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Key occasions
73rd over: Australia 238-5 (Khawaja 107, Carey 6) Robinson once more. Forty 12 months previous Jimmy Anderson chases an edge from Carey all the way down to the third man boundary, throws himself on his washboard stomach and flaps the ball away from the rope.
72nd over: Australia 230-5 (Khawaja 102, Carey 3) A Mo maiden.
71st over: Australia 230-5 (Khawaja 102, Carey 3) Robinson returns.A brilliant cease at cowl by Ollie Pope leaves him ringing his hand, Stokes applauding and Carey with out the boundary he felt he deserved.
seventieth over: Australia 230-5 (Khawaja 102, Carey 3) Khawaja suffers a post-hundred mind fade and performs and misses at Moeen Ali.
“We’re staying in Durham tonight,” writes Sandy Fyfe.
”Our room is named the bashing bishop in a spot with a monk theme.
Which jogged my memory of the combative Aussie wicket keeper.
After studying Geoff Wignells piece (66th over) I’m guessing bashing wicket keepers will be the order of the day!”
100 for Khawaja!
69th over: Australia 221-5 (Khawaja 102, Carey 2) Stokes once more, nonetheless leaking no balls. Khawaja picks up two for 98, and there’s the hundred – a late lower that he celebrates with a yell of enjoyment, earlier than he’s begins working, earlier than the ball hits the fence. He leaps within the air, throws his bat over his shoulder and acknowledges the standing applause of the group. His fifteenth Take a look at hundred, and his first in England. Fantastically carried out.
68th over: Australia 221-5 (Khawaja 96, Carey 1) Such a magnificence, drift pulls Inexperienced off stability, he misses and might solely topple because the ball spins again and hits center. Inexperienced is gutted. Stokes tempts Khawaja by mentioning the sphere, however Khawaja blocks away.
WICKET! Inexperienced b Moeen 38 (Australia 220-5)
Moeen fizzes it by way of the gate as Inexperienced, pecker up, goes for a grand gesture drive.
67th over: Australia 220-4 (Khawaja 96, Inexperienced 38) One other peachy 4 from Khawaja, twist and pull off Stokes.
66th over: Australia 215-4 (Khawaja 92, Inexperienced 37) Moeen rattles by way of a maiden, the final ball properly stopped by a diving Pope at cowl.
Geoff Wignall has been impressed to write down a small essay in his tea break. “I’ve been struck by how of the 12 wickets to fall up to now, other than Pope receiving a shooter and Brooks being plain unfortunate all the remaining have had a major contribution from the batter. (And regardless of – or due to – trying to be in elegant contact and nailed on for one thing main, Bairstow’s was arguably the worst of the lot.)
“Maybe that’s the fashionable means.
“In the meantime, the highest rating on both sides thus far has come from a batter enjoying (principally) with an orthodox strategy; with which Root nonetheless managed a fee of 77.6
“My level is that England might need benefited from one other with the orthodox strategy, all the higher if it was somebody who wouldn’t butcher the simple stumping of a harmful opponent.
“Somebody like … ooh, let’s have a assume. How’s that chap at Surrey doing?
“I’ve by no means understood the notion that Bairstow can’t be an choice as an opener. He’s acquainted sufficient with dealing with the brand new (albeit white) ball and absolutely at the very least as doubtless as Crawley to return off. Or rather more so.
“I do know Crawley performed some pretty pictures yesterday however he nonetheless managed to get out twice on the primary morning of an Ashes collection, whereas batting on a street. I concern his 61 can have cemented his place for the foreseeable although.”
I’m staying purely impartial on this subject, simply to watch that Foakes made a divine century in Surrey’s run chase in opposition to Kent earlier this week, together with anti-bazball Dom Sibley and subsequent cab off the rank Jamie Smith.
sixty fifth over: Australia 215-4 (Khawaja 92, Inexperienced 37) A full toss from Stokes is ushered in direction of to the rope by Khawaja, and effectively stopped by Moeen on the slide. A leg aspect pie is pulled for 4 by Inexperienced.
