Poll: How will Australia’s first innings play out?
From the ground: Rain on the radar, but no slips catches
Broad takes aim at ‘slow, low, characterless’ pitch
Stats: How England bowled yesterday
The tale of England’s day with the ball yesterday. Stuart Broad the pick and the showman as always with two wickets in two balls to kick off the day.
Friend of the blog Adam Collins (one half of the Final Word podcast, a true gift to cricket nupties) reported this was the first occasion in at least a decade that James Anderson has not taken the new ball when he’s been available. That one makes sense. Harry Brook rolling the arm over before Ollie Robinson though? Bazball baby.
Analysis: How Khawaja silenced the Bazball sirens
Dan Brettig: To the tune of If You’re Happy And You Know It, a busker outside Edgbaston sang and strummed a chorus of “No I’ve never seen Khawaja score a run” as spectators filed in through the morning drizzle for day two of the Ashes.
It was there again when Khawaja batted in the nets before play and then walked to the middle. Given how many times Khawaja has been dropped from the team, including twice during series in England, it is possible to imagine this ditty was occasionally hummed by some past Australian selectors too.
Usman Khawaja celebrates his century.Credit: Getty
But on a day when the touring side’s top order was first acquainted with the combination of smart plans, creative fields and unstinting belief that forms the bowling and fielding component of Bazball England, Khawaja found precisely the right moment to show the busker, and many others, that he could indeed score runs here – 126 and counting.
They were desperately needed. Before Khawaja’s partnerships with Travis Head and Cameron Green, the Australians had rather made a hash of the morning, drawn into errors that spoke of the mental confusion England have caused among opponents over the past 12 months.
Khawaja’s innings was a triumph on a personal level, his first in England a decade after he first played a Test in the UK. It was also valuable for Australia in ways that transcended the scoreboard.
Principally, Khawaja demonstrated that the touring batters need to stay the course in order to succeed. Unhurried in his tempo, masterful on the pull shot and safe against spin, Khawaja churned out a faithful facsimile of virtually all his runs over 18 months.
Read the full story from Dan Brettig here.
Poll: How will Australia’s first innings play out?
Watch: How Khawaja set up this Test for Australia
Welcome to day three, moving day
Morning Richie, morning all,
Day three of the first Ashes Test is upon us, day two belonged to Uzzie Khawaja but he’s been nice enough to hand it back. That said, the man loves to bat big, especially when he’s got a point to prove – see big hundreds in India, Abu Dhabi and Pakistan – and there’s work still to be done.
Khawaja resumes on 126* after batting all of yesterday and Australia still trail by 82 runs with five wickets in hand.
Today is moving day one way or another you suspect, though forecast rain late in the afternoon might also have its say. Either way, we’ve got winter cricket people, get around it.
