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Summary
Jonathan Howcroft
Ok, that’s enough from this page for one day, I’ll see you back here when the caravan pitches up in Melbourne. Time to redirect you to the more considered content from the likes of Geoff Lemon, Barney Ronay, and first, Ali Martin.
“Maybe I’m clutching at straws but surely managing to take the third Test into the fifth day constitutes a moral victory for England in the Ashes?” pleads Colum Fordham. “Ah how sweet is the taste of victory!”
Jim Lines asks the question that once began as a taunt but must now be given serious sporting (if not financial) consideration. “With the anomalous exception of 2010/11, the Aussie-hosted Ashes have been embarrassingly one-sided for decades. Given the calendar pressures combined with the diminishing status of first-class cricket, at what point does is it reduced to a three-Test series?”
Travis Head and Alex Carey wrested this match away from England yesterday, but the tourists could still take some hope from engineering an Australian collapse from 311-4 to 349 all out. With momentum behind them and Ben Stokes in the line-up, an unlikely target of 435 was not beyond the realms of possibility, but first the brittle top order would have to survive a testing 20 minute spell before lunch. Ben Duckett was unable to do just that, continuing his wretched tour with another soft dismissal.
The afternoon session saw Ollie Pope come and go quickly, and demand serious interrogation of England’s selectors should be be seen in his playing whites on Boxing Day in Melbourne. The other Englishman battling for his place at the start of the tour, Zak Crawley, seems likely to end it more secure than ever of his status. Today he compiled a studied 85, building a series of promising partnerships before he became one of Nathan Lyon’s three victims.
The spinner turned the match his side’s way with the scalps of Crawley and Ben Stokes to beautiful deliveries, and Harry Brook to the kind of brain fade that is become the hallmark of the batter’s career. Amongst all that Pat Cummins dismissed Joe Root for the 13th time in Tests, Mitchell Starc was warned twice for running onto the protected part of the strip, and Cummins may have rolled an ankle in the outfield, hardly bowling in the final session.
Updated at 02.27 EST
Close of play Day 4: England 207-6 (Target 435)
The battle for the Ashes survives another day, but that is only because Australia were denied the time to administer the last rites this evening. England’s performance was full of bright moments but as is now customary Australia’s superior skill shone through in the end.
63rd over: England 207-6 (Smith 2, Jacks 11) Jacks survives the final over of the day, despite Head beating his outside edge, and England reach stumps.
62nd over: England 207-6 (Smith 2, Jacks 11) After 17 dot balls without any indication England cared about scoring Smith is able to work a delivery through the ring on the legside for a single. And like London buses two come along at once! One over left in the day’s play.
“Bazball has failed, but no differently than its predecessors,” explains Lindsay Went. “In England’s 34(!) Test defeats in Australia since 1989, there has not been a single close loss involved. There’s a lone 5 wicket loss and a solo 98 run loss. As for the rest, there’s six innings defeats, eleven by 200 runs or more, nine by 8 wickets or more with the remaining eight falling in between. And people stay up all night to watch this? That’s devotion – or insanity!”
61st over: England 205-6 (Smith 1, Jacks 10) Head races through an over Jadeja-style as Jacks joins Smith in dead-batting everything. The Ashes will remain alive, technically, for another day.
60th over: England 205-6 (Smith 1, Jacks 10) Smith is hell bent on getting to stumps, crawling to one from 25 deliveries. It’s not without risk though, playing back to Lyon and tickling an edge that avoids an ugly bowled dismissal and catching Carey unawares with the keeper already rising to collect the bouncing ball and unable to pouch the catch off his laces.
Colin Brushwood with some inconvenient truths for the future of English cricket. “After every Ashes away stuffing the ECB goes all Yes Minister: a review, a white paper, a shake up blah blah blah. But nothing will make a difference. England will never contain a team of housing estate players who might get stuck right in to the Aussies. Cricket may as well be croquet or show jumping in the cities. Grassroots? Sold to developers for flats.
59th over: England 205-6 (Smith 1, Jacks 10) Australia review a Head delivery that straightens and beats Jacks on his outside edge. They think there was a feather but DRS disagrees.
