Ashes
2017/18: 4th Test Day 5
At Least It
Will Not Be 5-0…
December 30th 2017
There was a thought that Australia could come out to score quick runs
and put England under real pressure on the last day. It was never really likely
but, after so many promising positions have disappeared, there was always that
horrible feeling that Australia could make a sneaky declaration and suddenly
have England 16-4 with a couple of hours to survive.
Starting the day 91 behind, with 98 overs to go – more likely 96 if
there was a change of innings – the equation was simple for England. They had at
very most 65 overs to take eight wickets; probably only 60. The key was always
to take a couple of wickets in the first hour; if Australia got to Lunch with
Warner and Smith still together the match would end in a draw.
As it was England took over 25 overs to make the breakthrough as Warner
and Smith batted at the sort of pace more associated with the 1960s but,
crucially, avoided giving the bowlers as sniff of a chance. A break for rain seemed
to be the et tu brute.
Fortune has been cruel to England all tour and had one last joke to
play. With the new ball and England’s last chance saloon barrelling into view,
Joe Root put himself on. Warner took a wild slog and lobbed the ball straight
to James Vince. Then Shaun Marsh edged the persevering Stuart Broad and Jonny
Bairstow flew left and took a wonderful catch. With the new ball due soon after
Lunch England were suddenly back in the game. Australia were effectively 8-4,
the new ball was due in four overs and there were two sessions left.
As now even the most pessimistic Englishman, or one-eyed Australian
could see any way that England could lose, but if Australia did not see off the
new ball there was a real threat that they might. Here though, aided by a pitch
that got so dead that even the ICC marked it as poor, Australia showed that
that they can adapt their game. Just 47 runs came from 29 stone-walling overs
in the afternoon session. If Faf du Plessis had been watching, he would have
approved. It was a high-risk strategy because it meant that two quick wickets
after Tea would have left Australia only around 60 ahead with only 4 wickets left
and plenty of time to go, but Steve Smith seems to be able to walk on water
these days.
The highest ever ranking for a Test batsman is Don Bradman’s 961 from a
possible maximum of 1000. Steve Smith is up to 947, which no player other than
Bradman has ever beaten. It will be very tough for him to move up further: from
900 points up, holding points is tough, gaining them requires almost superhuman
performances. By 950, the ratings are designed in such a way that advancing
becomes almost impossible. Right now though, Steve Smith does not seem to
understand what “impossible” means. When he first came into the Australian side
it was as a leg-spinning all-rounder: no one could have imagined that he would
become harder to dismiss than anyone since Bradman.
Joe Root and England tried everything except dynamite. You wonder if
Moeen at his best might have made something of it, or maybe the high pace of
Liam Plunkett but, reality was that if a batsman set out his stall to survive and
not make a mistake it was hard to take a wicket, which made the Australian first
innings collapse from 260-3 to 327ao all the more astonishing. It also put into
context the fact that eight England batsmen got out between 14 and 61: only
Alistair Cook got in and made it count.
It will not be 5-0, but there is still a real danger of 4-0.
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