London: For the first time all Ashes series, England played an extraordinary day four of the Lord’s Test as though beating Australia was the only thing on their mind.
Entertainment was certainly hard to find for the first four hours of play, as Ben Stokes directed his pacemen towards an unrelenting short ball attack on an Australian side more stubborn in avoiding the hook shot than England had been.
Eighty-eight runs were eked out in 40 overs after Stokes gave up an early attempt to get the ball full and swinging. Eight wickets were collected as the Australians, one by one, succumbed to the head-hunting – 98 per cent of balls were pitched short.
The flip from flair to pragmatism was jarring in many ways. But most of all it showed recognition that, particularly over the first three days of this match, England had given Australia too many opportunities to get back into the game whenever it looked as if the hosts might be able to steal a march.
That these are the highest stakes in an England cricketer’s career was something acknowledged by Stokes before the series. He added the caveat that there would be no changes in approach as a result. In Australia, however, England are facing a team of highly accomplished cricketers who have not needed a psychological record scratch reset like Bazball to play at their best.
As has been the case throughout the series so far, Australia’s response to England was to think carefully about their response. If the eight wickets fell cheaply, they still soaked up time, and when Nathan Lyon hobbled out as the last man to accompany Mitchell Starc, the tourists were given a moment of inspiration.
Lyon, jagged calf and all, was unable to run. He painfully hopped through for a sole single, but hooked a boundary off Stuart Broad and held on bravely while 15 more were added. Underlining it all was the fact that Lyon, in his 100th consecutive Test, did not want to let his teammates down.
Having applauded Lyon from the pavilion balcony, there was a distinctly grim resolve about the way the Australians set about defending England’s target of 371. Starc was as fast and hostile as the first innings and this time found his trademark swing as Cummins set a field to encourage that angle of attack.
Zak Crawley followed the swing down the leg side and glanced into Alex Carey’s well-placed gloves. But Ollie Pope, batting at three despite his sore shoulder, was rendered helpless by Starc’s late swing at 144 km/hr to cartwheel middle stump. It is possible to imagine a better player might not have been bowled by the delivery, but would almost certainly have been lbw.
Cummins, as he so often does, found his very best rhythm in a second spell, after replacing Starc at the pavilion end. Joe Root was pinned on the arm by a short one that followed him down the hill, and next ball fenced at another lifter that he could only parry to David Warner at first slip.
Harry Brook’s three-ball stay was a miniature masterpiece of a talented young batter with white ball skills facing the best red ball bowler in the world. First, Cummins offered a hard length that Brook nudged into the gully. Next, a full in-ducker that Brook punched back down the ground, almost offering Cummins a return catch.
Mitchell Starc adjudged to have grounded the ball after catching Ben Duckett.Credit: Getty
Undeniably, Brook now expected something properly short, in response to his impudence at lacing the ball past the paceman. Instead, Cummins conjured a ball to rank with his legendary dismissal of Root at Old Trafford in 2019 – aimed at the top of the stumps and wobbling up the hill just enough to beat Brook’s outside edge and flick the outside of the off peg as he hung back.
Reeling away in celebration, the look on Cummins’ face was one of exultation. Four wickets had been ripped out of England’s second innings inside the first 13 overs, not with short stuff but classical Test match bowling of the highest possible quality.
That, of course, was the problem with England’s mid-match shift from the lairy to the dignified. They are playing an Australian side of maturity and system, well-grooved in how they play but also in how they adapt between and within games.
Eight wickets were collected as the Australians, one by one, succumbed to the headhunting – 98 per cent of balls were pitched short.
At Lord’s, they have coped with the worst of the batting conditions, the advance of England to 1-188 in bright sunshine, and the emotional and tactical trauma of losing Lyon’s services for the first time in a decade. Test cricket is, ultimately, about that ability to adapt over five days. England are trying to pivot against a team that has been doing so successfully for two years.
Stokes and Ben Duckett forged a sensible rearguard in the lengthening shadows, leaving Australia with six wickets to get. It would have been five without the extremely technical call to deny Starc a catch off Duckett when the third umpire decided he grounded the ball while steadying his body. Australia will have a night to adapt to that decision, too.
England’s play on day four demonstrated a realisation that the happiest memories tend to be created by giving yourself the best chance of winning. Too late?