Nathan Lyon’s 68 Test wickets at the Adelaide Oval is now the joint-second best return by a bowler at an Australian Test ground. Shane Warne also has 68 at the Gabba, behind only Dennis Lillee’s 82 at the MCG.
58th over: England 199-6 (Smith 0, Jacks 5) Jacks dabs away three Lyon deliveries then sweeps uppishly for a single.
“My mate came around today and forced Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis into the Blu Ray player,” begins Chris Paraskevas. “A sprawling, egotistical, overblown, irreverent financial and critical disaster that has provided the perfect thematic compliment to England’s impending series defeat and the collapse of the Bazball Empire (playing on the laptop with the movie as soundtrack). Who cares about a competitive series? Leave that sentiment for the India visits: this is all about getting to 5-0! Long live Bazalopilis.”
57th over: England 198-6 (Smith 0, Jacks 4) Australia bring Head back into the attack, presumably goading England into some more comedy dismissals before sundown. Smith doesn’t take the bait, dobbing away a maiden.
56th over: England 198-6 (Smith 0, Jacks 4) Jacks may well be a golfer, keen for a Sunday tee time at Kooyonga. He aims a couple of lusty reverse sweeps at Lyon, connecting with one that reaches the cover boundary, but in a manner that brings into question his awareness of the match situation.
55th over: England 194-6 (Smith 0, Jacks 0) For fear of returning to the weeds of an English postmortem, the past two dismissals are examples of Australia’s brilliance more than England’s failings. A brilliance made even more stark when the spinners of both teams are compared side-by-side. However, 177-3 becomes 194-6 as a direct consequence of Brook’s latest brain fade…
Smith sees off a Boland maiden. Presumably the English keeper is not a golfer.
Updated at 01.39 EST
54th over: England 194-6 (Smith 0, Jacks 0) That was another superb demonstration of Lyon’s ability to generate drift, dragging Crawley out of position and opening the gate to allow the ball to jag through. He almost repeats the trick to Jacks to conclude a wicket maiden but gets too much purchase off the surface.
It’s not my rhetorical questions causing England to collapse, it’s Tony McKnight’s attention. “I know this makes me a poor fan, and I know it’s fanciful, but I’ve gone away from the game 3 times because it’s too stressful (they couldn’t could they?), and then each time I come back, ‘just for a minute,’ just checking in’, we lose a wicket, (Root, Brook, Stokes). Apologies.”
With the coda, in case we were unconvinced of his superpower: “you can add Crawley to the list.”
ShareWICKET! Crawley st Carey b Lyon 85 (England 194-6)
Why do I ask these rhetorical questions? Lyon sends down a textbook delivery that beats Crawley through the gate. Carey gathers it with the minimum of fuss and whips off the bails with the England opener still balanced on his front foot a metre outside his crease. The end is nigh.
Nathan Lyon rips through England’s middle-order at Adelaide Oval. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/ReutersShare
Updated at 01.43 EST
53rd over: England 194-5 (Crawley 85, Smith 0) Crawley continues his lone hand, whipping Boland to the midwicket fence for a boundary. Then he rotates the strike to reveal a typically skittish-looking Smith. There’s half-an-hour of play remaining today. Are we coming back tomorrow?
ShareWICKET! Stokes b Lyon 5 (England 189-5)
Lyon comes around the wicket to Crawley now and again the batter tries to sweep (reverse) the opening delivery. He fails to connect, raising the prospect of an lbw. He goes again next ball, this time sending a decent stroke out to the point sweeper to move into the 80s. Stokes is still watchful, dotting from the crease, but even in a hyper-defensive mode he can’t keep out a Lyon pearler! From around the wicket the ball drifts onto leg stump, draws the England skipper forward, bounces and spins past the shoulder of the defensive stroke and clips the top of off-stump. That’s why he’s the GOAT. Masterful delivery.
52nd over: England 189-5 (Crawley 80)
Ben Stokes is bowled by Nathan Lyon as Australia close on victory in the third Ashes Test. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 01.45 EST
51st over: England 188-4 (Crawley 79, Stokes 5) Scott Boland replaces the out-of-sorts Starc but he overpitches to Stokes who batters him Lara-like through the covers with a massive stride and runner’s lunge.
