Chance to lift gloom after loss in first Ashes Test is not helped by rustiness of any possible replacementsWe all make mistakes but most of us manage to do so without attracting too much attention. However, this luxury is not given to Test cricketers – even in the post free-to-air era. Moeen Ali is rediscovering this after his moon ball, his misguided leave and his wayward second-innings bowling at Edgbaston; so, too, is Jason Roy, who swung and missed so memorably when producing a poor imitation of Virender Sehwag at the crease. Playing international cricket is a great job; it is also a cruel one.It is an easier game in the press box. In my eagerness to feel some empathy...
It should come as no surprise that batsmen who have been told to whack a white ball into the stands cannot bat the day outWell, 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...
Australia’s off-spinner made knocking off England in their second innings look a simple operation while his England counterpart will not be sorry to leave EdgbastonAgainst Australia in particular Moeen Ali has days like these. Days like the fourth of the Edgbaston Test when he started his bowling for the morning with a beamer looped at Steve Smith’s head. The former Australia captain usually bats like he is being attacked by wasps but this time even more so as he swatted his bat around at face height. He went on to take 57 runs from Moeen in the innings as the spinner went for 130.Days like the third day at Edgbaston when Moeen, on nought, left alone a ball from Nathan...
Head hits early and often, Wade is ready to chance his arm – perfect players to ride shotgun alongside Steve SmithCricket teams are all about balance. Right-handers with left-handers, leg-spinners with off‑spinners, the range of personality and style and temperament and approach that make a team a complex and evolving creation, reflecting light from its varied facets.After the fourth day of the Edgbaston Ashes Test, my colleagues in these pages have doubtless described Steve Smith in terms of a computer or machine, having calculated Australia’s course through the match. At the same time he was accompanied by two players who are extremely human. The balance was just right: one-part organism to one-part mechanism. Related: Australia take control of Test after...
Australian’s second hundred of Test shows he is a sporting phenomenon to be treasured whatever your passportWell, what did you see my blue eyed son? And what did you see, my darling young one? I saw a man batting without a chance for 149 overs. I saw Joe Denly bowling in mid-afternoon. I saw a thousand pad-roll fiddles and five hundred box-flicks. I saw a game and a series and a career defined.And yes, like everyone else I saw quite a lot of Steve Smith. The fourth day of this first Ashes Test may have ended with England’s openers battling for survival, set an impossible 398 to win and a day to play out for a draw. But once again...