He is an exhausting examination for any batsman
SMITH AND CUMMINS PROVE THE DIFFERENCE IN A SIDE TAINTED BY MAKEWEIGHTS
IT WAS spellbinding, slow-motion theatre but catching lightning in a bottle three times in one summer eventually proved beyond England. They did it once to win the World Cup final and again at Headingley to square the Ashes but the great escape in Manchester was one step too far. Roared on by a sell-out crowd greeting every forward defensive like a six and each over survived with huge ovations, it felt for a tantalising hour in the evening session as if England’s penultimate pair of Craig Overton and Jack Leach might somehow keep out Australia. They fought like tigers, scrapping and scrambling, clinging to the Ashes cliff edge with their fingernails but it was not to be.
At 6.15pm, in keeping with Test cricket 2019-style, a TV review was turned down by Ruchira Palliyaguruge, the lbw for the stoic Overton was confirmed and it was all over. The Ashes were Australia’s. England needed a miracle to save the day but for all their obduracy they ran out of magic dust.
The fantasy nature of the dream they were chasing revealed the truth of this series. When a team is left relying on the supernatural, they are vulnerable to the natural order of events.
On a wearing pitch against a relentless, high-quality attack all signposts led to an Australian win and – for all England’s resistance – the tourists reached their destination.
Australia have been the better team and deserve to retain the urn. England’s win at Headingley was effectively a one-man show. Even for the man who has spent a summer shaping reality to his own whim, it was asking too much of Ben Stokes to repeat his heroics here.
As with his Leeds tour de force, Stokes dug deep foundations, taking 15 balls to get off the mark but two deliveries later, as he tried to shoulder arms, Pat Cummins’ delivery brushed the inside edge with his late movement. Walking is a rarity even in this era of
the decision review system but Stokes knew and behind him Tim Paine knew too. He was gone for one.
Others put up their hands to be hero. First Jos Buttler, then the unlikely Somerset double act of Overton and Leach, but logic dictated Australia would prevail – and for once in this crazy summer of cricket it did.
This is not the greatest XI to wear Baggy Green – there are makeweights in their batting – but they have the world’s best Test batsman and the world’s best Test bowler in Steve Smith and Cummins. They have been the difference between the sides.
Smith, the phenomenon, has captured the records and headlines but Cummins has been a terrific weapon for Australia. Controlled and threatening in equal measure, he has been the series’ leading wicket taker with 24.
England’s punt on outbowling Australia by choosing a batch of balls for the Ashes with seams like Mohican haircuts ran aground in Cummins’ skilled hands. The delivery with which he bowled Joe Root on Saturday in his devastating first over was a candidate for ball of the series.
He is an exhausting mental as well as physical examination for any batsman.
Josh Hazlewood, left, has been immense too and when he returned to nip one back off the pitch and trap Overton, England’s last skittle toppled.
See? You don’t need sandpaper to bowl sides out.
From their darkest moment as a cricket nation in South Africa 18 months ago, they have reinvented themselves under coach Justin Langer.
The stick they have taken from the stands has been fearful – Smith and David Warner at the forefront – but they have taken it with good humour.
The ironic cheers for every catch by Nathan Lyon continued yesterday but Ham-fisted of Headingley had the last laugh as the Ashes were retained.
Australia won – and with integrity.
Smith has captured the records and the headlines