Speaking of West Indian greats, the superbly named Andy Roberts has come steaming in from the sight-screen. “Watching and reading along here, enjoying the cricket so far,” he begins, softening us up, “but I need to get something off my chest.
At the risk of sounding like a pedant of the first order, I can’t stand it when people talk about Australia “winning the Ashes” during this 25/26 series, or “winning the Ashes” in England. Australia can’t win the Ashes because they already hold them. They will continue to hold them until England can muster a definitive series victory. Until then, Australia will RETAIN the Ashes. They RETAINED the Ashes in England by drawing the series, and are likely to RETAIN the Ashes in this Australian summer with a series win. When people get it wrong, they are fundamentally misunderstanding the nature of an Ashes contest. It is not just another series that you win lose or draw; there is a prize that needs to be won – wrested from the holder clearly and totally. The outcome of the Test series – win, lose or draw – is secondary to who wins or retains the Ashes.
Okay, rant over. I’ll get back to relaxing by the pool and waiting for the Australian win. I’m calling 150 runs.”
50th over: England 183-4 (Crawley 78, Stokes 1) Crawley has dealt with Lyon so far by sweeping him early in an over, and he does just that again, whipping him powerfully for four through square-leg. Thereafter the bowler adjusts a fraction shorter allowing the tall batter to play him from the crease and pick his spot for an easy single. Stokes remains watchful.
Gervase Greene adds more meat to the bones of the “why don’t Australia get pelters for not winning in England” question.
“Australia in England has almost always been competitive, whereas England are rarely so over here. Lest we forget those last six tours (and there’s a sample bias there, as it dates from the demise of the all-time great Australian dynasty) saw two series drawn and three of four series narrowly lost. The corresponding English tours Down Under were for the most part laughably one-sided. 2006’s 0-5, 2013’s 0-5, 2017’s 0-4 and 2021’s 0-4. Or to put it another way, overall in the six series in England, England won 14 Tests and Australia 8. In the past six series in Australia, England won 3 Test and Australia 19.
And the way things are going, by this time tomorrow it’ll be 0-3 in this series. As a Test cricket fan I wish it were more even always. But generally speaking, it simply hasn’t been. Hopefully the next MCC review of KPIs might factor this issue into their mix.”
49th over: England 178-4 (Crawley 73, Stokes 1) “This is the best I’ve ever seen Crawley bat,” purrs Justin Langer, offering the opener a backhanded compliment amidst a thorough takedown of England’s inability to bat for time. Stokes is actually the man on srtike during the over, allowing another off-colour Starc over to mostly pass through to the keeper.
A lovely two act play from Philip Rebbeck:
17:04: “‘Hoist by his own petard’ is already past tense Jonathan. And I hope it doesn’t happen to Brook.”
17:05: “Oh dear.”
Updated at 01.13 EST
48th over: England 178-4 (Crawley 73, Stokes 1) That’s the fourth time in six innings Brook has got himself in, and on three of those occasions he has got himself out. The margin between success and failure is wafer thin.
Updated at 01.13 EST
WICKET! Lyon b Brook 30 (England 177-4)
Lol. Option b it is then.
Nathan Lyon is recalled, Harry Brook misses the reverse sweep, and off balance he can scarcely believe the ball cannoned into his off stump. Another ugly dismissal for the prodigiously talented Englishman.
Harry Brook is bowled by Nathan Lyon at Adelaide Oval. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 01.47 EST
47th over: England 176-3 (Crawley 72, Brook 30) Starc looks a shadow of his usual self bowling without rhythm from around the wicket. Brook is either a) starting to look very dangerous and ready to prove his class, or b) just about to be hoisted by his own petard.
“I have a very basic understanding of cricket, so just wondering, since Australia hasn’t won an Ashes in England in a very long time either, why doesn’t Australia seem to get judged as harshly?” Very fair question Rina. I think because around those series Australia have won the World Test Championship, a bunch of 50-over World Cups, and only lost by fine margins (2023 & 2019 both 2-2 draws, and 2015 2-3). There hasn’t been the abject failure on the scale England tend to deliver on a quadrennial basis.
