England ready for innings shootout to keep Ashes record after impressive display

28 July 2023 , 19:06

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England managed to bowl the Australians out in the evening session

England's Bazballers will have a one innings shootout in their bid to steal the bragging rights away from the old fashioned Aussies.

There are just 12 runs between them after the Aussie innings was shuttered at the end of day two for 295 with Ben Stokes taking a spectacular boundary catch to remove his opposite number Pat Cummins.

It gave Joe Root, England’s main spinner in the absence of the injured Moeen Ali, his second wicket and came close to matching the roar when the former skipper took the other great catch of the day to set England on their way following Australia ’s ‘go-slow’ tactics on a dull morning.

Following a playful switch of the bails by Stuart Broad, Root removed Marnus Labuschagne with a world-class one handed catch diving to his left at slip to move past Mark Waugh and into fifth place on the all time list with182 catches.

Even though it should have been the keeper’s catch it was lucky Jonny Bairstow was rooted to the ground so as to not put him off and it sparked a period of dominance for England after such a tepid start to the day.

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Just 30 runs were scored from the first 18 overs, and 54 from the entire session before lunch as Usman Khawaja and Labuschagne refused to take any risks at all much to former skipper Ricky Ponting’s annoyance.

“For me today, I just don’t think there was enough urgency from the Australians in the first three hours of cricket in the day,” said Ponting. There wasn’t enough pressure put back on the bowlers. Absolutely they were backed into a hole and they got out of jail by the runs from Murphy and Cummins at the end.”

There couldn’t have been a greater contrast between the styles of the two teams than this, and if all Test cricket was still played this way, fans would have switched off a long time ago.

But in the context of this series it was fascinating to see which method would win the day. When Broad grabbed two quick wickets immediately after lunch to reduce the visitors to 127-4 it looked like England would take the initiative and run with it.

Jimmy Anderson got into the game with his first wicket of the match as Mitch Marsh chopped on before Mark Wood and Root took wickets to make it 212-7.

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It was a day of Test cricket that had just about everything you could want from a game, and with comparisons to 2005 almost too numerous to mention there was a moment that surely would have taken the biscuit had it come off when 21-year-old George Ealham almost became as famous as Gary Pratt.

Remember him? The substitute fielder who got Ponting’s blood boiling at Trent Bridge after running him out with a direct throw while one of England’s fast bowlers enjoyed a comfort break.

This time it was Smith thanking his lucky stars that the throw from Ealham wasn’t quite on target as he dived for the line and Bairstow couldn’t break the wicket before he made his ground.

It was as tight a decision as third umpire Nitin Menon could ask for, but with the evidence he had at his disposal, he made the right call that even though Bairstow had brushed the stumps with his glove without the ball, he was a little late in removing the bail completely with it.

As Smith continued his innings, Ealham, son of former England all rounder Mark and grandson of brilliant fielder Alan, took his seat back in the dugout as he swapped 12th man duties with Dan Lawrence.

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Smith eventually departed for 71 before the bespectacled Todd Murphy clubbed three sixes in his cameo of 34 and Cummins played another captain’s knock of 36 to leave the game entirely up for grabs.

Dean Wilson