The days of Stuart Broad’s batting have passed. The Test player who has a top score of 169 has been a true tail-ender for a while and is rarely eager to stick around for too long. Then, how does one account for the experienced seamer taking body blow after body blow from the Australian pacers, throwing in a few punches of his own and sewing together what might have been a match-winning seventh-wicket century stand from a very hopeless situation? When the cause seemed to be lost, even No. 11 James Anderson, a veteran of 180 Test matches, and youngster Josh Tongue endured much suffering.
Whether in the deep or near to the stumps, Steve Smith is one of the best catchers in modern cricket. Then, how can one account for him missing a relatively easy shot that would have likely handed the visitors a 2-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series with a lot less drama?
The Ashes series has a special mystique that many people in the subcontinent might not understand. They might not understand the significance of the fuss. But even the most cynical person would be convinced by what happened on Sunday. Simply put, England and Australia care more about it.
Ben Stokes, the captain of England, was undeniably the main character in whatever transpired on the last day of the second Test at Lord’s. There were his heroics at Headingley in 2019, but four years later, he raised the bar. In contrast to the Leeds match, Stokes’ 155 off 214 balls, which included nine fours and the same number of sixes, wasn’t enough to send his team home as Australia won by 43 runs. However, the fare offered for the second straight game would compel viewers to stay attending.
Stokes had been suffering a damaged knee and took hits to several different body parts during his knock, but his past performances, whether in major Test matches or white-ball World Cup finals, demonstrate how much he enjoys the big moment when everything is on the line.
Some analysts have referred to Jonny Bairstow’s “dozy cricket” as the spark that started it all when he left his crease after dodging a Cameron Green bouncer. The bowler’s end umpire did not declare the over to be finished even though it was the final ball of the over. When wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s underarm throw struck the stumps, Bairstow had already recovered the ball and was outside of his crease.
The batsman was regarded as stumped even if the ball was not “dead.”
On Sunday, Lord’s was an exceptionally tense atmosphere for roughly 90 minutes each side of lunch, starting from the time Bairstow was ejected. Every English run was loudly praised, whereas every Australian interference was met with jeers. Forget about the courteous applause.
Stokes made the decision to take matters into his own hands since he was stuck with the long English tail and was undoubtedly incensed by the way Bairstow was fired. In T20 style, he activated his beast mode and beat the living daylights out of the Australian bowlers. The left-hander continued to smash the short leg-side boundary with regularity, took advantage of at least two missed opportunities, then struck Green for three consecutive sixes to reach his 13th Test hundred.
He scored 108 runs during his stand with Broad. Cummins & Co. had to reassemble at the drink break because they didn’t seem to know what hit them. They then concentrated on slowing the rate of scoring, and when Stokes misfired on an attempt to pull shot off Josh Hazlewood, with the resulting leading edge being snatched up by Carey, there could only be one victor, despite the best efforts of the final English pair.
This Test will be remembered for the quantity of short-pitched stuff both teams used, with a decent degree of success, in addition to the thrilling final day. The two-paced nature of the field may have played a role. Even on the final day, when Stokes was on a tear, Australia still used the same strategy because there was little support from the field and they were without their top off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who was expected to perform admirably in the fourth innings.
Even after Stokes was out, the eighth and ninth wickets were taken by bouncers before Mitchell Starc used a yorker to end Tongue’s struggle.
This television show was promoted as a competition between Bazball and Australia’s more conventional, thoughtful style. The slightly more cautious strategy has won both matches thus far, which have been close to the end in both. Following their more gung-ho approach at Edgbaston, England showed a little more pragmatism in the second Test, which was evident in the bouncer barrage midway through Day 4 that got them back into the match. With multiple fielders on the boundary, it reduced the number of runs and made taking the short ball on a high-risk move.
It was difficult to ride a bouncer when there was a fielder at short leg and another at leg-gully. Although it worked, the method was tedious to watch and went against England’s professed goal of playing attractive cricket and creating a spectacle.
If the Aussies succeed in winning the Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001, it could be the coming-of-age moment for Cummins as captain. He has already led his team to World Test Championship glory, but doing what the likes of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke failed to achieve would put him in elite company. Apart from his tactical and man-management qualities, Cummins has led from the front with both bat and ball, and late in the evening on Sunday had the energy to bowl at full pelt and chase the ball to the boundary himself with all the fielders surrounding the England tail-enders.
A point for the excellent Australian captain is winning at Lord’s despite facing the worst circumstances when batting and bowling, and having a crucial bowler miss most of the game.