46th over: England 171-3 (Crawley 70, Brook 28) After 30-or-so deliveries #diggingin Harry Brook has started to resemble his usual self. He takes Head for seven runs from three deliveries, including a powerfully struck reverse sweep for four. Crawley moves into the 70s with what is becoming a characteristically straight bat and straightforward off drive.
WinViz is still drunk, reckoning England have a 13% chance of victory. Pretty sure it’s been at least 10% all innings.
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45th over: England 158-3 (Crawley 65, Brook 20) The final drinks break of the day has been taken. Starc resumes, still from around the wicket, and still displeased with his landing foot. He looks as unthreatening as he has all series and England continue to milk offside runs.
44th over: England 153-3 (Crawley 61, Brook 19) Head replaces Lyon and he almost makes an immediate breakthrough! Brook advances but gets beaten in flight, the ball spins into his pad and ricochets away, fortunately for him well out of reach of Carey with a stumping in the offing. Crawley moves into the 60s.
“Part of me expected to wake up to Travis Head and Alex Carey still batting,” emails Guy Hornsby, “so I’m going to take this as an England micro-win for now. As despondent as this series has been in terms of expectation v reality, each Test has seen more of an attempt to revert to more game awareness, from the last innings in Brisbane to now. It’s all a bit after the Lord Mayor’s show, sadly. There is a next to zero chance of a win or draw, but they are valuing their wicket, which is something in scant supply recently. Australia are just incredibly and consistently good.
I’m flying to Melbourne today and will be at the MCG on Boxing day with my daughter Leila and brother Dave. I’d be much happier if we were playing like this than how we were at Perth. At least it’s progress.”
Pack for all weather Guy. It was 40C earlier this week down here but the forecast for Boxing Day is just 20, and the G can be an unforgiving blustery corridor when it wants to be.
43rd over: England 147-3 (Crawley 57, Brook 19) Mitchell Starc replaces Scott Boland in the attack. In case you’re unaware, Starc has received two warnings by the standing umpire for running into the danger area. One more and he will be ordered out of the attack. Starc’s explanation for his miscalculations is the uneven landing area in the popping crease forcing him to adjust his approach angle. He begins his latest spell from around the wicket – not over – as he normally would, to avoid further controversy. He doesn’t like his landing position there either, dropping short and wide allowing Brook and Crawley easy runs behind square on the offside.
42nd over: England 143-3 (Crawley 56, Brook 15) Lyon is getting a lot of turn now from out of the rough, but the variability is still there off the flat. All of which means Carey’s job behind the stumps is incredibly difficult, but he shows superb foot and glovework – especially down the legside. Standing up to Boland in the previous over he also whipped the bails off for a speculative legside stumping. He is having quite the series.
“Wouldn’t another solution to a lack of talent be sending young talented (and fringe) players to play their trade in Australia, South Africa and the Caribbean?” asks John. “Didn’t do Alex Hales or Phil Salt any harm.”
41st over: England 139-3 (Crawley 53, Brook 14) Right on cue, the mischievous young Hal Brook rocks back and whips Boland off a length over midwicket for four. He then puts his cue in the rack for the remainder of the over. The Yorkshireman is 14 off 40 deliveries. He has yet to settle but, like Crawley, he is grinding, mostly.
“It shouldn’t be forgotten that Australia hasn’t won any of the last 6 Ashes series in England (4 losses, 2 draws),” reminds Warren from Brisbane. “England are quite good in England.”
Excellent reminder Warren. And why I’m not against the whole Bazball methodology. They identified a weakness (winning in Australia) and established a plan to rectify it.
40th over: England 135-3 (Crawley 53, Brook 10) Lyon is getting increasingly assertive as he grows into his work. England respond with a series of reverse sweeps. Crawley then goes back to a length delivery that keeps low and requires a nervous stab to stop it from shivering his timbers.
Brian Withington remains glued to his box. “Who is this opener and what has he done with Zak Crawley? And while we ponder that, can we have the mischievous young Hal Brook back please?”
