The Ashes 2023: England v Australia, first Test, day five delayed due to rain – live | Ashes 2023

What does Nathan Lyon do in his hotel room? I’m going to regret typing these next words, but now I really wish I knew.

Always good to get a line from inside the room. Here’s my colleague, Luke McLaughlin:

“I’ve heard more than one pundit opine that if England win, all of Stokes’s decisions during the match will be vindicated, and if Australia win, then the same becomes true of Cummings. Surely this is a vast oversimplification?

“Anyway, England’s main lessons from this remarkable Test match must be: 1) Bazball shouldn’t mean it’s OK to toss wickets away cheaply. 2) Foakes must play, Bairstow stays as a batsman. I do worry that the fact Bairstow is a lovely lad, and very popular within the team, means he gets too much leeway with his keeping.”

That’s the nature of elite sport, innit? Pep Guardiola pointed out that he won the treble because a striker missed a header from three yards out. If that went in, would Pep be a fraud? No. But we deal in binary results. Makes for good chat though, doesn’t it?

I agree with your second point. If England lose I bet they’ll be kicking themselves for a few soft dismissals.

‘Dan-ster’. I like it.

Loads of chat about YJB and Foakes:

Timothy Sanders from Leeds: “I think Barney is right, that ‘it would be progressive, not regressive, to bring Foakes into this team’, in line with England’s philosophy of how to play Test cricket. If it’s about having fun, taking twenty wickets, and showing the paying public your very best skills, then surely the practical application of Bazball means picking your very best wicketkeeper? I say go with Foakes as the way for this team to live its values. Then they just have to decide on the best 5 from the 6 batters!”

Stephen Brown who has offered ‘Big Dan’ as a nickname: “For me, Foakes should be in the team. Having a very good wicket keeper vs a good wicket keeper can be worth having another batter who averages 40-50 in the team. And who wouldn’t want to add that? So the question becomes, who do you leave out? Weirdly, I’d say the person underperforming their playing role in the team the most over the last year might actually be Stokes. But we can’t exactly drop him and let him captain from the touchlines. Which means the solution is probably to let Bairstow open. Ducket has more runs as an opener under Stokes than Crawly despite playing half the games, so he should probably be given the first shot of opening alongside Bairstow.”

Joe Roberts: “If it is true that Bairstow must be in the side due to last year’s heroics, it is also true that Crawley has done very little to justify his place in this side, having contributed very little to the success over the last 12 months. Not to mention that Foakes has been a vital part of that success, not just with the gloves, but with the bat as well, and surely warrants the same treatment as Bairstow.”

Tom Nolan: “Crawley out for Foakes with YJB opening? Won‘t happen after Crawley‘s first innings knock here but seems a logical way to get Foakes and Bairstow into the same side.”

Geoff Wignall with a another whacky idea: “My new solution would be someone with sound defensive technique yet capable of serious aggression who isn’t scoring many in his current slot: one Ben Stokes.”

Foakes for Brook? To be honest, I hadn’t considered that. But Richard O’Hagan makes an intersting point that has got me thinking:

“I know that this will be controversial, but I think you have to choose between Bairstow and Brook. Brook came into the side as the replacement for the injured Bairstow and from a batting perspective they are probably on a par with one another, save that YJB is vastly more experienced. But at the same time the runs that England have conceded as a result of Bairstow’s rustiness with the gloves could well be the difference between winning and losing this Test, as they pretty much negate his contribution with the bat. For my money Foakes has to play and one of those two has to stand down if England are to have any chance of winning this series.”

Let’s not forget that Foakes is still a brilliant batter. Sure he doesn’t have the firepower of Brook or Bairstow, but it’s not like he’s a mug with the willow. And if Ali plays (finger blister permitting) they still have the punch in the lower order.

Email gremlins fixed: I wasn’t aware that the link to my email was broken. Should be sorted now. If you’ve been trying to get in touch but haven’t done so, please try again.

This is a really, really long email from Simon in Cornwall. But with nothing going on, I’ll share it in it’s entirety with my two cents between each paragraph (yes, paragraph, strap in):

“I have a question about the reverse ramp. How does the batter decide that that is the shot they are going to play? It seems that they get into position for the shot so early that it can’t be based on the trajectory of the ball – does the batter decide before the ball is bowled that they are going to play that shot, and just commit? I get that you wouldn’t play it against an unpredictable spinner, and that you need some kind of predictability in the bowlers style – is there maybe some subtle thing in finger position or wrist action that makes the batter know it is a good shot selection? Or is it just hit and hope?”

It has to be premeditated. Bowlers like Boland who put it on the same spot over and over again are particularly susceptible to being ramped. A lot of hit and hope for sure.

