By Nick Hoult
London: The worst day of the Bazball era arrived at exactly the worst possible time to leave the Ashes slipping away.
Michael Vaughan warned that England had to win the first day, drawing on his experience of 2005 when his team was the last to come back from losing the first Test of an Ashes series.
England didn’t make the most of their opportunities on day one.Credit: Getty Images
But by the close you had to check if this was January 26, Australia Day, such was their dominant position closing on 5-339. Now England rely on the second new ball, which is just two overs old, to navigate a route back into the Test and the series.
England were off the pace when it mattered most. There was a lack of intensity and imagination. The most decisive hand played by an Englishman was Jonny Bairstow picking up a Just Stop Oil protester as if he was tucking his bat under his arm, and plonking him on the side of the boundary saving the pitch, and possibly the match, in the process. It was the biggest ovation of the day for an England player.
England were made gifts of advantages, winning the toss in favourable bowling conditions and presented with a pitch that looked like it would justify an all-pace attack. But dropped catches, no balls and an inability to build pressure giving Australia batsmen too many easy starts left England resembling a team on an Ashes hiding Down Under. Two wickets in an over by Joe Root in the final hour regained some lost ground, but it was too late.
There was a huge cheer at Lord’s when Stokes won the toss, everyone knowing the importance of bowling first. England bowled well enough in the first hour, but the ball did not swing and seam around as much as expected, making it imperative they took their chances. They didn’t. Both openers dropped before the total reached 30.
It enabled Steve Smith to come in with runs on the board and wore England, moving up and down the gears in his unbeaten 85, 15 short of an eighth hundred in this country, a mark only reached before by Don Bradman.
Travis Head did what he does best, blazing 77 off 73 balls as the pitch flattened in the afternoon to press an Australian foot to English throats in a 118 run stand with Smith from 18 overs. David Warner’s 66 was crucial for Australia, giving them impetus, and Marnus Labuschagne’s scrappy 47 ensured there was no tumble of wickets when England finally broke through.
James Anderson was tidy but wicketless, Ollie Robinson talked the talk before the game but trundled in at 127 kmph and conceded runs at four an over, bowling six no balls, too. It turned out that youngster Josh Tongue was England’s best bowler. He was expensive but hurried the batsmen and finished with 2-88. To sum up the malaise, Ben Stokes bowled three no balls in a three-over spell that leaked runs.
Root’s two wickets are ominous given the turn he found and the fact Australia have Nathan Lyon. Tongue’s performance was good for his development but also suggests Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, all quicker than England’s bowlers, have the pace needed on a slow pitch.
Stuart Broad had two wickets overturned by DRS.Credit: Reuters
Root was involved in the first drop. An edge from Usman Khawaja off Anderson in the fifth over carried, just, to first slip. It was an opportunity that would have rallied the crowd, and England, had it been held and pout of form Labuschagne would have come in with the ball only five overs old.
Worse was to come when Warner, who had batted positively and with some style against the new ball, flashed hard at Broad and an edge flew to Ollie Pope at fourth slip but burst through his hands. He soon left the field with a worrying shoulder injury and did not return.
It enabled Australia to gain a toehold in the match when England had needed early momentum to signal they were back in the series. Broad had two wickets overturned by DRS and bowled better than his figures suggest, but there was no real penetration from any of England’s fast-medium bowlers in conditions they have utilised their entire careers. Smith was given out caught behind on 24 off Broad but reprieved by Snicko. Labuschagne was leg before to Broad, leaving a ball that nipped back, but Hawkeye tracked it going over the top.
Tongue brought some youthful vigour and bowled with a real edge too, getting his nip backer going down the slope bowling from the Nursery End. He bowled Khawaja on the stroke of lunch shouldering arms and hit Warner’s leg stump with another that jagged sharply back into the left-hander.
Australia were 96 for two, and Labuschagne and Smith vulnerable. Both had opted for extra nets on Saturday after a low scoring first Test. Obsessed with run making, fiddlers with their technique, England could really press home their advantage and work on their insecurities had they bowled better.
But Smith was fed half volleys to race to 24 from 15 balls. He was away. He protected Labuschagne form the strike while he settled. Labuschagne nicked Robinson behind just after tea but Head, like Smith earlier, was allowed to fly out of the traps with some poor balls.
England did not use the short ball either, sticking with fuller balls, and there was no sign of the funkiness of Edgbaston. Head reached 50 off only 48 balls and England were desperate when he had a big yahoo at Root, missed it and was stumped by a juggling Bairstow. Two balls later Cameron Green dollied Root straight to mid off. England delayed the new ball by an over, an odd call, and Smith steadied Australia, and is in a position to really make it count.
The Telegraph, London
Watch every ball of the 2023 Ashes series live and exclusive on Channel 9 and 9Now.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