39th over: England 131-3 (Crawley 52, Brook 7) “That’s the worst batting I’ve ever seen,” laments Ricky Ponting, as Harry Brook moves to the offside and attempts to scoop Scott Boland from a yorker length, only to lose his balance and squirt an under edge towards square-leg. That was to the fifth delivery of a trademark line-length Boland over, with the batter on seven from 29 deliveries, with the score at 131/3 chasing 435. Barney could file a 2,000 world column on that shot as a microcosm of the tour.
“While I bow to no man or woman n my respect for Joy Division/New Order and Ceremony, surely a better choice for England would be Atmosphere,” emails Sam. “‘We walked in silence’ is probably a fair description of the batman getting back to the dressing room.
BTW, if there’s one word that strikes me for the English performance, it would be “underdone”. I’m no expert on preparation, but one side (with a few honourable exceptions) is still playing like they just got off the plane, did a session in the nets and then went out for the toss.”
This one goes out to Sussan Ley and the rest of the Hacienda massive.
38th over: England 131-3 (Crawley 52, Brook 7) The pitch is starting to give Lyon the natural variation that makes him so dangerous. The odd one is holding its line while others are spitting out of clouds of dust. Crawley is less able to sweep his way out of trouble and gets a little lucky when a backfoot prod from the crease carries a long way in the air without being intercepted by a fielder.
37th over: England 131-3 (Crawley 52, Brook 7) Boland is less accurate this over, allowing Crawley and Brook to work singles standing tall, then he slips a touch straight and raps Crawley on his pads. The Victorian is adamant he should have an LBW but the umpire, and captain Cummins, disagree – accurately as Hawkeye confirms.
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36th over: England 129-3 (Crawley 51, Brook 6) Australia’s frontline spinner replaces the part-timer and Crawley punches Lyon away for three to bring up a hard earned 50. A diligent knock from the opener, demonstrating to his critics that he has the fortitude to grind out a rearguard knock. Brook does not relish his time at the crease, missing on his inside edge to have the veteran off-spinner bellowing for an LBW. No dice. Probably doing too much. As if to prove the point a delivery later in the over spins from outside off down the legside above the height of the bails. Hmmm, not what England wanted to see, but that was nice from Garry.
Updated at 00.09 EST
35th over: England 123-3 (Crawley 47, Brook 4) Cummins has a rest to allow Boland another spell, which in turn brings Carey back up to the stumps. Just the single from it.
“As an Aussie I completely agree with your overview of why Bazball hasn’t been a failure – but the issue is with the overall talent pathways in England,” emails Luke.
“Curious what you think of the current county system. Is the current administration not picking from county cricket a symptom of it not functioning as it should? Comparing it to the Aussie shield system with 6 teams – I wonder if there’s too many county sides diluting the quality? Would a system with like 4-8 “representative sides” of sets of counties be viable? Give English players a higher level of red ball cricket to learn at – before they enter the national team?”
It’s a complicated problem. Lots of people suggest there are too many counties, but then the first and second division set-up should moderate that issue to a degree. Moreover, many of the counties at risk of merging or being cast aside exist as community assets in their own right independent of the English high-performance pathway. Then you have the inescapable realty of English weather making early season matches dominated by medium-pace seam on soft green pitches and so reducing the exposure of spin bowlers and conditioning the techniques of batters. Add in the congested calendar (especially the overlapping IPL) and the importance of white ball cricket to the bottom line, and you have a system not set up for Test match success.
34th over: England 122-3 (Crawley 46, Brook 4) Head is into his fourth over and there is plenty of noisey chirping around the bat as Brook tries, and mostly fails, to assert himself on the contest. Eventually he rotates strike before Crawley profits from an unguarded mid-off to run three.
33rd over: England 118-3 (Crawley 43, Brook 3) Lovely shot from Crawley, picking the length early and pulling Cummins effortlessly for four in front of midwicket. Cummins has 3/24 from 10 overs. The rest have 0/94 from 23.
32nd over: England 113-3 (Crawley 39, Brook 2) Head is still in the game and he draws a false shot from Brook that isn’t far from a regulation leading-edge caught and bowled.
Back to the previous post and the topic of Joy Division’s Ceremony, this has long been a favourite version of mine, by the overlooked Galaxie 500.
31st over: England 110-3 (Crawley 38, Brook 0) Crawley absorbs a Cummins maiden with no alarm.
