Bowler was largely unknown when he arrived on international stage at the age of 32 but his weapons could threaten England“Scotty Boland, he’s now my favourite player. He always has been, but he continues to be my favourite.”Sure the Australia captain, Pat Cummins, might have displayed some confusion about time and continuity. But his sentiment was what mattered, after another decisive bowling burst from the Victorian quick opened up Australia’s path to victory against India in the World Test Championship final. Continue reading...
Idling tempo while batting in World Test Championship against India felt unfamiliar compared to Stokes’ all-action approachLunchtime at the Oval, and Australia are six-wickets down with a lead of 373. Alex Carey’s at one end, 41 not out off 61 balls, Mitchell Starc’s at the other, 11 off 19. It’s already over a hundred runs more than anyone’s ever scored in the fourth innings to win a Test here, and that particular match was way back in the 1902 Ashes, when Gilbert Jessop blazed his 76-ball hundred. The pressing question then, the one everyone was chewing over in the food and drink queues, was ‘what’s next?’ A burst of attacking cricket, a tumble of tail-end wickets?What we got, instead, was...
Indian fans believed Shubman Gill was wrongly dismissed but the laws are clear – although that won’t stop the argumentsAs the second session wound onwards on the fourth day of the World Test Championship final, the Oval was a cheerful place. On a perfect, warm afternoon, the bays that were largely full of India supporters erupted after every boundary as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made a bright start to a massive run chase.Soon it was much less bucolic, with a fair share of those fans shouting “Cheat!” at the Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. Others lined up to give him a gob-full as he climbed the stairs through the crowd at tea. Fielding in the gully, Green’s crime had been...
Australian’s dominant century in the World Test Championship final against India strikes an ominous note before the AshesFrom time to time around the Oval press box, little English-accented groans of annoyance burbled through the quiet. “Oh God. Here we go again.” Steve Smith was the cause, across the first two days of the World Test Championship final. Through the tinted windows placed just behind the bowler’s arm at the Vauxhall End was the perfect view of him, ball after ball: setting up outside leg stump, stepping across, nudging off his pads for a run on his way to 121.For British scribes who covered their last home Ashes in 2019, it was simply Smith picking up where he left off. They...
When Travis Head arrived at the Oval crease, his side were in a precarious position – now they will enter day two well in chargeTest it out quietly to yourself, because it is not yet a fully formed idea. One to be rolled over the tongue to see how it goes before it is released. But maybe, at least at this moment, Travis Head is Australia’s most important Test batter.This is not an idea born of his run-a-ball century in the World Test Championship final, when he took Australia from precarity to primacy against India at the Oval. It was when that century was still just a threat, on 28 from 18 balls shortly after Marnus Labuschagne had been clean...