Bazball morphed into Bodyball at Lord’s as England fought their way back to the second Ashes Test with a barrage of goalkeepers only for Australia’s more conventional fast bowling skills to deliver the decisive blows.
Employing tactics that evoked memories of the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-33, targeting the bodies of opponents and inviting them into dangerous cross blows, Ben Stokes’s side took Australia’s last eight wickets for 92 runs to set up an improbable chase for 371 at the most dramatic east level of the series.
But on a day when Princes William and George were among the sold-out 31,000, it was Australian skipper Pat Cummins and the long-remembered Mitchell Starc who delivered the stately-paced performances, dashing hopes of another celebrity chase and putting tourists on the edge. one step from a historic one. win here.
England will regret it if, as seems inevitable, Australia take a 2-0 lead in their quest to not only retain the famous ballot box, but also complete a first string of successes on British soil in 22 years.
Not least, the inability to repair what seemed like a crucial blow to the atmosphere on the first morning.
Mitchell Starc ‘caught’ Ben Duckett minutes before stumps, but the decision was overturned by the third referee in a controversial twist
Australia was up in arms over the decision as boos rang out across the historic ground.
Starc and Pat Cummins previously inflicted huge damage on England’s chances – they ruled out Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Joe Root (pictured)
Or third referee Marais Erasmus’s controversial call shortly before a delayed shutdown that Starc had not been in control of a sliding catch on the thin leg rope that would have seen the Australians claim Ben Duckett as a fifth casualty.
Starc seized the opportunity created by Cameron Green’s bumper and had the ball in hand for a couple of seconds before it skimmed the grass at the end of the nursery.
Duckett resumes at 50, with a further 257 runs required and six wickets on foot. While Stokes remains one of them, hope persists.
Earlier, England’s second innings started disastrously as Zak Crawley added another soft leg-side dismissal to his first-innings stumping, this time a Mitchell Starc choke.
And when a booming swinger uprooted Ollie Pope’s middle stump, it was 13 for two.
It could have been worse, but for Duckett’s last-minute check of Chris Gaffaney’s leg before trial during the Aussie left-hander’s wild exit from the end of the arena – replays confirm the surrender arc would have carried further down the slope of the Lord and off the stump.
Duckett had gone out of line with a sharp edge that burst between the fingers of the giant Cameron Green spreading out like a pair of decorative ladders on the fourth slip.
But the Aussies pounced on the next nick when Joe Root, whose brilliant winner of a hundred caps here last year opened his great friend Stokes’ captaincy era with victory over New Zealand, was outwitted by Cummins: beaten by a punch short, touched him fatally. in the next.
Duckett was a stable pair of hands for England and reached fifty just before the end of the day.
But Pope could only make a cameo before the lethal rhythm of Australia.
Cummins (pictured right) was in his imperious prime and fired Harry Brook for just four
The 24-year-old couldn’t get out of line as England went for an historic chase at Lord’s.
When Harry Brook’s stump was finished off by another beauty later, England were reeling to 45 for four.
Earlier, Australia resumed the match 221 runs ahead and in dominant mode despite favorable bowling conditions.
Steve Smith casually threw Ollie Robinson’s first pitch of the day out of the leg-sliding trap for four and when he took three more bounds off Jimmy Anderson on the morning’s full third, including a dismissive bunch that passed straight to the player of bowling Stokes had seen enough.
Cue the shredding of the playbook. On the half-hour mark, he abandoned orthodox means of aerial movement under the spotlight to separate Australia’s third wicket pair, putting Anderson out to pasture for the rest of the day and summoning Josh Tongue to the nursery end for operate with a field devoid of slips.
It was an approach that lacked subtlety and could be costly, as England’s no-hit attack was eight overs short of the required over rate, leaving them liable to lose their full £15,000 match fees and eight World Championship points. Test, having lost two at Edgbaston.
The Australians declined the invitation to engage with short ball tactics initially, dodging instead. Such restraint did not last, however, and the sight of Smith turned away after losing his balance aiming a tennis-style shot at Robinson caused midday chaos.
In the same over, Usman Khawaja was involved in two jerks: the first narrowly clearing Duckett in the square back on his way to the boundary and the second resulted in a bottom edge swelling off the batsman’s elbow and out of Jonny Bairstow’s contorted claws behind. the stumps
It took the introduction of Stuart Broad from the end of the pavilion immediately after the morning drinks for England to break through, as Khawaja delivered a perfectly aimed delivery straight to substitute fielder Matthew Potts with a fine leg.
Earlier in the day, dislodging the visitors took some time, but Josh Tongue finally caught Steve Smith once again.
The injured Nathan Lyon made a heroic appearance with the bat, despite not being able to run
Stuart Broad was required to disturb the steadfast Usman Khawaja as Australia built their lead
Ben Stokes almost caught Pat Cummins but was the victim of another no-ball call on Saturday
When Anderson at Gully provided Travis Head with a first-ball reprieve, off Tongue, it looked as if England would regret the mistake, but Smith holed out the next ball.
And when the left-handed Head fended from the armpit to provide Joe Root with an England record 176th catch in Test cricket, with one hand, reaching to his left on short leg, Australia hit 197 for five.
At this point it seemed that every time England drilled into midfield there was a chance of hitting oil, but Australia’s sixth wicket set of Cameroon Green and Alex Carey’s response was to have no hits on either side at lunch.
In a period of stalemate, Stokes squandered the chance to take the second new ball, grabbing the old one himself at the start of the afternoon session and striking to challenge the body of a dozen overs from the nursery end.
Eventually, the Australian’s patience broke: Green bowled deep and Carey instinctively shoved Root under the helmet on consecutive overs from Robinson, for a combined tally of 39 runs from 140 balls.
And Cummins, who was given a life when his counterpart Stokes crossed the line, was soon skiing the Broad.
Ninety-eight per cent of England’s deliveries in the afternoon session were classified as short, but it was a rarely fuller one that provided Stokes with his only success when Josh Hazlewood clipped the short-legged hands and sparked a succession of moments of comedy.
It was anticipated by all, including batsman Starc, that Hazlewood’s dismissal had closed the innings without the resolve of Nathan Lyon, who had hobbled through the Long Room in the fall of the eighth wicket to bide his time and now continued the half trip.
Unable to run due to a torn calf, he made it to the other end once when a rowdy dolphin dove over the edge from the underwater Rehan Ahmed denied Starc a six and forced Lyon an awkward 20-yard move between laughs
The fact that Australia had Broad take a fourth wicket to win from Lyon highlighted the respect they have for their happy-go-lucky opponents and in particular the leader of the car at Stokes, who orchestrated that incredible 359-run chase at Headingley four years ago.
Now only the most extraordinary of defiance powers, the Aussies, a iffy knee and a hamstring strain, will keep a summer bubbly with anticipation a fortnight ago from fading.
Ollie Robinson was instrumental in dispatching Australians Alex Carey and Cameron Green
Joe Root became England’s all-time leading catcher in Test cricket when he sacked Travis Head
