Key events
We’ve got our first mail in and it’s from Tom vd Gucht. Good day Tom!
“Morning. The bad weather impacting on England’s charge for victory last week has thrown into relief how much they needed to win that match as so many of the England players performed above their normal level. Statistically speaking, Bairstow, Crawley, Woakes etc are all due a bad game now whilst Smith, Laubauschange etc are due a good one after a quiet series. Then again, so is Anderson.
“And, looking at the longer term metrics, Smith and Laubuschange are actually due a bad series after doing so well for so long, so perhaps England’s might be off the hook and they’ll get out cheaply.”
I mean, both Smith and Labuschagne have hundreds in the series. I agree they haven’t been brilliant, but I don’t think they’ve been awful. You’re spot on with England needing a win in the first two matches.
Moeen’s out
Grim news for England. Moeen Ali won’t take the field today as he’s been unable to shake off the groin injury he picked up while batting. England might not need his spin given the cloud cover. But if Jimmy Anderson struggles to get that Dukes talking, this could prove a decisive.
Moeen Ali unable to field today with the groin injury sustained yesterday. Huge shame in what is (almost certainly) his final Test but maybe there’s a chance to do something in the second half of the game…
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) July 28, 2023
So, what do you make of Harry Brook? It’s a simple question to answer. The lad’s a gem with a bat in his hand. Sure he rode his luck yesterday, but some of the strokes he unfurled, articulatory the on-drive off Starc, brought out involuntary sounds from the crowd.
Andy Bull reckons the young man is already securing a pretty impressive legacy. Read all about it here:
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
Ominous clouds blanket south London as England’s hopes of squaring the Ashes hang in the balance. Forget all that guff about retaining the little urn that actually never leaves its home at Lord’s. This is a proper Test series between two proper teams who have their own ideas on the proper way to play the game. Pat Cummins wants to do something no Aussie skipper has done since 2001 and win a five-match rubber on English soil. Ben Stokes doesn’t want to become the first vanquished captain of the Three Lions on his home patch. This should be a good!
England are slightly behind the curve after Australia won the toss and asked their hosts to bat. It looked an iffy call after Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley put on 62 for the opening stand before Harry Brook steadied the ship with a sumptuous (and fortuitous) score of 85.
But a collapse, one that was all too familiar before the days of Baz saw England fall from 184-3 to 212-7 when Brook nicked off flashing at a wide one from Starc, who was the pick of the bowlers.
Chris Woakes (36) and Mark Wood (28) biffed it about to haul the score to 283 all-out. Is that a good score? Both captains will be annoyed and content in equal measure I reckom.
Australia reached 61-1 at the close with David Warner the man to go. He was snaffled by Crawley – who has had a good series in the cordon – off Woakes. Usman Khawaja is not out on 26 with Marnus Labuschagne alongside him on two.
Yet again it’s delicately poised. It’s a day for bowling, that’s for sure. But can England make it count? We’ll soon see.
My name is Dan. Please do drop me a line or send a tweet (or should we be calling those xeets now?).
Play gets going at 11am BST/8pm AEST.
