The opening day here at Lord’s was by consensus England’s most chastening of the Bazball era and so, to keep this Second Ashes Test alive, the next surely had to be one of the best.
For two and a bit sessions, it looked like it might be right up there: the final five Australian wickets had fallen well before lunch, England’s openers had produced their best Ashes partnership since Strauss and Cook, Ben Duckett looked on track to join Steve Smith as the day’s second centurion and, thrown in for nothing, the series’ best bowler so far, Nathan Lyon, had hobbled off with a bad calf.
Then along came something of a meltdown, Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Duckett all succumbing cheaply trying to take on Australia’s telegraphed short-ball ploy, the latter two runs short of his century and Root for just ten, having already been gifted a no-ball reprieve.
The upshot is a game still in the balance, better placed, from England’s perspective, than looked likely 24 hours ago, but not quite as favourable as it might have been had someone slipped something a little more calming into the afternoon’s tea.
Ben Stokes and Harry Brook will pick things back up in the morning on 278 for four, 138 runs behind, but with only Jonny Bairstow and then a long tail left to come.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad had, more than anyone, arrived on the second morning with points to prove, both having gone wicketless in ideal bowling conditions on day one, instead relying on Root’s late double-breakthrough to save some collective face.
Neither, though, took more than half-hour to make amends, Broad finding Alex Carey’s back pad in the first over and having the ‘keeper found guilty on review, then Anderson ending Mitchell Starc’s brief first involvement in the series with the help of a fine Jonny Bairstow catch behind the stumps.
Smith, though, again looked the 2019 vintage, driving Anderson through cover to bring up his 32nd Test hundred and 12th against England (is it only that many?). The feeling then was that England’s fastest exit route was via the other end, but Josh Tongue, whose claim to fame until a month ago was as Smith first county cricket conqueror, snared the Australian great again, no talk of iffy umpiring this time as Duckett took a sharp gully catch.
Neither the Edgbaston two, Cummins and Lyon, nor Josh Hazlewood could frustrate too long, Ollie Robinson claiming the latter pair to leave England reflecting on a salvage job well done” from 316 for three on the first evening, Australia had lost their last seven wickets for only 100 runs.
Zak Crawley had looked in fine touch at Edgbaston, assertive in the first innings, then found out by a tempest’s foreplay in the second. If anything, here, he played even better, taking a particular liking to Starc, but, well, you’ve seen this episode before: within touching distance of an imperious half-century and promising plenty more, the Kent man went for a wander to Lyon and the excellent Carey whipped off the bails. Still, an opening stand of 91 was England’s best since Sydney on the famous tour of 2010/11.
Lyon has now taken nine wickets in the series, four of them stumpings and this one a particular gift to mark the occasion of the spinner’s 100th consecutive Test. Whether that becomes 101 - or if he even returns this week - remains to be seen, with Australia to assess a calf issue picked up in innocuous fashion overnight.
Pope had himself been an injury doubt, off the field all day with a shoulder problem until emerging to bat, seemingly uninhibited, in his regular slot of No3. He made 42 before trying to clear the fence and instead picking out Smith, who was suddenly everywhere in the field.
And so let that be a warning, a wise man might have said. Even a dopey one might have heeded the second as Root gloved Cameron Green’s bouncer to Carey, only to find the all-rounder’s size 14 had landed beyond the crease for the fifth time in a brief spell.
Duckett’s excuse will no doubt be the jitters, the opener hooking straight to David Warner when on the cusp of his third hundred on this ground in as many red-ball matches this year. Root’s was less obvious, as he too attracted the attentions of ball-magnet Smith.
As Stokes marked out his guard, Brook at the other end was practicing his hook, making clear that England’s intent would not be departing with fallen comrades. It was almost his undoing, too, but Marnus Labuschagne’s uncharacteristic drop provided the let-off England needed to reach the close without further harm.
