Key events
And we’re back. Steve Smith is on strike and up against his chief nemesis: Josh Tongue.
Mark Sputore writes:
Whilst the composition of Australia’s next Test series against Bangladesh will become clearer over the course of the final 4 rounds of the Sheffield Shield (and perhaps performances in the T20 World Cup), surely we can count on at least one change come August. RTS out, Ultredge in.
Dave Evans writes: “You can be angry at the not out decision, but you can’t aggressively march to the umpire and get in his face. I do hope the English media are also in agreement with this sentiment. Spirit of cricket all that…”
Very true: Ben Stokes rightfully moved Brydon Carse away from Ahsan Raza before having a more grown-up conversation with the umpire. Back to that DRS call we go (see 7th over): once again in this series, Snicko caused a stir, that brief murmur showing just after the ball passed the toe of the bat … yet Weatherald survived.
So Jake Weatherald finishes his first series in Test cricket as an Ashes winner … but with just 201 runs at 22.33 and one half-century. Fascinating to see whether Australia stick or twist – it feels like they’re going through something similar to what England experienced after the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012, when they churned through so many different options. David Warner really was so brilliant for so long.
Lunch
Australia need 89 runs to seal a 4-1 series victory. Usman Khawaja to hit the winning runs? I see it.
WICKET! Weatherald c Potts b Tongue 34 (Australia 71-2)
Weatherald swings and misses with an attempted cut … before getting bounced out! He just holds the bat out and the ball flies to fine leg, with Matt Potts running in for a good grab. The openers are gone but Australia should see this thing through pretty comfortably after lunch.
14th over: Australia 71-1 (Labuschagne 7, Weatherald 34) Will Jacks is finally on and … nearly has a caught and bowled. It was a very tough, low chance, provided by a Weatherald leading edge.
13th over: Australia 70-1 (Labuschagne 7, Weatherald 33) Labuschagne leans into a cover drive to close Tongue’s over. Australia are just 90 runs away from making it 4-1.
12th over: Australia 66-1 (Labuschagne 3, Weatherald 33) Bethell continues to twirl away.
Andy Roberts (not the West Indies great, I think) writes in:
Andy in FNQ enjoying Australia’s run chase so far. But looking at the scoring rate, You can’t help but contrast it with the Australian bowling. Going at nearly a run a ball defending a small total is just not good enough. The only bowler in the English side with the accuracy and discipline to bowl in test cricket seems to be Stokes, and we’ve seen what that workload does to him. What is it about the English setup that they seem unable to bowl accurately?
The lack of control is a serious issue, and has been brewing for a while. Jofra Archer was the only member of the England attack to enter the series with a Test economy rate under three.
11th over: Australia 64-1 (Labuschagne 2, Weatherald 32) Labuschagne whips his first ball away for two. Head finishes the series with 625 runs at 69.44, a strike rate of 87.04. Wow.
WICKET! Head c Carse b Tongue 29 (Australia 62-1)
Head flashes outside off against the returning Tongue … and the ball flies over gully for four. But he overdoes it with the next delivery, advancing down the pitch to launch a pull … the ball flies high and Carse runs around at midwicket to collect. Head’s masterful series – three centuries, plenty of havoc – is over.
10th over: Australia 57-0 (Head 25, Weatherald 31) Weatherald is liking the reverse sweep, another boundary taking him to 30 off 26 balls.
James Brough writes in, searching for a flurry of consolation wickets.
This may be defeatist, but I’ll be happy if we can just pick up a few wickets – if we lose by 5 wickets or so, at least it won’t be a humiliation.
Can’t help thinking though – if we’d played Bethell at 3 and had Tongue open the bowling from the first test, where would we be now? In a way that’s worse than the last few Ashes trips, because there’s the thought that maybe we could have done better, whereas the previous three series, we were never at the races.
Oh, well. 40 years watching this ridiculous sport, and in all that time, we’ve won twice in Australia. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.
9th over: Australia 49-0 (Head 22, Weatherald 26) Head has been scratchy so far but he’s always one clean strike away from turning his knock into an exhibition. Carse continues … and there is that clean hit, with a drive through the covers for four. Graeme Swann, on TNT, is busy laying into the third umpire’s decision from the 7th over.
8th over: Australia 40-0 (Head 17, Weatherald 22) Time for some spin, with Jacob Bethell – who can do no wrong – introduced. Weatherald greets him with a reverse sweep for four. There’s some serious turn for Bethell to Head, who cuts to the off-side sweeper for one.
7th over: Australia 34-0 (Head 16, Weatherald 17) Carse gives a little bit of width to Weatherald and that’s a lovely cut behind point for four. England appeal for a catch behind with the next delivery as Weatherald tries to repeat his trick … the umpire isn’t having it. Didn’t hear anything from up here (my sofa) either. England review … there’s a little murmur on Snicko but it’s not overturned. Carse is absolutely fuming and Stokes has to move him away from Ahsan Raza before the captain launches his own protest. The bowler remains livid after sending his next delivery down and words are being had with Weatherald. Snicko and DRS are back in focus. Ugh.