“I prefer at this point to think of a song to sum up the performance,” emails David in Tokyo. “I’m thinking Joy Division’s “Ceremony” (the gritty Radiohead cover): This is why it’s so unnerving / Then again the same old story…”
30th over: England 110-3 (Crawley 38, Brook 0) Head continues and he gets a ripper to turn and bounce on Crawley, draw the bat-pad edge and is unfortunate it doesn’t go to hand on the legside. The opener nurdles himself off strike before Brook dots a couple to work his way into the contest.
In case you were wondering, that is the 13th time Cummins has taken Root’s wicket in Test cricket. I’m confident plenty of them looked exactly like that one too, line and length, the ball holding its line after pitching and inducing the false stroke.
ShareWICKET! Root c Carey b Cummins 39 (England 109-3)
Pat Cummins takes responsibility from the other end after Tea and he sends down five unerring dot balls before a sixth tickles the edge of Root’s bat and carries through to Carey. England’s pre-Tea optimism evaporates.
29th over: England 109-3 (Crawley 37)
Joe Root feels the pain of being dismissed by Pat Cummins at Adelaide Oval. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/PAShare
Updated at 23.50 EST
28th over: England 109-2 (Crawley 37, Root 39) Australia begin after Tea by chucking the ball to Travis Head. And why not? On his home deck, buoyed by plundering a stack of runs maybe he will have the golden arm required to disrupt a partnership that blossomed nicely before the break.
For four deliveries there’s little to report as England nudge a couple of singles – then Root pads away a spinning delivery wide of off-stump and Head appeals like a man possessed. The decision is declined on-field because it did pitch miles outside off, but Cummins reviews. DRS reveals UMPIRE’S CALL with ball tracking indicating the delivery would be clipping the outside edge of the off bail but not spinning enough to take a satisfactory chunk of wood. Very very lucky for Joe Root and almost a stroke of genius from Australia straight after Tea.
Controversial opinion: batters playing no shot should lose the onus of an “umpire’s call”.
Updated at 23.36 EST
The players return for the final session of play. There are 41 overs or 150 minutes of action remaining. Could it be the final session of the Ashes as a going concern, or a magical chapter in the most unlikely comeback in Test history?
“No doubt this is a talented England team, and Bazball has enabled them to showcase that talent in a way a more conservative style would not,” opens Andrew Byrne, “but this Australian team has the strongest bowling line-up in world cricket, by some margin; does the basics very well; and plays as a disciplined, cohesive unit. There’s no shame in losing to this Australian team. They’re the best in the world for a reason.”
Absolutely. Amongst the unstitching of England’s approach this point cannot be lost. Travis Head, Alex Carey, and Mitchell Starc are all heading towards series of historic greatness, despite pre-tour predictions the primary dangers would be Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood.
And as I mentioned earlier, Australia’s excellence is no one-off, they routinely humiliate England, so a radical change of approach had merit.
Updated at 00.13 EST
On the topic of the cultural status of cricket in England, Stephen Jones questions whether the status quo will prevent anything actually being done about it, even if issues and solutions are identified.
“No doubt a review will occur. English cricket seems to be a procession of playing and reviewing. And so three years on how many recommendations have been implemented?” he asks, in reference to the the Andrew Strauss-led Men’s High Performance Review of 2022.
“It just seems the depth of talent is not there to match that of the Australians,” emails Paul. “Attending here in Adelaide I sense this is a truly national game with the nation as a whole thoroughly engaged. There is no upper class public school divergence from working class cricketers, and as an older reader I can remember when it was unthinkable that the Test matches were not on free to air television, when we sat on the beach with transistors listening to John Arlott.
We need a reinvigoration of the cultural status of Cricket as a thoroughly English phenomenon.
Fred Flintoff’s initiative with working class kids is a very encouraging development. Could we get similar things going all around the country? When you compare such a potential fledgling movement with “el Sistema” in Venezuela, which got kids of all backgrounds to play a musical instrument, it could lead to a ressurgent flowering and create a pool of talent stretching way beyond the present confines of English “Public” schools. The ECB enabling free to air all day test matches on the BBC would be a good start.”
