ANY CHANCE OF ANOTHER MIRACLE?
Ashes hopes hanging by a thread after Root goes for his third duck
ENGLAND are on the verge of surrendering the Ashes after slumping to 18 for two last night but coach Trevor Bayliss was still clinging to the belief that ‘anything is possible’.
Defeat at Old Trafford — a prospect enhanced by Joe Root becoming the first England captain to suffer three ducks in a Test series immediately after the loss of first-innings accomplice Rory Burns in the first over — would see Australia retain the Ashes with a match in hand.
England must survive today’s 98 scheduled overs with eight wickets in hand to avert that prospect. But after Ben Stokes’s unbeaten hundred took them to their 359- run target at Headingley a fortnight ago, Bayliss claimed they could score the 365 more it would require to raise the bar again. ‘It’ll take a couple of our guys to make good hundreds but as we saw in the last Test, anything is possible,’ he said.
‘I’m always positive. We can do it. We’ve had a chat in the changing room, we’re certainly not going out thinking it’s all over. They believe they are good enough to bat for 98 overs and save the game.’
Referring to Stokes’ s individual brilliance in Leeds, Bayliss said: ‘If one guy can do it, someone else can do it as well. We’ve already spoken about who is going to put their hand up and be t he hero.
‘We know that it is going to be hard work but we are
going out there with the aim to do that.’
But former England captain Michael Vaughan, a repeated critic of their displays this series, put the boot in again, saying: ‘This England team consistently don’t realise the situation of the game when they have to step up.
‘They didn’t realise on day one. They were a team of individuals on day one. Yes the conditions were tough but we looked outside and they were not together.
‘The first time we have seen them together in the field was this afternoon. Too late. Jofra Archer got his paces up to 90mph but it was all too late for England.’
Australia have got themselves into such a strong position largely due to the performance of Steve Smith. He hit a double century in the first innings, then followed up with 82 in the second — remarkably his lowest score of the series in five innings — as Australia set their target by posting 186-6 declared.
Smith said: ‘When things get tough, you want your experienced players to step up. I have played a lot of cricket now and I like to get in those situations and try to be the one to take the team through.
‘It is pretty clear what we need to do tomorrow — quicks hit a good length, Gazza [Nathan Lyon] hit the rough as much as possible. It is just about relaxing and going out and enjoying it and hopefully executing our skills well enough to bowl England out.’