Bowlers spring to life to lift England on Day 3 of Second Ashes Test in Adelaide
ENGLAND’S dramatic late fightback became the stuff of nightmares for Steve Smith on Monday night, but Australia still has its hands on the steering wheel in a suddenly gripping Ashes stoush.
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ENGLAND’S dramatic late fightback became the stuff of nightmares for Steve Smith on Monday night, but Australia still has its hands on the steering wheel in a suddenly gripping Ashes stoush.
Joe Root’s men spent much of day three of the second Test facing another summer of rank humiliation after Australia’s bowlers systematically shredded their dreams in Adelaide.
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But Smith’s controversial decision not to enforce the follow-on gave birth to a thrilling twist, as Jimmy Anderson and Chris Woakes gleefully took an invitation to hoop the ball around under lights to leave Australia wobbling at 4-53 at stumps — with the skipper among those already back in the pavilion.
Smith was motivated by playing the long game and protecting his prized fast bowlers from becoming overworked in a long series, but ex-greats said the Aussie skipper had missed a trick to put his foot on the throat.
Despite the two hours of carnage, Australia are still 268 runs in front with Peter Handscomb at the crease. Two sessions of good batting on day four will see England out of the match and Smith with one hand on the urn.
With the flick of a light switch a bloodbath turned into a scintillating contest, and tensions exploded when England angrily accused Nathan Lyon of gamesmanship, when the nightwatchman called for the physio in the dying moments of Monday night’s session — meaning there was no time for one more over.
Lyon was stuck near the groin and his call for assistance was met with a swarm of English protests which continued as the players walked from the ground.
Sir Donald Bradman’s 1936-37 team are the only Ashes side in history to come back from 2-0 down, and England are now staring down that very same barrel, but with no Don or budding star capable of swimming against the tide — unless Anderson can keep up the heat in the daylight hours.
Anderson was way too good for Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja, but it was all-rounder Woakes — who has battled so far this series — who came up with the two monumental plays when he nicked off David Warner and then trapped Smith lbw.
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who had earlier decimated England and left them hanging on for dear life, refused to be drawn when asked about Smith’s call to not enforce the follow on when Australia were 215 runs ahead at a change of innings which coincided with night fall.
England had been skittled for 227 and the prospect of facing Starc again last night would have been terrifying.
“It’s purely up to Smithy. That’s why he’s the captain. There are pros and cons to both decisions I’m sure,” said Starc.
“We’ll look to build on our lead. It gives the bowlers a bit of extra time to freshen up and come out firing for that second innings and knock them over.
“We know night sessions are the toughest but to be four down and still have a lead of 260 and still two night sessions to go. We’ve got some good cricket ahead of us next two days and everyone is looking forward to that.”
Lyon’s superman caught and bowled followed by Starc’s equally spectacular juggling grab summed up an Australian outfit that suddenly looks invincible.
Lyon’s bold pre-series predictions that Australia were out to “end careers” raised the ire of the English at the time, but now it seems he might be onto something, with Alastair Cook the man most under the gun.
Australia hunted mercilessly as a pack, as every member of the attack got a piece of the action, but it was no surprise to see pink ball king Starc (3-49) and the ultraconfident Lyon (4-60) doing the bulk of the damage.
Lyon now has 55 wickets from nine Tests this year — more than anyone else in the world.
England captain Root played arguably the loosest shot of all to nick off to Pat Cummins and it sent a message to the rest of the dressing room that an embarrassing repeat of the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash is now firmly on the cards.
Australia may look to add all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to their squad for the third Test in Perth to provide extra depth and cover, but at the moment there is no need to change this rampant XI.
Josh Hazlewood got the ball rolling when he nibbled the edge of an all-at-sea James Vince and when 150km/h runaway train Cummins had Root nailed down, England were 3-50 and in a world of pain.
Root couldn’t quite believe the disastrous error he had just made and stayed glued the crease for several moments in apparent disbelief.
Having elected to bowl first in this Test, Root is undergoing a stern examination of his leadership nous.
Unlike Smith and Virat Kohli whose batting has only exploded to unprecedented levels since taking over the captaincy, Root appears to be struggling under the burden.
Not to be outdone, Lyon got in on the action and immediately nabbed the key wicket of 11,000 run man Cook — who edged meekly to Smith at first slip.
By the time he had dived spectacularly to his left across the pitch — off his own bowling — to dismiss Moeen Ali with the screamer of the summer, Lyon was well on his way to finishing the year world cricket’s No.1 wicket-taker and England were looking for somewhere to hide.
Starc made it three caught and bowled’s on the scorecard when he showed incredible reflexes to send Jonny Bairstow on his way, before he got underneath a sitter from a false Chris Woakes shot that couldn’t handle the big left-armer’s searing bounce off the wicket.
SCOREBOARD
AUSTRALIA BATTING 2ND INN
C. Bancroft c J. Bairstow b J. Anderson 4
D. Warner c J. Root b C. Woakes 14
U. Khawaja lbw b J. Anderson 20
S. Smith lbw b C. Woakes 6
P. Handscomb not out 3
N. Lyon not out 3
Extras 3 (W:1, LB:2)
TOTAL: 4/53
Fall of wickets: 1/5(C. Bancroft), 2/39(U. Khawaja), 3/41(D. Warner), 4/50(S. Smith)
To bat: S. Marsh, T. Paine, M. Starc, P. Cummins, J. Hazlewood
ENGLAND BOWLING
J. Anderson (11-7-16-2), S. Broad (7-2-14-0), C. Overton (1-0-8-0), C. Woakes (7-0-13-2)
MATCH DETAILS
Venue: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Toss: England
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)
Match referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)