Ashes 2019: England’s batting line-up lacks Test quality

England batsman Ben Stokes looks dejected after being dismissed. Picture: Getty Images

Criticised by the England captain for producing a poor pitch for the Ireland Test earlier in the summer — a surface that, according to Joe Root, offered an unfair contest between bat and ball — the Lord’s groundsman lowered the blades of the mower ahead of this match. It didn’t make much difference; on a dry, biscuit-coloured surface, the inadequacies of England’s batting line-up were plain to see and without some lower-order scrambling, the scorecard would have looked a very sorry sight.

There have been times of late when batting has been fiendishly hard in England, almost a lottery. This was not one of those days. Instead, it was the persistence and excellence of Australia’s bowlers that was the key consideration, especially Josh Hazlewood, who probed away unerringly at the top order in the morning, and then Pat Cummins, who challenged the courage of the lower order in the afternoon with some fierce short-pitched fast bowling.

Between them, they took six wickets and, in that sense, justified Tim Paine’s decision to bowl first on a bright morning, although the markedly different conditions that greeted his own batsmen in the final hour, with the floodlights piercing the gloom, emphasised the dangers of spurning good batting conditions whenever they are present. Whether Paine’s decision was inspired by the loss of the first day to rain, or the threat of more rain on Friday, or England’s frailties with the bat, who knows. Maybe a combination of all three, and only time can pass judgment on the wisdom of his decision.

Australia did well to lose only one wicket in that final hour, although the method by which Stuart Broad dismissed David Warner, from round the wicket for the third time in three innings, was an encouraging one. Warner was the cause of two of the biggest cheers of the day — when he dropped a skier off Broad running backwards from slip, helping the ball for four as he did so, and then when Broad trimmed his bails for another low score. He reacted to the first mishap with a smile; the second with a scowl. Broad has Warner’s measure at the moment and the crowds this summer will revel in his misfortune whenever it arises.

England allrounder Chris Woakes is struck on the helmet by a delivery from Pat Cummins. Picture: Getty Images

There were no further alarms for Australia, and, therefore, no initial success for Jofra Archer, who bowled four lively overs with the new ball from the Nursery End — ceding choice of ends to the more senior man, Broad — before completing the day with two overs from the Pavilion End. Archer had been given a traditional Ashes greeting from Cummins — which is to say a rapid bouncer — when he came into bat earlier, a softening up process that had the desired result shortly afterwards, and Lord’s was expectant when he got the Dukes ball in hand to offer a reply.

If his first ball was an innocuous one — wide and unthreatening — his second almost bowled Cameron Bancroft, nipping back so far against the slope that it beat Jonny Bairstow on the inside and went for four byes. His third ball was a waspish bouncer clocked at 91mph and he was soon generating real pace from that deceptively languid run-up of his. He should be a real threat from the Pavilion End, especially, and should get better throughout Australia’s innings

It was a heart-rending start to the day as Lord’s remembered Ruth Strauss, who died of a rare form of lung cancer eight months ago. The crowd went silent in her honour before the players emerged from the pavilion to shake hands with the former England captain, Andrew Strauss, and his two boys, Sam and Luca, and loud applause greeted the exchange of red caps to fit with the colour theme of the day. It was one of those occasions that sport does so well, both sides coming together for a better tomorrow, although the spirit of co-operation and friendship quickly dissipated when play began, as it should.

England's Jofra Archer fends off a short ball from Pat Cummins. Picture: AFP

Strauss’s presence was a reminder of a time when England could call upon some tough, experienced and successful Test batsmen — what they would do now for a top three of Strauss, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, say — but he was also the team director who decided to push England in a new direction, prioritising one-day cricket for the first time, which has had a knock-on effect on the Test side. With only Joe Root averaging above 40, England’s batting line-up provokes plenty of questions, although solutions are thin on the ground.

Batting at No 3 in this team is not an invitation to get the slippers on, unfurl a copy of The Times and relax, and Root was at hand in the second over, after Jason Roy fenced at a ball from Hazlewood, his third, that he should have ignored. After his harakiri dismissal in the second innings at Edgbaston, this is a steep learning curve for Roy although Root, despite his greater experience and class, found the challenge from Hazlewood to be equally severe, trapped as he was on the crease to a ball to which he might have played forward, rather than back. Hazlewood’s opening spell was superb.

Root’s dismissal brought one of only two periods of the day when runs came with relative ease, the first when Rory Burns and Joe Denly saw through an hour before lunch, the second when Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes combined in the hour before tea. Bairstow and Burns, as it happens, were the two highest scorers of the day, Burns benefiting from two dropped catches and Bairstow from an approach that seemed more in keeping with the requirements of Test cricket than the last time he played here.

Other than being dropped on 16 in the gully by Usman Khawaja, the ball hitting him in the chest, and then on 47 by Paine, whose sorry attempt reflected, perhaps, the difficulties that wicketkeepers have in captaining a side as well, Burns looked in tidy order until Cummins decided on a change of plan after lunch. Having been bounced out at Edgbaston by Cummins in the second innings, Burns was once again beaten by the short-pitched ploy here, although this time his dismissal came courtesy of a great short-leg catch by Cameron Bancroft, a stunning one-handed reflex effort that was completed at the second attempt. Before the previous Test, Steve Waugh described Bancroft as the best he had ever seen in that position and he is not a man of empty words.

Cameron Bancroft dives to his left to catch out England batsman Rory Burns. Picture: Getty Images

Denly, secure enough until unsettled by Cummins’ bouncers, had edged a beauty from Hazlewood six overs earlier and when Jos Buttler, clearly out of sorts at the moment, prodded indeterminately at Peter Siddle, and Ben Stokes swept at and missed a straight ball from Nathan Lyon, the position, 138-6, was a sorry one. Enter Bairstow, whose defence seemed more watertight than of late, and Woakes, who has a record to be envious of at Lord’s. It took another short-pitched barrage from Cummins to get rid of Woakes, who, having taken a thunderous blow to the head, gloved a catch down the leg side two balls later.

On a red-themed day in memory of a fine lady, the score was not one to have England’s batsmen blushing with embarrassment, but nor was there much evidence of real Test-match quality. These are thin times for English batsmanship.

Keep up with all the Ashes action on our LIVE BLOG

The Times