Very rough day in office has Josh eating his words

“TEAMS that are dismissed for 60, don’t usually win Test matches.”

Those are not my words but rather a quote from Josh Hazlewood (right) in the press conference following the second day of the recent Ashes Test at Headingley.

The Aussie fast bowler was basking in the praise of his first five-wicket haul for three years but it still sounded just a little cocky.

Karma can be a cruel mistress Josh and maybe after the events of the following two days, you may want to choose your words a bit more carefully next time.

A lot has been written and said about the fourth day at Headingley and Ben Stokes’ amazing innings.

Comparisons have rightly been made with Ian Botham’s heroics in the 1981 Test series, the highlights of which were shown during rain delays on English television for decades.

The question is how the Australians can regroup after such a painful loss. Tim Paine is right to say the visitors have had chances to win in every Test so far and should continue to execute their skills to the best of their abilities.

If that Headingley final innings run chase is played 10 times then Australia would win nine of those and would be prevented from winning on the 10th occasion by a piece of individual brilliance — which is what happened.

As it was … if it wasn’t for Marcus Harris’ hands, Nathan Lyon’s poor execution and Joel Wilson’s abysmal eyesight, they may have prevented Stokes from creating a highlights package that will be seen for years to come.

The ball is now in the selectors’ court as they must axe a batsman (either Harris or Khawaja you would think) and stay true to their bowler rotation policy.

Pat Cummins looked fried during the Stokes onslaught and should be sitting out the next game where he can think about bowling a fuller length.

Perhaps it’s time to release our own 150km/h bowler Mitch Starc.