“Tanya,” hi there Kim Thonger! “It’s laborious to let The Ashes go by with out remembering the best Aussie of all of them, Barry Humphries, who sadly shuffled off the stage earlier this 12 months. His greatest identified character Dame Edna apparently as soon as mentioned “ You mustn’t choose Australia by the Australians”. However was she referring particularly to Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson?”
Very droll.
64rd over: Australia 207-4 (Khawaja 88, Inexperienced 33) Cameron Inexperienced takes benefit of his big toes and his big legs and his big arms and his big wrists – assaults a full ball from Moeen and sends the ball flying again over the bowler’s head for six. A pair extra by way of cowl as Moeen drops the size again. And Nasser notices that mid-on does drops again to long-on.
63rd over: Australia 198-4 (Khawaja 88, Inexperienced 25) It’s Stokes, hair freshly lower within the modern means, as if a cabbage leaf has been plonked on the highest of the top, with every thing shaved round it. A few no-balls and Inexperienced glances one all the way down to the rope.
An e-mail from Robert Wilson arrives entitled The tip of the world. “I’m cravenly crouching beneath an operatic Parisian thunderstorm proper now. Monsoon rain, deafening artillery thunder and nearly definitely unlawful acrobatic lightning. It’s a full-on Gotterdammerung. My French cats are merely watching me with the indolent contempt they reserve for all Northern Europeans but it surely does show one thing I’ve all the time intuited. A very desultory passage of Take a look at cricket is nearly good viewing for the tip of the world. It’s beans and toast. It’s bacon and eggs. It simply works.
See additionally for a heartbreaking break up.
Night session
62nd over: Australia 192-4 (Khawaja 88, Inexperienced 21) Right here we go once more! Nineteen overs to the brand new ball, one session left of the day. Stokes marches forward, in entrance of his staff. Moeen’s first ball lands juicily outdoors leg stump and Khawaja sends it merrily alongside to the rope. Australia path by 201.
David Lloyd is exhorting the Hollies stand to donate to the Bob Willis Fund. In the event you too wish to donate, textual content TWENTY, THIRTY or FORTY (relying on what number of kilos you need to give) to 70843.
Nasser and Wardy are of their pretty pale Blue for Bob blazers. “Moeen didn’t bowl badly,” says Nasser. “They performed him very effectively. However Stokes refused to place the mid-off and mid-on again. “ Are [the bowlers] a bit fearful of him?” asks Wardy. “I requested him this in my documentary on management, I don’t assume any of them are going to query Ben Stokes. He says your’re doing this, I’m in cost, it’s labored earlier than and it’ll work once more.”
Is that this the brand new machismo check? Would YOU query Ben Stokes?
61st over: Australia 188-4 (Khawaja 84, Inexperienced 21) That’s tea and Australia nonetheless path by 205 runs. Inexperienced tucks into a few boundaries from some Root dollies . 110 runs within the session, one wicket for England. Khawaja strides off first – the happiest man on the sphere? Time for a fast cup of tea, again shortly.
60h over: Australia 180-4 (Khawaja 84, Inexperienced 13) The bandana-ed one stretches out his legs and sprints in, icing the over with a final ball bouncer that passes Khawaja safely by on the opposite aspect.
59th over: Australia 178-4 (Khawaja 82, Inexperienced 13) Root will get a go on the pavilion finish, with simply a few overs left until sandwiches. Inexperienced daps elegantly. A slip and s brief leg watch a maiden pan out.
57th over: Australia 178-4 (Khawaja 82, Inexperienced 13) Stokes directs the fielders this fashion and that. Broad and Anderson chat; Root and Stokes chat, Stokes and Broad chat. Ollie Pope runs on with a helmet will get the booby prize of brief leg. Khawaja swivel-pulls gloriously previous him for 4.
57th over: Australia 172-4 (Khawaja 78, Inexperienced 12) One other Anderson maiden, although Khawaja doesn’t appear affected by the driyng up of the run mattress. In of the nook of the display screen, Stuart Broad is warming up.
