England were bowled out for 289, setting Australia 412 to win as the first Test of the Investec Ashes moved swiftly on
The Report by David Hopps10-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWelcome to Wales, land of rain and anxiety. Cambridge scientists recently concluded that it is here where the United Kingdom is at its most neurotic. And it is here where Australia did their utmost to prey on those nerves and insist against all logic that even though they must embark upon a seemingly impossible pursuit of 412 on the fourth morning, and the pitch is both turning sharply and bouncing irregularly, they are not quite dead in the Cardiff Test. They are. They must be.Pessimism can cling to a side with recent memories of an Ashes whitewash. England initially made rapid headway as they sought to turn a formidable first-innings lead of 122 into a bridgehead for victory and a 1-0 lead in the Investec Ashes series. The impetus from bundling out Australia in their morning spread into the batting of Ian Bell and, less obviously, Joe Root in the afternoon. And even as the lead built, millions of England supporters looked on and spoke of “only”.The lead was only 200, 300, and 20 minutes from the close, with great relief, 400, as England’s No. 10, Mark Wood, swung the offspin of Nathan Lyon towards the River Taff for six and then reverse lapped him for four to applause from the England balcony. The wickets remaining slipped to only eight, four, two. But by the close of the third day, an awkward spell in which Bell, Root and Ben Stokes had their wicket struck in turn and Australia felt a glimmer of hope, Wood, a tail-ender with a sense of fun, had an unbeaten 32 from 18 balls and England were out of sight. Finally, there was not an “only” to be heard.Australia like to speak of the highest Test run chase ever pulled off in England, of Headingley 1948, of Don Bradman and of 404 for 3. Even that would not be enough now. The forecast for Sunday is indifferent, but as the Welsh have it, it is not expected to rain old women and sticks. This excellent game deserves a winner and logic suggests that it is England.Four wickets for Lyon were deserving of respect, if an expected reward on a dry pitch offering considerable turn. Australia’s bonus was Mitchell Starc. When he left the field for the last time, the clock had gone beyond six o’clock and a bowler whose first ball of the day had seen this lissom left-armer hop gingerly through the crease in mistrust of an ankle injury had got through 16 overs, logged Alastair Cook and Stokes in the wickets column and, at 92.8mph, had clocked the fastest ball of the match. Impressive stuff – but he might miss the Lord’s Test as a consequence.Australia were not averse to playing on England’s insecurity. New ICC regulations might make sledging a risky business, and not before time, but nobody said anything about mind games. Lyon and David Warner more than once held conversations at the point in the crease where Stokes, idiosyncratically, likes to sweep the crease in a semicircle. Brad Haddin had more appeals than the Salvation Army.It would be tempting to term the pitch treacherous, but considering its particular difficulty to Australia, whose batsmen are brought up with pace and bounce, perhaps it was actually suffering from excessive loyalty. It has also produced magnificent entertainment from the outset.It had taken England only 14.5 overs to polish off the last five Australian wickets, 44 runs added in the process, and although the stand-out performer was James Anderson, who provided a brief exhibition of new-ball bowling to log 3 for 43, every England bowler took a wicket in what had been a consistently focused display.The sense that batting might remain a taxing business was encouraged when Alastair Cook, England’s captain, failed for the second time in the match, driving at a gentle, wide outswinger from Starc which was well picked up by Lyon, low at backward point. He seems, perhaps temporarily, to have abandoned his habitual insistence of making bowlers bowl at him in a desire to buy into England’s much-vaunted commitment to enterprising batting.If Cook could rue a puff of dust from the footholes, Gary Ballance had more reason for frustration. Two excellent swinging deliveries from Starc left him fortunate to reach lunch unbeaten – but still on nought. Ballance might have reached the interval, but that first run never came as soon after the resumption he received a climbing delivery from Josh Hazlewood and gloved to the wicketkeeper.Bell’s three hundreds won him the Man of the Series award the last time the Ashes were contested in England, but who had been bereft of form with six scores of 0 or 1 in his last nine Test innings. It was a timely moment for him to regain form. He drove sublimely through the off side from the outset, two early boundaries against Starc setting the tone from a half-century of elegant ambition. There were 11 boundaries in his 60 before he became Mitchell Johnson’s first victim, expecting inswing but beaten by one that seamed away.Bell’s authority briefly rubbed off on Adam Lyth, whose slog-swept six against Lyon summed up his rising ambition. Lyon, though, gradually unravelled his game and outdid his defensive poke for Michael Clarke to hold a wonderful springing catch to his left at slip.At 207 for 4, England’s lead was already 329, but the loss of Root, bowled by a nip-backer from Hazlewood, was the start of an uncomfortable period in which four wickets fell for 38 in nine overs. Jos Buttler might have regretted this reverse sweep more than most as Lyon had him caught at the wicket; Stokes’ controlled 42 ended with a drag-on as Starc scudded one through; Broad flung his head skywards and reached deep mid-off, running in. Wood banished the nerves.Australia had begun the morning at 264 for 5 and might have shrugged off the loss the nightwatchman, Lyon, as he fell lbw to Wood, immaculate in line throughout, but the dismissal of Shane Watson that preceded it was drainingly familiar as he played across his front pad against Broad. For Watson, it was another Test match 30 and a striking record of 28 lbw dismissals in 108 innings, unmatched for a player of such longevity. He left with mournful, pursed lips, as if he could not believe that fate had conspired against him once more.Haddin was a danger, memories of his productive last series against England still fresh, but Anderson found prodigious movement both ways and it was not long before Haddin edged an outswinger to the wicketkeeper. Johnson clipped Broad to midwicket and Australia’s innings came to a close when Anderson had Starc expertly held by Root, diving to his left, one of five England slips stationed for a catch, an attacking flourish they clung to, refusing whatever the doubts around them to let the talk of “only” enter their thoughts.