6th over: Australia 28-0 (Head 15, Weatherald 12) Tongue angles the ball into Weatherald, rattling the thigh pad, the ball lobbing up towards backward point. An inside-edge on to the pads follows: this is an excellent line from Tongue to the opener under pressure, Weatherald’s low-crouch technique under serious scrutiny.
5th over: Australia 27-0 (Head 14, Weatherald 12) Carse wobbles the seam down to get the ball to move away from Head: that’s a lovely delivery. But the singles keep on coming for this pair.
4th over: Australia 24-0 (Head 12, Weatherald 11) Head swings and misses when Tongue goes wide outside off … and repeats his error moments later. A dab through point brings him one.
3rd over: Australia 20-0 (Head 10, Weatherald 10) Carse doesn’t want to offer Head any width … but he drifts down the leg-side and is clipped for a single. The Durham quick is a Test-quality bowler … but he’s not a new-ball guy. He keeps it relatively tight with this over though, conceding two singles.
2nd over: Australia 18-0 (Head 9, Weatherald 9) Josh Tongue, not Matt Potts, gets the new ball. He’s quickly appealing for a leg-before against Weatherald, but the opener cuts and clips for a couple of couples. A short ball from Tongue is a gift: Weatherald cuts hard for four. It’s been another loose start with the new ball by England, a familiar tale in this series.
1st over: Australia 10-0 (Head 9, Weatherald 1) Brydon Carse has the new ball and he begins with an inswinging full toss to Head, prompting a leg-before shout. There’s a run-out appeal with the same delivery but the result is the same: Head remains. He clips away for a single and so does Jake Weatherald, who could really do with some runs. Carse, from over the wicket, bowls on leg stump to Head and, somehow, the ball is squeezed to third for a boundary. England decide to review for an lbw, and that is a deeply desperate shout, the ball clearly off the bat. Head then pumps it through mid-on for another boundary.
Ben Stokes is on the field despite sustaining a groin injury yesterday. Surely, surely, he won’t bowl.
Right then, do England have a chance? Get Travis Head and someone else early and we’ll talk then.
England are all out for 342 – Australia need 160 to win
And there it is: Tongue chips Starc to mid-off and the fast bowler has his 31st wicket of the series. He’s really stood up in the absence of Cummins and Hazlewood.
88th over: England 342-9 (Tongue 6, Potts 18) Potts decides to keep Tongue away from the strike but can’t nick a single off the final ball of Boland’s over.
George Grundy is another believer out there. I love the optimism … but it ain’t happening.
A biblical tropical storm is lashing Tamarin Bay at Nusa Lembongan in Indonesia and at 7am my fellow travellers are all still asleep, but I have OBO for company and the warm but illusory idea that we might get 200 ahead and nick one in Sydney. Perhaps my brain has gone as troppo as the weather.
87th over: England 342-9 (Tongue 6, Potts 18) Starc continues to get that ball to fly high to Carey, but Tongue’s got ticker; he drives a fuller ball straight down the ground for four! Not sure the No 11 can believe he’s just done that.
86th over: England 338-9 (Tongue 2, Potts 18) Has Boland got Potts’ outside edge? There was definitely a noise. Australia review but there’s nothing on Snicko and England go on. Potts clips nicely for four and the lead goes beyond 150. And how about this: a smashing back-foot punch for four more closes the over.
85th over: England 329-9 (Tongue 1, Potts 10) Bethell finishes the tour with more runs than Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes. Meanwhile Starc searches for Josh Tongue’s stumps; the great left-armer has 30 wickets in the series.
WICKET! Bethell c Carey b Starc 154 (England 328-9)
The end. Starc gets the ball to leap and Bethell’s cut, close to the body, produces an edge, Carey doing the rest. The SCG rises for the end of a very memorable innings.
84th over: England 328-8 (Bethell 154, Potts 10) Bethell cuts Boland … but the field is back and the left-hander doesn’t bother with a single. He drives beautifully through mid-off, too – but again, no run. Boland then goes across Bethell, inviting a loose drive, but there’s no contact off the bat. A single off the penultimate delivery leaves Potts with one to face, and Boland, for once, is off it: he sends it down the leg-side.
83rd over: England 327-8 (Bethell 153, Potts 10) Starc goes short and Bethell elbows a delivery down the leg-side for four. Ouch. The left-arm quick gets his outswinger hooping and Bethell digs out a vicious yorker for one to keep the strike for the next over.
Colum Fordham still believes:
Watching Bethell bat – but also field and bowl – is a breath of fresh air. I am so impressed by his humility as well as his obvious brilliance. He has thoroughly deserved to get his 150, and against Mitchell Starc, no less, with the new ball. Matthew Potts can clearly bat so there is just a fleeting ray of hope for England.
