They bowl better. They bat better. And as for their catching...
NATHAN LYON flew through the air like Superman to produce a sensational caught-and-bowled dismissal of Moeen Ali on a see-saw day three of the second Ashes Test. Mitchell Starc also clung on to a stunning return catch to snare Jonny Bairstow as England collapsed to 227 all out — a first-innings deficit of 215. At least the England attack fought back late on, reducing the Aussies to 53 for four.
Gallows humour being all that often remains by this stage of an ashes tour, the billboards on the outer wall of the adelaide Festival Centre made for droll reading as Englishmen crossed the Torrens river in the direction of the famous oval.
‘The Rocky Horror show’ read one. another publicised ‘Ross Kemp’s Extreme Tales’. To be fair, England boasted an extreme tail long before Kemp latched on to the idea and their top- order batting in australia has been rocky and a horror show for as long as anyone can remember. It wasn’t much different yesterday, either.
with the exception of a gutsy eighth- wicket stand between Craig overton and Chris woakes, this could well have been the day the ashes were as good as surrendered. what makes that so ironic is that it ended positively for England with four australian secondinnings wickets falling before the close, including steve smith and David warner. Yet by then the damage was done. Even on the back foot, australia remained 268 ahead with six wickets remaining. England still have so much to do.
Day-night in adelaide, it was widely agreed, presented England’s best chance of victory on this tour. Yet, already struggling after australia posted 442 for eight declared, what England required was determined, responsible batting.
what they delivered was, sadly, another lazy, error- strewn performance. Poor shots, poor reasoning, poor commitment, all underlined by overton and woakes hanging around to demonstrate this remained the good track that australia had made it look. There are no demons in this pitch, nothing that cannot be tamed with self-control and concentration.
Even australia’s bowling line-up — boasting considerably more variation and spark than England’s — did not have to greatly elevate their performance. The pace bowlers were lively without being Mitchell Johnson. The fast mediums were tight without being Glenn McGrath. Nathan lyon got turn without being shane warne. Nothing fizzed, or reared up; the pitch played hard and true, as it does here.
Yet, on a surface that had barely troubled australia’s batsmen, wickets still fell. It was all rather self-inflicted — whether from rookies like James Vince to the man on whom England had hoped to rely, captain Joe Root. Both were guilty of playing extraordinarily mediocre shots to leave England in a desperate state before the first interval of the day. From there, the slow collapse of England’s middle order had an air of inevitability.
TRuE, the wickets of Moeen ali and Jonny Bairstow were quite stunning caught- andbowled dismissals by lyon and starc. But if the score is low, as England’s was, any sliver of misfortune takes on greater significance. with 400 on the board, great catches are an occupational hazard; for England they were minor catastrophes.
so the innings of overton and woakes were not to be sniffed at. It was the first 50 partnership England have conjured since the fifth wicket in the first innings at Brisbane. It also served as confirmation that the surface had not deteriorated overnight to represent an entirely different challenge from that faced by australia.
England’s early batting was rank and the eighth-wicket partnership proved it. If two bowlers, one on his debut, could hold australia up for 66 runs and more than 13 overs, then what happened to the two batsmen who are said to have carried England into this ashes series — Root and alastair Cook?
Thanks to a dismal error from Vince, the pair were brought together after nine balls on Monday morning, with a sense that a pivotal moment was upon us. The last time they paired in a day-night Test facing a pink ball their partnership delivered 248 runs. If they could get near to that, this Test could be saved.
They added 19 runs from 35 balls before Root clipped into the hands of Cameron Bancroft. Given England’s record in Perth, some will have considered the ashes conceded at that precise point.
Yet the third benefit of overton and woakes’s partnership ended talk of an England follow-on. until that stage, many thought steve smith had enough in hand to make England bat again.
They don’t much care for the follow- on down here, ever since steve waugh enforced it and lost to India. Yet the chance to get England back in a third session, under lights, seemed impossible to resist — particularly as the weather forecast is far from perfect.
so woakes and overton messed with that plan. England were still more than 200 behind when the final wicket fell, but the eighth wicket will have planted the thought that this was still a decent wicket and England might not bat so horribly a second time. Could he take the chance of making them go again, even under lights?
a few early australia wickets later and there it was, the sliver of hope that ends up crushing us all. The odds still vastly favour australia, not least because England have been poor under pressure, so why should it be any different in the second innings?
Yet as two bowlers demonstrated, it did not have to be this way. England continue to find ways to flounder in australia. still rocky after all these years.