As the umpires entered the two dressing rooms shortly after 6pm to announce the third day was caput, there was no doubt as to which team was the happier. A two-innings shootout to settle this first Ashes Test had been set up by England’s enterprising efforts with the ball first thing but the hosts were in no mood to get back out there.
And who could blame them? A bright morning session had seen them seize the initiative, Ollie Robinson securing a slender seven-run first innings lead when his three-wicket spell rolled Australia for 386 all out before lunch. The start to England’s second innings was promising too, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley reaching 26 for no loss on this torpid surface before the first rain delay.
But during a brief 20-minute resumption in the afternoon – the final act of a frustrating day cut to just 32.4 overs – batting was an ordeal. There were brooding clouds over Birmingham, the floodlights were at full beam, and with the Dukes ball zipping around for the first time in the match, Australia’s bowlers suddenly were reborn.
In the space of 22 balls the tourists claimed two for two, numbers that are tricky to say out loud without slipping into a Richie Benaud impression. The great man would have loved calling the action these digits relayed, too, Pat Cummins and Scott Boland charging in with fresh incentive and duly vaporising both England openers.
Ben Duckett was first to depart for 19, the left-hander’s contempt for the leave punished again when a Cummins outswinger was poked to Cameron Green at gully. There was a brief pause to double-check his latest sparkling catch here but none of the controversy that came during the recent World Test Championship; the giant all-rounder’s paws were safely under it and Duckett had to walk.
And then just four balls later Boland tickled the edge of Crawley’s bat with a smidgen of seam. It left Joe Root and Ollie Pope to see out 10 menacing balls before the clouds re-opened. Both were yet to get off the mark and when they resume with the score on 28 for two – a lead of 35 – they will hope that blue skies have returned.
Amid a fair deal of griping about the lifeless pitch prepared for this series opener, this sizzling surge from Australia was a reminder of how overheads can change everything in England. It certainly sat in stark contrast to the methods England were forced to deploy while winkling out the last five Australian wickets at a cost of 76 runs.
There are three weeks to go until the famous Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival is held a mile down the road from Edgbaston. And in conditions that felt more akin to England’s tour of Pakistan last December, here was Ben Stokes giving the locals an early taster of the vibe with some particularly trippy fields.
The highlight among this was the removal of Usman Khawaja. Bogged down, having added just 15 runs to his overnight 126 in the first 90 minutes, the opener was suddenly faced with six catchers in front of square. But as he went to guide Robinson into the yawning gap behind square, his stumps were detonated by a yorker. It was an excellent trap, no question, although Robinson’s four-letter exclamation at this first wicket of the series may earn him a meeting with the match referee, Andy Pycroft.
Pycroft had been busy before play drawing up a charge sheet for Moeen Ali, the off-spinner docked 25% of his match fee on his 36th birthday for spraying a “drying agent” on his hand the previous evening without the consent of the umpires. Moeen had a burst blister on his right index finger and though he tried to power through first thing, he was visibly struggling and some rank full tosses resulted. How this injury heals over the next 24 hours may well be pivotal to England’s fourth innings fortunes.
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Similarly, Jonny Bairstow will have to brush off what has been a tricky time with the gloves. The Yorkshireman was already stewing on a missed stumping and a dropped catch the day before when, off the fourth ball of the morning, he was wrong-footed by Alex Carey’s inside edge and could not cling on. Jimmy Anderson, the bowler denied, at least kept the cost of this to a minimum, Carey adding 14 more runs after the reprieve on 52 before a classical in-swinger breached his defences clean bowled.
A dogged stand of 34 between Khawaja and Cummins followed but once the former was sent on his way by Robinson – and at least given a well deserved pat on the back from Root – the lengthy Australian tail rather crumbled in the face of a short-ball ploy. Nathan Lyon holed out and Boland plopped a catch to silly point, before Cummins eventually fell for a handy 38 on the hook.
Stokes was fittingly the man under the ball here, leading his players off the field with a smile on his face. Five hours later, when word came back the day was over and his evening could begin, the England captain’s mood had become one of relief.