82nd over: England 322-8 (Bethell 152, Potts 10) Boland nips one back into Bethell from around the wicket and that looks plumb: up goes the finger! Bethell reviews … but, oh my, the ball’s going over the stumps: he lives on! Boland responds with a ridiculous delivery that nips away from England’s centurion – that was basically a rapid off-break.
81st over: England 321-8 (Bethell 151, Potts 10) Starc responds with a couple of corkers to beat the outside edge, plenty of carry on the way to Alex Carey behind the stumps. Two slips wait for the fatal prod. An edge does arrive … but Bethell plays with soft hands to keep the ball low and take a single. Potts has one delivery to survive … and he drives through point for two! Some good running in that over from the two England batters.
150 for Jacob Bethell!
Starc thunders in … and Bethell whips off his pads for a couple. The SCG applauds him once again.
80th over: England 316-8 (Bethell 148, Potts 8) Bethell, once again, runs through for a single off Webster’s opening delivery. The left-hander is then undone by the off-spinner’s lack of pace, chipping the ball into the cover region, but there’s no one around for the grab. Time for that second new ball and a bit of Mitchell Starc heat.
79th over: England 313-8 (Bethell 146, Potts 7) Bethell has his first look at Boland this morning and he cuts nicely for a single, leaving Potts with two balls to face. Out comes a Boland nip-backer, very nearly rattling off-stump.
78th over: England 312-8 (Bethell 145, Potts 7) Bethell finally has the strike … and he immediately takes a single off Webster. I wonder if he’s going to play some shots before that second new ball? The singles continue as Webster tosses the ball up, inviting a potential hoo-ha. Bethell gets the reverse-sweep out, but with the field back he gets just one.
77th over: England 307-8 (Bethell 142, Potts 5) Scott Boland is up from the other end … and he immediately finds Potts’ front pad. It looks like it’s going down the leg-side, but Australia go upstairs with a review. It’s comfortably missing the stumps. Potts gets the bat down to see off a maiden.
76th over: England 307-8 (Bethell 142, Potts 5) Webster begins with his offies … and greets Potts with a long hop: it’s cut away nicely for four. The all-rounder eventually finds turn and bounce before closing with another drag-down. Potts cuts … and takes the single.
Usman Khawaja leads Australia on to the field. After 15 years at the top, he finishes up as a Test cricketer today. A wonderful, trailblazing career and, full transparency, one of my childhood heroes.
Is there a way to wipe the second half of this piece from the interweb?
“Good morning/evening/night Taha,” writes Tony McKnight.
“Mid afternoon and a low winter sun here in Idaho. Is innate English conservatism Bazball’s tragic flaw? If it’s broke, don’t fix it. So no Bethell til it’s too late, no Josh Tongue til it’s too late, don’t change the batting order, Stokes doesn’t open the bowling for 4 overs, but he’ll wreck his body with 8, 9, 10 over spells when the innings has already gotten away? Meanwhile look at shiny new #3. In that regard, surely a 4-1 defeat is better than a miracle come-back today and more paper over the cracks?”
The Tongue situation is particularly odd. Was a real surprise that he didn’t play until the third Test, having ended the summer with so much energy behind him: he was England’s leading wicket-taker against India despite missing two Tests and bowled Notts to the County Championship title, too.
The real stars of this Test? Jacob Bethell’s parents. Loved seeing their reaction in the crowd to their son’s hundred.
Beau Webster continues to impress, those numbers particularly appealing at present: he’s averaging 41 with the bat and 23 with the ball in Test cricket. England are lucky they’ve only had to face him in one game. Here’s Geoff Lemon on Australia’s all-rounder debate.
Yeah, but can he do it in the County Championship? Anyway, here’s Barney Ronay on that Bethell knock.
Et in dystopia ego. In the midst of death, we are in life. On a throbbingly hot deep blue afternoon in Sydney, as this ghost ship of an England Ashes tour creaked towards its final dock, the fourth day of the fifth Test produced an unexpected late plot twist. Something good happened.
Preamble
Taha Hashim
Yes, I’ve checked the weather forecast. No, it’s not gonna rain. Jacob Bethell’s arrival was a lovely moment on day four, particularly with his parents watching from the stands. But this is heading towards another England defeat, 4-1 the likely final scoreline of another uncompetitive Ashes tour in Australia. At least we’re going to get a fifth day for just the second time this series. Can Bethell and Matt Potts – who has as many first-class hundreds as his colleague (ha) – stretch England’s lead to 200 and get a proper game going? Even then, you just know Travis Head will light up against an attack without any serious new-ball threat and, crucially, Ben Stokes.
Whatever happens, it’s the last day of school; let’s have some fun. Why not send me your predicted XIs for the first Test of the 2029-30 Ashes? Or tell me your favourite moments of this series (even if you’re an England fan, it hasn’t been all bad).
