England are in trouble. After a poor day with bat and ball they now find themselves 221 behind Australia, who are 130/2 in their second innings. With two days of play left, it is going to take something special for the hosts to win from here, and they once again made mistake after mistake when batting.
England began disastrously with the bat. It was as if every lesson from the short balls of yesterday had been thrown out of the window as Ben Stokes’ team, and the captain himself, threw their wickets away. Stokes had actually batted with a hefty dose of restraint as he got 17 from 58, which is slow going under Brendon McCullum.
But Bazball turned to Bonkersball as England went from 279/4 to 325 all out. After their wastefulness on day two, many hoped that Harry Brook, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow would take them close to Australia’s total, but they ended over 90 runs short. The long tail fell without a fight and the positivity the hosts had during day two had completely evaporated.
With a healthy advantage, Australia knew they didn’t have to take any risks with the bat. The openers got to 63 without any trouble until Josh Tongue struck again, this time getting David Warner out LWB. Marnus Labuschagne then escaped an LBW shout soon after, following a review and he survived another Broad appeal soon after.
Australia went past 100 after tea before yet again, Broad thought he had got the opener out LBW. This time Stokes didn’t appeal, and ball-tracking showed that indeed he should have been out. Another error.
Finally England would get him on 30 as Anderson saw him caught as backward point, with Harry Brooks gratefully taking the catch. However, on 130/2 the rain began to fall and the darkness saw the players head for the shelter of the pavilion.
With over an hour of scheduled play left, it didn’t look good as the weather closed in and the covers came on. Then the inevitable call of stumps came to put an end to England’s miserable day. It had such promise at the start but left most spectators feeling utterly perplexed.
Why on earth would the batters, when chasing down a total, continuously play at short balls? All they had to do was leave them alone until Australia’s pace bowlers tired themselves out, or grew tired of the dot balls. Instead, they were like a wasp to a flower, constantly swatting these loose shots to fielders placed on the boundary.
Getting out cheaply isn’t positive cricket. It’s stupid cricket. And it has probably cost England this Test match and with it, the series. Steve Smith is currently batting on six not out, and the price of 11/10 with Betfred for him to reach his 50 looks increasingly tempting given the work he did with the bat in the first innings.
What England don’t want is one of the greatest we have ever seen push Australia into a massive lead. The worst case scenario is a lead so big they declare, in order to bowl England out and secure the win. With good weather over the weekend, the rain won’t save them. Brendon McCullum is going to have to do this the hard way.
*18+ | Be Gamble Aware
