It was little surprise to hear Stuart Broad talking last night in such eager fashion of this Ashes series and its shades of 2005, of this particular Edgbaston Test and how this morning was set up for a finale with the potential to rival that summer’s epic.
After all, how could you not be in thrall to the great moments of Ashes history when you have written so many of them yourself?
Here, on the fourth evening came another: the Hollies up and the evening hues in; Broad on a roll to nick off the world’s two best batters and swing a vital Test match England’s way.
So frequently have we all seen these passages, a set of words to describe them have filtered through the rest to live in their own canon as hardened cliche. Presumably, there was a time when the Broad knees did something other than pump, his tail capable of point elsewhere than up, but none of us can remember them now.
Since it was only Saturday morning that they were last called into use, one is loath to summon them again here. Suffice to say, the 36-year-old must eat yeast-infused Weetabix, such is his penchant for rising to the day.
There will come one, perhaps as soon as the end of this summer, and certainly by the next Ashes Test on this ground, though, when the influence of these pivotal swing points is confined to the way he calls them on Sky TV. So, where will England turn, then?
This country will always produce skilful seam bowlers, but auras are a little trickier to build, particularly those so pungent as to rattle cages with talk of a “new” delivery that, in fact, God invented just between the Earth and the seas. If there is, though, to be an heir to the throne, then Ollie Robinson looks as likely as any.
Robinson’s expletive-laden send-off of Usman Khawaja on the third morning was a little crass, the batter having just defied England for eight hours. Regrettable? Yes. In the heat of the moment, understandable? Likewise. Certainly, nothing we have not seen before, from Australian players, as Robinson himself pointed out, to English ones, too, as he did not. In other words, prime material for an Ashes storm in a tea cup.
More noteworthy was Robinson’s punchy and, to at least some degree, calculated press conference that followed, the kind that drew a knowing smirk from many more seasoned in the room.
If Robinson is one day to claim a place in Ashes folklore, it will be for his deeds not with stick or tongue but ball
The 29-year-old called Australia a defensive team — less subtle than the hook-lines Broad tends to dangle but, no doubt, cast with similar intentions — and said he was not bothered how his Khawaja farewell was perceived, easy enough to say from behind a microphone, a little tougher to exude as a 90mph bouncer whistles past your grill. His labelling of Australia’s tail as “three No11s” was eyebrow-raising, too. In 16 Tests before this one, Robinson averaged 12.7 with the bat.
Walking out after lunch yesterday, elevated to No9 and in little doubt as to the treatment to come, Robinson got stuck into the battle, playing the short stuff well in a cameo annoying to Australia but vital to England, a knock of 27 ending on his terms as he looked to hit Nathan Lyon down the ground.
After 17 unbeaten in the first innings, that average is now up to a heady tick above 14, but if Robinson is one day to claim a place in Ashes folklore, it will be for his deeds not with stick or tongue but ball.
Talk in the build-up of Robinson being perhaps England’s best bowler must have baffled Australians, who last saw the Sussex man taking only 11 wickets across their home Ashes series and, amid fitness struggles, bowling at speeds that Down Under qualify as sin. In the first innings, here, he was not much cop either, three wickets coming cheaply at the end after he had bowled without threat.
Yesterday, though, with Australia’s openers making serene progress, it was Robinson who found a way, tempting David Warner’s edge and laying the platform for Broad.
“He’s a highly-competitive cricketer, someone who tries to move the game forward,” Broad said of his team-mate. “He came on and got a huge breakthrough for us, because at 50 for none, you were thinking, ‘Where are we getting a wicket from here?’.”
So often in Ashes cricket, Broad has himself provided the answer to that particular question, but succession planning may just be under way.
