Relentless attack who always get you in the end...
Aussies have been better all summer
Late in the day, weather dry but miserable, england digging in, australia bowling well but becoming increasingly frustrated, Nathan Lyon deciding he might mess with a few minds.
For reasons best known to himself — and superstition at not having taken a wicket can be the only explanation, because there is no possible advantage in terms of cricket — he rearranged the bails at the non-striker’s end.
Switched them over, left one to the right, then right one to the left.
Lyon turned and walked to his mark, satisfied that his little ritual might change his fortune. Joe Root sidled up and put the bails back as they were.
It was a small gesture, but ultimately meaningless as an act of defiance. Soon after, Root had gone, Rory Burns too, and Jason Roy would soon follow.
australia’s bowlers do not need good juju, heavenly intervention or a special pair of lucky underpants to beat england. they are too good. they have been all summer.
It took the innings of Ben Stokes’s life to get england to the fourth test with the ashes to play for; and if he can just play the innings of his life again, england might also have a chance here.
already, however, it appears the best that can happen from the hosts’ point of view is a draw.
england will need dogged resistance again today to get within sight of australia’s first innings total and then to bat all day tomorrow, or longer depending on how quickly the tourists can amass a total and get them in again.
If anything sums up the gulf between these teams — and it is a gulf, no matter that there are seven days of ashes cricket left, with the series still in the balance — it is that england did not play badly yesterday, but still ended up perilously close to the precipice. there is no batsman in england’s ranks who can match Steve Smith’s class or is good
for a total approaching even half of his first innings 211, yet there is much more to it than one player.
there was a cussedness about the hosts’ response to australia and a rare determination, but it still wasn’t enough.
Roy looked considerably more confident at four than he ever had opening in the red-ball game — until he got a very good delivery from Josh Hazlewood — and Burns played another innings that may resonate beyond this match, and this series. But it still wasn’t enough.
Good news? It looks as if england have found their test opener. this was Burns’ second score of more than 50 to go with a century at edgbaston and that return should ensure a long run in this team.
Yet he went, too, as australian pressure told. that is the bottom line. Burns came in on thursday evening and was hanging around close to 24 hours later, which was impressive.
a session was lost to rain but, given the pressure afforded by australia’s score of 497, it was an important occupation. even so, they got him in the end.
Hazlewood bowled beautifully and picked up four wickets, Pat Cummins was arguably even better, yet somehow did not add to the scalp of Joe Denly, collected on thursday.
this is a superb attack, without doubt the best in test cricket right now, shading India with their depth. australia have managed their bowling line-up superbly this summer, taking men out, putting men in, keeping Mitchell Starc on the back burner against all expectations.
It was cold, yesterday too. Spectators were dressed for the wet and the winter, yet the tourists showed little of the malaise that had affected england the previous day. Players who perform in scorching heat at home stuck to their lines and their plans in conditions that might have tested stalwarts of the Lancashire leagues. Cummins bowled a stunning spell before tea, maintaining it through the final session. Hazlewood was relentless in turning the screw on england.
even when Roy threatened to cut loose, released from the shackles of opening, Hazlewood stuck to his plan. the ball that finally got the english batsman took the middle stump clean out of the ground.
the best that can be said for england is that their resilience here was not the residue of the Headingley momentum.
When Burns, an ashes rookie, dug in for a 141 partnership with Root, they were doing it for themselves, not on a wave of emotion from across the Pennines.
Burns was peppered with short stuff — facing more deliveries of that type than in any innings of his career — yet handled it well. and Cummins made it awkward for him, hitting the pitch hard at 90mph, never flagging despite not getting the return he deserved.
His was a long, tiring, yet magnificent spell which found no way through. Kudos to Burns for that. Yet australia got there, eventually.
at 5.30pm, england will have felt this had been an excellent day — but, an hour or so later, they were five wickets down and still 297 runs short.
Stokes was there. Just his presence brings hope, and one of the wickets already fallen is night-watchman Craig Overton, but even so.
We have seen this film before, as have australia, and they will be working for a swift curtailment of the first innings and a declaration late today that gives england a nervy hour or more to survive and then a full day of it tomorrow.
and however enthused and encouraged the locals may be by day five at Headingley, there is a difference between aiming to win a match, and trying to survive one.
the australians will not be setting a total that can be chased down this time; they will look to crush england with the pressure of just hanging in there.
and, for the optimists, there were encouraging signs in yesterday’s afternoon session.
With Burns, at least, england appear to have resolved an issue long-standing since the retirement of alastair Cook — or andrew Strauss, considering Cook never found a regular partner after he stood down.
Yet, ultimately, it wasn’t enough yesterday — and may not be enough this weekend, either.