Originally Posted by
Mibbes Aye
Such drama at Edgbaston!
Maybe exacerbated by some very iffy umpiring. Almost always, DRS or ‘what if’ DRS shows the umpires getting it right, but today was a shocker! I saw at least two Broad wickets that would have been overturned on review, had Australia reviewed them.
There were also some poor reviews. England used up one at the start and one at the end where the ball was clearly missing the stumps. It happens, but not often. I wonder if the excitement and tension was getting to both sides and the umpires.
England made a great start and probably had an even better second session. 83-3 for lunch, and eight down for 150 odds at tea IIRC, Smith and Head being the only ones to steady the ship.
What a resurgence from Australia though. Smith’s innings will go into Ashes folklore, worthy in its own right as a one-man tour de force but reinforced by the circumstances of it being his Test return in the most hostile environment England can conjure up.
That is not to dismiss the input of Head, Siddle and Lyon though. Siddle in particular was critical to Australia saving something. He is a wily old bowler but has obviously learnt to bat a bit in English conditions from his time in the County Championship - I think he averaged in the thirties with Essex. Nathan Lyon was perfect, playing a straight bat to allow Smith to push the score on but also hitting a few sweet boundaries himself.
But for Australia, it was all about the skipper. In his last five innings against England, his batting average is a ridiculous, superlative, extraordinary, crazy 161!!
In his last five on English soil his average is 61.2, which sounds like a steep decline until you remember that averaging in the sixties is bordering on superhuman to begin with!
As for England, Broad will be overshadowed by Smith but took a great 5-86 including key wickets at the start. He also achieved 100 Test wickets against Australia, with Steve Smith for his century, which is a remarkable achievement. I’m not actually sure who has all achieved that, probably more likely to be modern-day bowlers given the increased number of Tests compared to decades ago. I will try and find out but Muralitharan, maybe Kumble, maybe even Jimmy Anderson in fact, seem plausible candidates if there are any.
If Broad was overshadowed by Smith he is also overshadowed by Jimmy Anderson and his calf strain. Anderson’s figures after his last over today were 4-3-1-0. You can’t replace that, and while Stone, Wood and Archer all have very good qualities, if Anderson is out for the series then it represents a massive advantage for Australia. As far as this game goes they need to capitalise on it, a win at Edgbaston is psychologically huge, especially given Lord’s is usually a happy hunting ground.
Fantastic and enthralling day today at Edgbaston and through nothing other than sheer self-interest I was praying for rain until Smith decided to go on his Nietzschean odyssey and show that in team sports, the collective is crucial but every so often one person can rise above everything and everyone else and shape what is around them.
Though Peter Siddle was magnificent too, I’m looking forward to seeing him bowl :greengrin