56th over: Australia 172-4 (Khawaja 78, Inexperienced 12) Australia content material to only see this out until tea.
fifty fifth over: Australia 171-4 (Khawaja 77, Inexperienced 12) A maiden from Anderson.
“Is it do you assume, doubtless,” asks John Starbuck, “that Moeen Ali is being arrange as reverse quantity to Nathan Lyon, by way of overs bowled per innings? If he takes 4 wickets it’ll be a profitable ploy, if not, a waste?”
I can’t fake to have a window into Stokes soul however hey, I’ll have a guess anyway. I don’t assume so. Moeen removed Head, practically removed Inexperienced – simply what the captain ordered.
54th over: Australia 171-4 (Khawaja 77, Inexperienced 12) Moeen takes a break after 18 overs – fairly the workload for somebody who often carries a white ball round with him. One treasured wicket – might have been two. Joe Root takes over the off-spinning duties.
53rd over: Australia 170-4 (Khawaja 77, Inexperienced 11) The cameras pan to the Australian dressing room the place Pat Cummins is staring becomingly into the gap surrounded by cartons of… talcum powder? Jeff Thomson, positive mop of hair nonetheless, sits within the crowd with a really floral shirt. One off Anderson’s over.
52nd over: Australia 169-4 (Khawaja 77, Inexperienced 10) Moeen, lengthy sleeves, wheels away. Inexperienced plumps for a fast single however runs the gauntlet of Stokes’ arm – a dangeous tactic when the drive is with him. The Hollies stand are in full voice- suspect its a extra tuneful expertise by way of the medium of the tv.
51st over: Australia 167-4 (Khawaja 76, Inexperienced 9) The cameras can’t steer clear of Stokes face as he plots the following twist. Inexperienced dabs one into the on aspect and so they choose up a second after an enthusiastic return runs wild.
fiftieth over: Australia 165-4 (Khawaja 76, Inexperienced 7) A properly pulled 4 by Khawaja off Moeen, whose eyes mild up when he sees one drop brief; then Inexperienced ticks up one one straight down the bottom, picked up by a sprawled Stokes who grabs his thigh mid means by way of however appears okay.
forty ninth over: Australia 156-4 (Khawaja 71, Inexperienced 3) It’s Jimmy, pressed and sprayed with some form of aromatic lavender. Khawaja performs him respectfully, simply choosing up a pair off the final ball. And the environment drops one other notch.
An e-mail arrives from Kim Thonger:
“It has come to my consideration that the final line of the poem Pad Pad by the very great Stevie Smith is, presumably unintentionally, appropriately descriptive of Steve Smith’s dismissal in the present day.
“I all the time keep in mind your stunning flowers
And the gorgeous kimono you wore
If you sat on the sofa
With that tigerish crouch
And advised me you liked me no extra.
:What I can’t keep in mind is how I felt while you have been unkind
All I do know is, when you have been unkind now I mustn’t thoughts.
Ah me, the facility to really feel exaggerated, indignant and unhappy
The years have taken from me. Softly I am going now, pad pad.”
I’m wondering if she thought first of calling the poem No Bat Concerned?
forty eighth over: Australia 154-4 (Khawaja 69, Inexperienced 3) Moeen continues, however is allowed to settle once more into his rhythm. Inexperienced edges thick huge of slip the place a chasing Joe Root loses his hat however saves the boundary. And it seems to be as if Jimmy Anderson is coming again for a mid-afternoon tester.
forty seventh over: Australia 149-4 (Khawaja 67, Inexperienced 0) Thanks Geoff, phrases as attractive as all the time. Thanks too for ushering Travis Head again to the dressing room, the frantic-ness of his inning was not good for my fragile nerves. Robinson bowls a settler and everybody takes a breath.
