his 100th wicket in Test cricket, the 50th England bowler to do so. Very few of those have bowled as fast.
The only puzzle was why Wood wasn’t utilised more earlier in Australia’s innings. He was introduced in the 11th over, the final one before tea, and took the wicket of Usman Khawaja with his second delivery, forcing the opener into an involuntary jab at the ball. Then Stokes withheld him until the 26th over, bringing him back at the opposite end for two overs from where he had been successful, before turning to him again in the 33rd over of the innings.
It was this third spell which brought him Smith’s wicket, caught behind attempting to hook a short ball, and that of Travis Head, who is clearly unsettled by short, quick bowling and who prodded a bouncer to gully off the face of the bat. Wood has them rattled, for sure, and is the captain’s trump card in the field right now, the difference between the teams.
On the brink of making England’s fourth-fastest Test hundred, Bairstow had earlier been left stranded on 99 — he made 99 in a previous Old Trafford Test, too — when James Anderson fell leg-before to Cameron Green to end the misery for Australia. But with Ben Stokes and Harry Brook passing half-centuries in the morning as well, misery it was as Australia conceded 592 in just 107.4 overs. Carnage.
They were ragged again at times and their fast bowlers were treated with disdain so there must surely be some psychological effect from this pulverising if the series is still alive next week. When England made 517 for one at Brisbane on the 2010-11 tour — Graham Gooch, the batting coach, took a photo of the scoreboard as a memento — it definitely affected the rest of the series, as this performance must surely do again.
Rarely, if ever, do Australia collapse in mind, body and heart, though, and Marnus Labuschagne was still there, battling to the close, showing strength of character after such a mauling in the field.
With 52 overs left in the day — only 41 were bowled — and the first-innings deficit a massive 275 with two days remaining, they set off on the long road to the draw and retention of the Ashes, but will need significant help from the elements to survive.
Australia have missed their chances to bury England in this series, most notably at Headingley in the second innings, where Labuschagne was guilty of gifting his wicket with the game in his grasp. Too often since then, Australia’s top order have flattered to deceive, and David Warner became the latest in that line when after getting a start for the second time in the match, indecision cost him as he played onto his stumps from Chris Woakes. Smith survived a disputed catch early on to Joe Root at slip immediately afterwards from the same bowler, but could not capitalise.
Woakes was England’s next most threatening bowler after Wood, as Moeen Ali struggled to find a consistent length, sending down three full tosses in his first spell, and Stuart Broad and Anderson failed to make inroads with the new ball. As well as Wood, Woakes’s return has been transformational: six wickets at Headingley, matchwinning runs in the second innings there and five wickets in the first innings here.
Stokes has Australia exactly where he wants them, on the ropes and on the defensive. The captain had signalled his intentions when he charged the second ball of the morning from Josh Hazlewood, and was soon into his stride pummelling the bowlers into the leg side. Brook was more sedate initially; he ought to have been run out by Pat Cummins when stranded mid-pitch after a misunderstanding with Stokes and the 50 partnership was raised with England’s 400.
Brook has recalibrated his approach slightly since Lord’s where he introduced too much risk to his game. He got going with three boundaries in four balls from Mitchell Starc and his half-century came in 80 balls shortly after Stokes was bowled heaving at Cummins. After a chastening second day, when his leadership and bowling crumbled under pressure, Cummins was back to somewhere near his best in his first spell, fast and straight.
The wickets, though, fell to Hazlewood with the second new ball, taken ten overs after it become available. Brook hooked high to fine leg, where Starc took a good catch; Woakes feathered behind first ball and Wood had his off-stump flattened by the final ball of the morning session. Hazlewood eventually took five wickets in all, with the dismissal of Broad, his tenth such haul in Tests.
Before wickets tumbled around him, Bairstow had looked in excellent touch at the start of his innings, a straight drive off Hazlewood a candidate for the shot of the day. The morning session had brought 122 runs in 24 overs and Bairstow went to the break on 41, looking back to his aggressive best. Scudding showers, and the swing Hazlewood found with the second new ball, might have encouraged a declaration, but Stokes sensed Bairstow’s mood and allowed him his head.
More Coverage
With the tail for company, Bairstow tore into Australia’s bowlers, muscling four sixes through the leg-side much as he had against New Zealand’s Matt Henry at Trent Bridge last summer and he went from 50 to 99 in 30 balls with a flurry of boundaries, protecting Anderson as he did so. On occasion, Bairstow and Anderson scampered runs to Alex Carey, standing back, an irony given that they were happy to accept the ball was still live when only just in Carey’s gloves. Anderson contributed five runs to the ninth-wicket partnership of 66, but it did include one pull to the boundary off Cummins, after which the crowd roared their approval.
That turned to groans, when Bairstow was left stranded - the Lancastrians in the crowd would have appreciated a hundred for a man who entered the match under considerable scrutiny. With a point to prove, Bairstow did so with the bat in his particular determined and belligerent way.
Originally published as Rattled Australia may not recover — if Ashes series stays alive
Up to the stumps, up the order: Carey’s challenge to selectors
Babar falls early, Sixers stumble, as Scorchers take flight in BBL
Aussies’ biggest selection hints yet as Adelaide line-up intrigue swirls
‘A lot of eyeballs’: McCullum admits airport scuffles ‘not ideal’
Feedback fuels Rogers’ BBL foundation