“I’d also like to say something about Bazball. I think something that hasn’t been mentioned much is Ben Stokes’ struggles with mental health, and the fact that it seems to me that Bazball is an attempt by Stokes to take the parts of the game that may cause a player to struggle, and just…..remove them. Many elite sportspeople have suffered badly in this arena, and not just cricketers – see ‘The Edge’, about the 09-13 England team, but also Nick Kyrgios, Mark Selby, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, and god knows how many others from years gone by.”

Oh, Bazball is therapy. Or so said Barney Ronay in this wonderful piece.

“The reason I have so much respect for this style of play is that it seems to me that after taking brave decisions to protect his own wellbeing over the years, Stokes has developed a style that extends this protection to his whole team. Stokes has a greater understanding of his teammates, and of the nature of leadership and sporting ambition than any leader I can think of, and this goes far beyond ‘finding a way to win’. Stokes has taken bold, innovative steps to protect, nurture and develop the whole person, not just their skills and sporting qualities, knowing full well that, coincidentally, this is how you get the best out of them.”

Bold, innovative, daring, carefree. That’s why it’ has captured so many people, win or lose.

“Its interesting that the list of athletes I mention who have publicly struggled with their mental health are all proponents of individual sports (tennis, snooker, gymnastics, swimming), and this is the first example I know of where the thinking has been extended to a team sport. I see Gareth Southgate doing something similar, but in a gentler and less bold way, and the results there are fairly clear too. As someone who has had some pretty loopy mental health over the years, I can not tell you how much I respect what Stokes (and BmcC) is doing.”

Mate, thank you for opening up. I reckon a lot of people reading this right now will relate.

“The way England are playing will ripple outwards and change the way test cricket is played, and more importantly how it is perceived that it SHOULD be played, maybe even save the format from a spiral of stagnation and diminishing gate receipts as everyone rushes to whizzier formats, leaving a trail of broken and forgotten players who gave their all but failed in some way that comes to define them forever. I adore the man, and in true Bazball style, wish with all my heart that he stays true to his new methods through the whole series, even if it means we lose every test. It feels more important than that, to me.”

Even football is hooked!

“I understand that this isn’t how a lot of fans feel – the ‘win at all costs’ mentality is irresistible to a sports fan, even if that cost is the health and wellbeing of the very players they revere. Bazball reminds us all that athletes are people, and that people do their best work when they love what they are doing, are given freedom to express themselves and are respected for doing so. Bazball, to me, isn’t just a cricketing ideology, it’s not a cricketing tactic, and its certainly not the new-age, man-feeling, bro-vibes rubbish it can so easily be dismissed as. Its an affirmation of the humanity at the heart of cricket, of sport, and of competition, and I hope it lasts forever. Or at least til the end of the fifth test.”

And let’s not forget that England were rubbish before Bazball. This is not simply the unshackling of players but also a cohesive strategy to get the best out of a talented group. It’s daring and brave, but also calculated (even if it doesn’t always seem that way).

Thank you for a brilliant mail. I really enjoyed that.

“Hi Dan. Looking forward to a cracking day’s play!”

Me too, Damian Johnson, let’s hope we get enough of it.

“Regards Bairstow/Foakes, YJB is allowed one bad game I would say, and horses for courses, Foakes stays in contention for tours in Asia or the driest of dry wickets.

“If he were to come in, any of the top 3 should be under pressure and this includes Pope who never seems to be mentioned despite a highly mediocre record, especially against the big boys. Don’t get me wrong, cracking looking batter but he never seems to be under any pressure – is this a Surrey thing!?”

Hmmm. I’m not sure it’s a Surrey thing. If that was the case then Foakes would be playing. Pope is class. No doubt about that. I saw him score a coming of age ton against South Africa in Gqeberha. He’ll be alright in the long run. But you’re right. A few more failures and some serious questions will need to be asked.

YummyBear has become our official weather correspondent. And yup, all fingers, toes and limbs crossed.

Oh man. I’m watching the Sky feed and it looks really grim. I take back what I said earlier and I’m now with Will Southworth. Will be incredible if they get out there in time to finish the game. How frustrating!

But, if they do, one team in particular will fancy it.

Oh dear… So advantage England. Especially as Warner is in the shed. But hey, Head can give it a whack too. How many overs do you reckon Australia will need to fancy having a go?

I loved this piece by Barney from last night. And would love to know what you think about the Bairstow-Foakes debate. For my money, Young JB has to play. He’s just so destructive with the bat. But there’s no question Foakes is the outstanding keeper in the country. Does that mean Duckett drops out? But then who opens? Should Pope make way? Ludicrous! There are no easy answers in the epoch of Baz.

Granted this was 20 minutes ago, but it’s not looking great. Don’t worry, we’ll get plenty of cricket. We just won’t start at 11.

Preamble