Ashes 2017/18: 3rd Test Days 1 & 2 - To Sleep, Perchance to Dream… Before Reality Brutally Re-establishes Itself

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd Test Days 1 & 2

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream… Before Reality Brutally Re-establishes Itself

December 15^th 2017

Been there. Done that. Still got the scars.

The good news: despite all dark forecasts, this will not be a three day defeat for England, barring a catastrophe even greater than Adelaide 2006.

The bad news: England have let slip a position of total dominance and may yet lose.

There is much about this match that evokes Adelaide 2006, which should be enough to bring out several of the team and most fans into sleepless nights and a cold sweat.

In that never to be forgotten debacle, England were blown away in the 1^st Test and then, as in 2005, revived miraculously, winning the Toss and reaching 551-6d before collapsing horribly in the second innings (despite having reached 69-1). There can few side that have been 468-3 half way through the second day of a Test and have lost convincingly.

Here, England reached giddy – Nay! Stratospheric! – heights of 368-4 before subsiding embarrassingly to 403ao. Here was a chance to make Cummins and Starc bowl 40 overs in an innings and see if they could be ground down given that, equally embarrassing, Mitch Marsh was selected as fifth bowler to reduce the load on the pace attack and was hardly trusted with the ball (at the same time, Nathan Lyon was severely neutered and bowled far fewer overs than his pace colleagues). Even so, England only crossed 400 thanks to a late slog from Stuart Broad. Whereas the minimum requirement at the start of the day must have been to bat until Tea and score 500, the innings was over before Lunch.

The script called for England to fade tamely on the first day after declining to 131-4. Stoneman, at least, could say that he was unlucky – after a lot of replays you could say that most probably he was out and the right decision was reached, but a different Third Umpire would very likely have let him get away with it. Stoneman has impressed in his short Test career but, despite 3x50 in his first ten innings, his top score remains only 56: Stoneman has to start to convert these gritty fifties into equally gritty centuries. He has passed 50 in 8 of his last 12 innings, but managed just one century. Alistair Cook, in contrast, has less excuse. He has a lot of credit in the bank but, 2010/11 aside, his record in Australia is mediocre. If this run of low scores continues – and he has only had one decent score all tour – the selectors will have to ask themselves whether to pick him for the final Test, or re-commission Keaton Jennings. We have written-off Cook several times previously but, on Christmas Day, he reaches 33, when he should be at his peak, is no longer captain and his motivation is being questioned. Cook should be playing for England for four or five more years, but retirement to the farm with Alice must be getting more and more tempting, even if the selectors don’t take the decision out of his hands.

In contrast, Joe Root is a victim of the Australian decapitation strategy. Scores of 15, 51, 9, 67 & 20 are not failure, but they come nowhere near matching Steve Smith, the sine qua non of England holding on to the Ashes. Joe Root is scoring regular 50s but, like Mark Stoneman, is struggling to convert them and Australia are making life as hard as possible for him.

From 131-4 there was a real danger of not reaching 250. That it did not happen was down to Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow. Many pundits and fans were amazed when Malan was picked in the summer. His name had shone bright in 2009 when his T20 century helped Middlesex to the T20 title, but he then faded for some years, despite plenty of signs of his talent. Very much a marginal pick for the Ashes, he is another who has shown signs of being made for Test cricket, but has not converted: 3x50 in his first twelve innings, but a top score of 65. He fought his way through a sticky start and launched a counter-attack that had Australian fans licking their lips at the prospect of a quick suicide. That he has the first England century of the Test series and went on to make it a big one should have silenced the doubters. It was a wonderful effort. At the other end, Jonny Bairstow silenced the Australians by steady accumulation.

By the time that the stand reached 200 you could dream: 500 and then an Australian collapse before the Close? For any fans waking up early to take in the afternoon session the sweet dreams of 500 became the nightmare when the last six wickets fell in under 9 overs. England had Australia under the cosh, but were just not ruthless enough. And Moeen Ali, who you hoped would be liberated by coming in at 368-5, with the bat on top, lasted just two balls. Flood gates open. Australia rush through. Humiliating. Mind you, fans will longer memories will remember the successful 1985 series, which still featured a couple of England collapses that made this one look positively like a run-glut.

England still had a chance to set matters to rights when Craig Overton took two quick wickets. Unfortunately, a couple of half-chances and one sitter went begging and Australia will have gone to bed knowing that, if things pan out as they expect, they should take the lead around Tea and be able to put England in for a few overs before the Close, if they wish to see if the wobbly top order will oblige with a panic.

England are 200 ahead still. Technically, the follow-on has not been saved (admittedly, it is the safest of safe bets that it will be in the first over of the morning). England should be looking for two quick wickets and putting Australia under pressure yet, that collapse makes one think that Day 3 will end with England fighting to keep themselves in the series. With rain forecast for the last two days, they could escape even if the worst happens, but one would like to see them saving themselves without help from the weather and, preferably, setting up a difficult fifth day for Australia to maintain the momentum from Adelaide.