Follow UsWhat an Ashes series, huh!?
Two Tests into the series and we have had throwbacks to two classics from the bygone decades - Edgbaston 2005 & Headingley 2019.
Could you have asked for more? Well, your imagination is the only limit since there are three more Tests to go. And the dust has not settled down yet from the Lord’s Test. There is so much to talk about from the game, it is impossible to sum things up in a space of three days between Lord’s and the upcoming Headingley Test.
While the Jonny Bairstow r̶u̶n̶ o̶u̶t̶ stumping woke up the generally calm and composed Lord’s crowd, Ben Stokes’ heroic 155 has fuelled England with the belief of punching back from the dead. Both skippers, Stokes and Pat Cummins believe the boisterous atmosphere of the final day at Lord’s will carry over to Headingley.
Well, of course. It brought out the fiery side of Lord’s and Headingley is always up for a party.
It will also be the biggest Test of England’s Bazball regimen. For all the talks of its success, England are now 0-2 down in a home Ashes series when they are trying to regain the urn. A drawn series won’t do. They have no option but to win the remaining three Tests. The only side that has come back from a 0-2 deficit to win the series is Sir Don Bradman’s 1936/37 team. The Three Lions need to recreate history.
Things to watch out for
Will England stop throwing it away?
England have had the better of conditions throughout the first two Tests. At Lord’s, their sloppy effort in the field let Australia off the hook on probably the most bowling-friendly day of the Test. With the bat, they slipped from 188/1 in the first innings to 222/4, providing Australia a window.
At Edgbaston, they declared at 393/8. In contrast, Nathan Lyon walked out to bat hopping on one leg at Lord’s to add another 15 runs to Australia’s lead. In hindsight, both decisions had a lasting impact on the game. In many ways, England’s ultra-aggressive approach has been humbled by Australia’s composed and thoughtful efforts. You can see it in the number of overs both sides have batted in every innings.
It is clear that England need to find a balance between being aggressive and clinical.
The changes
Both teams are lined up for significant changes in their personnel, both forced and tactical. Australia will miss Nathan Lyon but possess a like-for-like replacement in Todd Murphy. In the England camp, Ollie Pope has dislocated his shoulder. Moeen Ali will fill in for Pope in a bigger repercussion, Harry Brook is pushed to number three, as confirmed by the XI England have announced on the eve of the Test.
Brook has been impactful in his career of nine Tests thus far (average 67.85, strike-rate 96.34) but has never batted above five. At three, he is most likely to be facing starting against a newer ball. On the three occasions he has walked out to bat in the first 15 overs of the innings in English conditions, he has scores of 4, 12 and 46.
In tactical changes, Josh Hazlewood has undergone a series of injuries and after playing two consecutive Tests for the first time since January 2021, Australia might want to give him a rest. It becomes more important with only a three-day gap between the second and the third Test. Scott Boland is likely to come in.
For England, Chris Woakes comes in for James Anderson who has looked flat in the series. Woakes will be playing his first Test since March 2022. He is a like-for-like replacement for Anderson with the ball but with the stick in hand, he deepens England’s batting resources. Moeen fills in the spinner’s slot and Mark Wood coming in for Josh Tongue will add experience to England’s speedster’s role.
While Australia will largely carry the same outlook despite two changes, England will have four-seam bowling options alongside the spin option of Moeen and an additional pacer in Stokes. All that with batters with a first-class hundred till number 10. Heck, even Mark Wood has five fifties in first-class cricket. England seem more balanced with their proactive changes.
Ground details, pitch and conditions
Traditionally, Headingley has not been a batting-friendly track. The last time a team batting first managed to post above 400 while batting first here was in 2012. Since then, six times the team batting first has folded for less than 300 in eight Test matches.
It is also one of those few venues where batting gets easier as the game progresses. Since 2013, which is a long time span but sticks to the trend, the batting average has improved drastically as the game has progressed. Consequently, five of the nine Tests in this period have been won by the side batting second. We can expect the side winning the toss to opt to bowl first for the second consecutive time this series.
Tactical Nous
> Usman Khawaja has both most runs (300) and most balls faced (775) faced in the series. 222 of these runs have come against pace. With the ball swinging lesser, the southpaw has been able to execute his elegant drives. Thus, England should focus on bowling in the good length area to him.
Besides a strike-rate of only 23.5 in that area, it is also the only length that has dismissed Khawaja more than once in this series.
> Nathan Lyon had been the binding force for Australia’s bowling attack in the first two Tests. He did concede at an economy of 4 but he is also Australia’s highest wicket-taker in the series (9 wickets). The visitors will field Murphy as his replacement. While the England batters can be more watchful against the pacers, they might want to attack Murphy and create pressure on Australia’s only specialist spin bowler.
Probable XIs
England (announced): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes ( c ), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins ( c ), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Todd Murphy