Follow UsAfter a week of non-stop rambling — from the current English and ex-Aussie players — it’s finally time for cricket to take center stage again. We’re less than 24 hours away from the second Ashes Test at Lord’s and the vibes are impeccable.
It’s weird because, in the years gone by, the vibes have seldom — if ever — been impeccable when England have found themselves 1-0 down in a home Ashes series. But the mood currently is such that it’ll be near-impossible for a non-cricket fan to guess it’s England who are actually trailing, after reading whatever’s been written and said in the aftermath of the Edgbaston Test. The true power of Bazball (which many, mind you, have labeled a ‘cult’).
There were not many verbal volleys in lead-up to the first Test, but things have since gotten a lot spicier. It’s mainly been Ollie Robinson vs ex-Aussie players and the Australian media but the likes of Crawley, Broad and Anderson have also unabashedly gassed up their own side. Crawley has gone as far to say that England will ‘win the Lord’s Test by 150 runs’.
The Australian team of yesteryear would have got sucked into the verbal fight, but this group is different. The visitors have opted to remain quiet, hardly uttering a word, and are banking on their cricket to do all the talking.
All said and done, the onus is on England to respond; to walk the talk. It’s they who are under pressure, it’s they who are trailing, and it’s they who will get crucified should they fail to back up all the chatter with a performance of serious substance.
Things to watch out for
Marnus Labuschagne vs the ball outside off-stump
Marnus Labuschagne entered the World Test Championship (WTC) final as the world’s number one ranked Test batter, but 80 runs, an average of 20 and 0 fifties later, he finds himself third in the list just two games into the long English summer. More than all these numbers though, what will be bothering Labuschagne and concerning Australia is his manner of dismissals, the last three all being unnecessary fishes outside off-stump.
The right-hander was dismissed by a peach from Umesh in the second innings of the WTC final, but across both his knocks at Edgbaston, fended at balls he had no business playing. Ahead of the first Test, Broad openly claimed that he would try to dismiss Labuschagne by bowling the newly-mastered outswinger of his, and twice at Edgbaston the Queenslander got sucked into playing extremely wide deliveries.
At Lord’s, then, all eyes will be on Labuschagne and how he handles the ball moving away.
Luckily for Australia, he seems to be self-aware.
"I've come up with my own summation of what that is. Now it's if there's anything I can do tactically or technically to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's a rarity that I'd play at those balls so it's not something I'm going to overthink, but I hold myself to a much higher standard than those dismissals,” the 29-year-old said after the first Test.
After all, the last thing Labuschagne would want is to be at the mercy of Broad in an Ashes series in England.
Jonny Bairstow’s glovework under the scanner
Though Jonny Bairstow stormed back into the Test side in style with the bat, smashing a run-a-ball 78 in the first innings, he had an overall negative impact in the first Test. That was exclusively down to his glovework, which arguably cost England the Edgbaston clash.
Bairstow started off solidly behind the wickets, even grabbing a stunning one-hander to dismiss Labuschagne, but things quickly went haywire once spin was introduced. At a crucial juncture in the first innings, with Australia 148/4, the 33-year-old fumbled the chance to stump Cameron Green for a duck (off Moeen Ali) and then later put Alex Carey down on 26, this time off Joe Root.
Those two drops alone cost the team 78 runs as while Green added 38 more, Carey finished on 66.
There were no drops in the second innings, but on just the fifth ball of the chase, a non-dive gave Khawaja a huge reprieve. From there, Khawaja not only went on to add 60 more runs, but also faced 195 more balls to set-up the chase for Cummins and Lyon.
The green nature of the Lord’s wicket means that Bairstow’s glovework won’t be tested as much versus spin — England are also going with no specialist spinners — but his keeping will undoubtedly be in the spotlight.
Australia’s approach vs Joe Root the bowler
At Edgbaston, Root bowled 22 overs in total and conceded just 58 runs. In fact, before the fateful 15th over of the second innings, Root had an economy of 2.09 in the match. He was exceptional with his lines and lengths, but, equally, there was a severe lack of intent from the Aussie batters against him. Till Cummins went 6, 2, 6 and hit him out of the attack, the Aussie batters just ‘let Root bowl’.
It’ll be hence interesting to see how the visitors go about business vs Root at Lord’s. England, mind you, have opted to go with an all-pace attack, so the need of the hour from an Australian perspective might be to hit Root out of the attack as early as possible, and force Stokes to over-use his seamers.
Ground details, pitch and conditions
England thumped Ireland in a run-fest at Lord’s at the start of the month, but early evidence suggests that the second Test will be bowler-dominated due to its green nature. England opting not to pick a specialist spinner suggests that they expect plenty of assistance for the seamers throughout the Test.
The Ireland encounter aside, Lord’s, of late, has not been a happy hunting ground for England. They’ve only won one of their last five encounters at the venue (minus the Ireland game), losing to both South Africa and India in the past 24 months.
The good news from a fan perspective is that the weather looks good except for Day 2. We should, all things considered, definitely get a result.
Tactical Nous
From an Australian perspective, they know exactly what’s coming their way. While Smith and Labuschagne will be swayed into driving the ball as much as possible, Travis Head will be targeted with short balls by Josh Tongue, who’s been picked as an enforcer. That said Aussie batters will have to come up with plans to negate the aforementioned threats, something they failed to do at Edgbaston.
England, meanwhile, do not really know what’s coming their way. Australia have kept their cards close to their chest, so which two of Starc, Boland and Hazlewood play is anybody’s guess. But regardless of who plays, the England batters will have their work cut out on what looks to be a very bowler-friendly surface at Lord’s. Mind you, when the ball nipped around for 20 minutes on Day 3 at Edgbaston, England were 1-2 off 22 balls.
Team combination
England have already named their starting XI. They’ve made one change, Josh Tongue taking the place of Moeen Ali.
England XI: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes ( c ), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson.
Australia, meanwhile, are yet to reveal their XI. There’s mystery surrounding the composition of their pace attack.
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins ( c ), Mitchell Starc/Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.