It should come as no surprise that batsmen who have been told to whack a white ball into the stands cannot bat the day out
Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen. On a mild, sunlit Birmingham day Australia bowled straight, fielded well, swarmed around England’s batsmen and took wickets with disarming ease in front of stands filled with garrulous southern hemisphere voices.
As the final clatter began in earnest after lunch the endgame to this first Ashes Test began to feel a little giddy and light-hearted. There were ironic cheers for Moeen Ali as he successfully defended a straight ball from Nathan Lyon. England batsmen were barracked from the centre by the touring support en route to a 251-run defeat. Tim Paine’s team weren’t just in control here. They were enjoying themselves.
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