In case you had forgotten Sunday brought the reminder that the Ashes 2023 is being played in England. After two largely sun-kissed days, with an aggressive England facing off against a defensive Australia, on a pitch offering little for the bowlers, the afternoon of day three came to offer a brief window into normalcy.
The morning session had followed the crazy-paved trail blazed by the first two days of this Test, easing into things with a Jonny Bairstow drop in the first over – the starter pistol for another lap of tedious wicketkeeper selection discourse – as Australia crept up on England’s perhaps rashly curtailed first innings effort.
No man could ever accuse Ben Stokes of letting things drift in the field, after Alex Carey had become James Anderson’s 1100th first class wicket, he threw every plan he could conceive of at Australia in an effort to winkle out their remaining four wickets.
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Eventually, his efforts were rewarded, Usman Khawaja seemingly confused as much as anything by the bizarre six man horseshoe field in close, and bowled by an Ollie Robinson yorker.
Suddenly the vertiginous length of Australia’s tail was exposed and after wickets had proved so hard to prize out, England picked up the final three inside four overs with just 14 more runs added to the total.
Then in the afternoon came the return to more familiar Test cricket in England – rain. An hour and fifteen minutes were lost and with them the match was transported back to an all too recognisable picture, leaden skies, a moving ball and English openers facing down a fearsome Australian barrage.
There has been little in this match to have the bowlers licking their lips but suddenly here was a situation practically designed in a lab to have any fast bowler salivating. With the skies closing in and more rain an inevitability, the only question was whether Australia could seize the opportunity.
In the end, they only got 20 minutes of play before rain forced the players to scurry from the field once more – it was not a passage of play they wasted.
Scott Boland came into the attack and immediately put Zak Crawley under pressure, twice in two balls he struck the opener’s pads, both were too high but the first warning shots had been fired. The next over Pat Cummins hit the target, Ben Duckett tempted at one in the channel, the edge flying towards the gully where Cameron Green sprawled to take a superb diving catch one-handed.
The skies were dark enough to have been midway through a day-night game, rain would curtail play for the day 11 balls later, unfortunately for England they would not survive them without further inroads into their batting lineup.
Boland struck with the first ball of the next over, Crawley forward to defend, edge of the bat kissed, Carey snaffling the catch behind the stumps. England were reeling at 27/2, the game a very different one now.
Australia sensed blood and after two days of contentment with passivity, they were on the attack and trying to well and truly crack the game open. Joe Root faced every ball but was suddenly a world away from the ease with which he had carved out his first innings hundred.
He survived a review for caught behind and then after one more ball came the rain again. With it blessed relief for the England dressing room and their fans.
It leaves a match fascinatingly poised for the third successive day. The change in the air not just from the rainclouds but also from a new found return of Australian menace.
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