Geoff Lemon
forty sixth over: Australia 148-4 (Khawaja 66, Inexperienced 0) Fifty and out for Head, bringing Cameron Inexperienced to the center for his first Ashes innings in England. He defends the primary ball from Moeen. Then he makes use of his toes and will have been stumped! An excellent ball from Moeen, sharp flip inward, beats the within edge and Bairstow fluffs it. Inexperienced wasn’t trying to play an enormous shot, simply to be decisive in defence as he discovered in Sri Lanka final 12 months, however he’s carried out by the velocity of the supply and the flip. Will get a life!
And with that, my time is completed for the day. Thanks on your messages, sorry to these I didn’t get to – please direct any additional ideas on the oeuvre of William Blake to Tanya Aldred.
WICKET! Head c Crawley b Moeen Ali 50, Australia 148-4
Your spinner is getting whacked, you permit him on, that’s Bazball. Or that’s amore. Moeen was all the time an opportunity with the tempo that Head prefers, and there it’s. Down the pitch, slaps it to the leg aspect, however flat. Crawley at midwicket can tumble throughout and declare it. One other huge second for England, because the partnership was beginning to sizzle. They lead by 245.
Half century! Travis Head 50 off 60 balls
forty fifth over: Australia 148-3 (Khawaja 66, Head 50) Robinson, brief, Head whacks it for 4! Once more splits the outfielders behind sq., alongside the bottom. Robinson shifts the road, and Head back-cuts twice in a row, to the identical spot, beating backward level and working sq. sufficient that the deep third fielder has to run round. The primary time he will get two, the second time three, and that raises his milestone. An train in distinction to Khawaja’s first 50 runs, by way of balls confronted.
forty fourth over: Australia 139-3 (Khawaja 66, Head 41) Now Khawaja drops the hammer on Moeen! First with a lofted cowl drive for 4, then one other straight hit for six. He’s gone for 66 off his 14 overs, practically a run a ball.
forty third over: Australia 129-3 (Khawaja 56, Head 41) Brief stuff, however the tempo of Robinson isn’t bothering Head, defending it comfortably. The brief leg is gone, the 2 boundary riders and the sq. leg stay for the hook, however Head performs it anyway, alongside the bottom, between deep sq. and positive leg for 4.
“Boa tarde Geoff,” writes Geoff Wignall from presumably both Portugal or Brazil. “Will Wroth is I consider on very a lot the proper monitor in his interpretation of Jerusalem, although presumably it was the mushrooming Methodist chapels reasonably than the established church that the darkish satanic mills referenced. We’ll by no means know. But it surely appears fairly sure he’d haven’t any extra set eyes on a manufacturing facility than Ben Stokes would have watched a Chris Tavare innings. ‘The Tyger’ however is, in an act of outstanding pre-cognition, a poem clearly impressed by Shane Warne.”
I don’t assume anybody ‘watched’ a Tavare innings. The verb may be ‘endured’.
forty second over: Australia 124-3 (Khawaja 55, Head 37) There goes Khawaja, to his highest rating in England with a single pushed by way of the covers. Head follows up by smashing six extra runs down the bottom. Umpire Raza gently fingers Moeen again his hat and jumper earlier than signalling the rating.
forty first over: Australia 117-3 (Khawaja 54, Head 31) Robinson carries on with the brief stuff, each batters taking over the pull for singles, Khawaja rather more stylishly. Then now we have one of many daftest DRS referrals ever seen, as Head is hit on the elbow, off the arm guard, and the ball lobs to gully. Not out says the umpire and Stokes evaluations. How did Robinson not see that from entrance on? It was as removed from the glove as any a part of the forearm could be.
Each groups are down a evaluate now.
fortieth over: Australia 114-3 (Khawaja 52, Head 30) Moeen retains bowling, Head retains whacking ‘em. Narrowly previous Mark Wooden, subbing at midwicket, squeezed off the within half of the blade for 2. Firmly over mid on for 4. Onerous into the pitch at his toes for none. He’s obtained 30, when did that occur?
thirty ninth over: Australia 108-3 (Khawaja 52, Head 24) Ollie Robinson replaces Broad. Lengthy angled run to the crease, and he’s additionally bowling again of a size on the ribs. Khawaja will get off strike. For Head, a brief leg in place, set deep ten paces again.