ShareTea: England 106-2 (Target 435)
Following a couple of early wickets England have dug in nicely. They enjoyed the better of the last hour of the session with Crawley and Root sharing a 75-run partnership at 4.32rpo. A series-saving victory remains fanciful in the extreme but the ball is doing little for the seamers and this pair have show how to get on top of Nathan Lyon. With some application there’s no reason England can’t take this match into a fifth day.
Zak Crawley and Joe Root walk from the field in Adelaide. Photograph: James Elsby/APShare
Updated at 00.14 EST
27th over: England 106-2 (Crawley 36, Root 37) With a softening ball Green’s back of a length stock delivery is increasingly unthreatening. Crawley spots his window of opportunity and drills a very handsome cover drive.
“Amidst all the general doom, gloom and hand wringing can we spare a moment to savour this engrossing contest between Joe Root and Nathan Lyon? Top cricket between two of the very best.” It sure is. Root looks so assured sweeping and especially reverse sweeping, denying Lyon the opportunity to settle into a groove. The odd puff of dust suggests the demons in this surface may be lurking close to the surface but they have yet to interfere with the England legend’s concentration.
26th over: England 99-2 (Crawley 31, Root 36) Lyon moves around the wicket to try to disrupt England’s plan of attack. He lasts five balls and three easy singles before moving back over and gifting Root a fourth easy run for the over. Australia have created very little in the past hour.
25th over: England 95-2 (Crawley 29, Root 34) England milk Green for three singles.
Ben Barclay turns his attention to England’s selection policy. “Worth remembering England have failed to replace Broad and Anderson, with Archer’s return not enough, yet Starc and Lyon carry on. Atkinson sorely missed here. But the decisions! Jacks in the lineup for his batting, concedes 200 runs and bats a duck. And the Old Boys Club selections, with Pope and Crawley as sure as Death and Taxes, and about as useful. Australia have risen to the occasion, England have sunk to it. Australia are simply a better team, but England are throwing the contest away by beating themselves.”
Some of these decisions I’d be happy defending in theory (clearly in execution they have failed). Putting Anderson and Broad out to pasture felt a little premature at the time (especially considering Woakes was retained) and the absence of an attack leader on this tour has been glaring. Moreover, the success of Boland and Neser proves a rounded attack need not just contain height and pace.
24th over: England 92-2 (Crawley 27, Root 33) This pair have dealt superbly with Lyon so far. They began by sweeping everything but are not mixing up the sweeps with conventional pushes and the occasional reverse sweep. Root, in particular, is reverse sweeping with confidence, forcing the veteran bowler to mix up his line and length.
“Last time I can sort of see the Covid issue, but this has just been abysmal,” begins John Goldstein. “We have had the last few years of using a crap ball in our conditions to get the next generation of bowlers used to it. The time of year that ball experience would be of use everybody is playing the various short forms. Yeah, it will be great, we can learn how to reverse swing it. At the same time not really letting the bowlers who actually play for England use it because they are playing Tests or golf. All it did was bolster some averages for batters, stats for the mighty army of stats geeks and get more spin in the game because nobody else wanted to bowl with it. I’m convinced that the people who run the game in England and Wales secretly hate the game and they are trying (and succeeding) to dull any glimmer of enjoyment I have.”
Updated at 22.59 EST
23rd over: England 86-2 (Crawley 26, Root 28) Cameron Green is invited into the attack for the first time today, following Boland’s line-and-length clinic. In between backfoot singles to each batter he beats Crawley’s outside edge with some extra bounce. Root then cuts a very tight delivery for four through second slip off an under edge that carried a high degree of jeopardy. He rides his luck for now and punches gloves with his opener to acknowledge a 50 partnership.
“I too, am a Pom living long-term in Aus,” emails Grant. “I confess I didn’t have high hopes for this tour but I had hoped for something vaguely competitive. But the thing that has struck me most in this debacle is the acute lack of care from the England team: each humiliation is seemingly greeted by a shoulder shrug and a “pfft, so what”. I had intended to go to at least one day of the Boxing Day test but I think I’ll keep my money in my pocket and stay home. Most dispiriting.”
Joe Root digs in as England set off on a record run chase in Adelaide. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPAShare
Updated at 00.17 EST