Lyon-less, tactically-off Australia pummelled Crawley, Root and left dazed Bazball
How much did Australia miss Nathan Lyon at the Old Trafford? Not since Glenn McGrath’s injury at Edgbaston during the iconic 2005 Ashes, has Australia missed a bowler as badly as they did on Day 2 of the fourth Test. In a series where all the talk has been consumed Bazball, Thursday was no different, and the carnage unleashed the imperious Zak Crawley — first in the company of Moeen Ali and then with Joe Root – meant England ended Day 2 at 384/4 off 72 overs as they gave themselves an opportunity to beat the weather forecasts and force a result out of this Test and keep the Ashes alive.For the first time Australia looked shaken as they did everything they could to surrender the 2-1 advantage they enjoyed. There was a sort of “I don’t know what has hit me” reaction written over Australian faces and that itself showed how the Bazball has started to worry Pat Cummins & Co.Before we get down to Crawley’s game-changing – possibly series changing – innings of 189 off 182 deliveries, it is worth reminding just how tactically off Australia were on the field. Especially in the absence of Lyon, the seamers had to be at their best but the strategies were off a long way.
Zak is going large! 💥🏏
1⃣5⃣0⃣⬆
🏴 #ENGvAUS 🇦🇺 | @IGcom pic.twitter.com/L0HLufXqiE
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 20, 2023
Crawley’s weakness lies in the 5th-6th stump area where he just lets his arms go without the feet or a fluent bat swing. His bat comes down at an angle that isn’t conducive for such deliveries. And yet Aussies, much to the chagrin of their former captains Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting on air, were too straight and too full at him. Moeen Ali has had his problems against bouncers at his body, but they didn’t try it until he reached his 50. Joe Root had come up with a strategy to face bouncers – take an open-faced almost-outside-leg-stump guard with a raised bat-face, but Aussies kept hurling it short – and not high at that- and he ran away to a rapid start. At times in the second session, when England were hammering away at over 7 runs per over, Australia seemed so confused (perhaps rattled), that they were constantly changing fields- and never got the line of attack right.
And the home crowd were treated to exhilarating batting from Crawley and co. For a while now, his inconsency has drawn attacks from former England batsmen. Alastair Cook and David Gower have labelled him “frenetic at crease”, Mark Ramprakash has said they should pull the plug on him, Nasser Hussain has questioned him, but Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, the men who matter, like him. It’s easy to see why on days like this.
On an off-stump guard almost, he kept whipping and on-driving balls on off and middle through the on side. At times, he would walk forward and across to fetch balls from the off or even just outside off to the on side. There were occasions when Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood found edges when they hurled it wider but incredibly they never made it a consent tactic. According to CricViz data, Crawley’s century had 25 per cent false shots, but Australia didn’t quite exploit that line of attack.And Crawley kept hammering them.
A few years back, Crawley was so confused that he called up Rob Key, former England player, and said he just doesn’t know what to do with his ‘trigger movement’, the initial feet movements that batsmen do around the ball-release time. Key advised him to hit the nets and figure out for himself if he even needs one. These days, Crawley stands still at the crease, and delivers, as he did on an unforgettable Ashes day.
Cricket – Ashes – Fourth Test – England v Australia – Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester, Britain – July 20, 2023 England’s Ben Stokes in action Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Nasser Hussain would be moved to say “Often when you look down on the Australian side horically, you know who the captain is, whether it be Taylor, Border, Ponting, Waugh. You look down today and there have been a lot of cricketers waving their arms around trying to help their captain Cummins.”
And that’s what England did to Cummins, who conceded over 6 an over, dropped a catch, failed to sight an opportunity offered Ali, and even misfielded on a couple of occasions. The inspirational leader he has been, it was a day that once again highlighted why more and more teams think twice before having a fast-bowler as a captain. At one stage in the second session, Mitchell Starc was bowling with two fielders behind the square on off-side and a deep point. But bowling straight. When they had three men deep on the leg side, they were bowling it outside off. Bazballism can create doubts in the best of captains, but this was chaos. On a pitch where the odd ball climbed awkwardly and a few kept low in the line of the stumps, they seldom took advantage of it as they sprayed all over.
And having taken lunch at 61/1, it was the second session where England unleashed their beast, where they scored 178 runs in 25 overs.
“Sometimes I’ll have streaks of low scores because I’m taking a punt, but if I was more consent maybe I wouldn’t have a day like today. That’s more my template. Definitely fair I haven’t been consent, but I’ve shown at my best I’m good enough for this level,” Crawley told the broadcasters.
According to the CricViz data, England had a strike-rate of over 100 for all the attacking shots that they played: sweep (292), drives (186), cuts (136), pulls (117).
If Crawley went with the flow, Joe Root was even more daring. Coming in after Ali, who himself played a couple of gorgeous cover-drives that had shades of Saeed Anwar in it, Root was disdainful from the start. Pulling, reverse-lapping the pacers, and throwing in glorious late-cuts off seamers. Root was in total control and Crawley kept taking the Aussies on as the second-wicket partnership of 206 off 186 deliveries provided the most electrifying day of the English summer.