In actual fact, let’s undergo this subject. Positive leg. Leg slip. Brief leg. Deep sq. leg, simply in entrance to adjust to the Legal guidelines. Sq. leg nearly precisely consistent with the deep man, however two thirds again. Broad mid on.
Cowl. Backward level. Lengthy cease, simply to the off aspect.
Head tries to hook anyway and misses. Performs a ball down behind sq. and takes one. Khawaja’s subject has two slips and a midwicket, and he pulls straight to the latter place, no run.
thirty eighth over: Australia 106-3 (Khawaja 51, Head 23) The ton is up, and Travis Head is warming to his job. Seems to be rather more assured in opposition to the spin now, and smacks Moeen straight down the bottom, earlier than going again and carving a lower shot sq.. Two boundaries, the deficit is all the way down to 287 runs.
thirty seventh over: Australia 98-3 (Khawaja 51, Head 15) Khawaja glides a run. Broad continues the brief ploy to Head, who geese one, performs down one other. One other no-ball for an overstep, and Head deflects it for a run. That leaves Broad the prospect to get Khawaja on the gloves earlier than blocking a size ball.
“Philip Cornwall’s pedantry was half-hearted,” writes Richard Mansell. “Upon receiving that reply from the stadium a dedicated pedant would have written to the ECB.”
We’re certainly within the Sacred Palace of Pedantry, right here on the OBO. Talking of which, I ought to appropriate the document as per Robin Walters earlier that Jerusalem is the title of the music, which the poem ‘And did these toes’ is ready to.
Half century! Usman Khawaja 50 off 106 balls
thirty sixth over: Australia 95-3 (Khawaja 50, Head 14) A neatly positioned cowl drive from Moeen brings Khawaja his fiftieth run. Prior to now couple of years he has corrected his document in house Ashes matches, then in opposition to spin, then in Asia. Now he’s doing it England. A great distance but to make a extremely influential contribution, but it surely has been important for Australia that he held agency by way of that first session.
Head celebrates by clobbering 4 over mid on, then tucking two runs sq..
thirty fifth over: Australia 88-3 (Khawaja 49, Head 8) The headbanded Broad is available in, Cobra Kai-ing his strategy to the crease to flykick Usman Khawaja. The cricketing model of a flykick, which is a rising ball on the collarbone that Khawaja fends away for a run off the gloves, behind sq.. Shocked him. It’s an overstep as effectively, perhaps that’s the place the additional tempo got here from. The tactical no-ball could possibly be a factor, as per Jasprit Bumrah at The Oval final 12 months. Travis Head copes extra calmly with comparable stuff, leaping as much as drop the ball to floor.
thirty fourth over: Australia 86-3 (Khawaja 48, Head 8) Khawaja will get nearer to fifty with that shot! Skips down and lifts Moeen straight for six. Over lengthy on. Then a single to level. Head nonetheless seems to be dicey in opposition to the spin, coming ahead with laborious fingers to defend.
Philip Cornwall, the grasp of puppets behind the OBO, sends an e-mail titled: “Jerusalem criticism (not one you’re anticipating).” Which did have me anxious for a second. Visa revoked?
“It nonetheless grates, 14 years later, that once they put Blake’s phrases on the scoreboard for a triumphant rendition after England gained the 2009 Ashes, they put “Oh clouds unfold”, as if Blake was barely baffled at seeing clouds unfold, as an alternative of the vocative attraction “O clouds unfold”. I did write to the Oval to complain; remarkably, as an alternative of ignoring me as a tedious pedant, somebody emailed again blaming the ECB, who had equipped the textual content.”
That’s solely affordable. “Oh clouds unfold” is all very “Oh pricey me. Oh, they didn’t, did they?”
thirty third over: Australia 79-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 8) Stuart Broad is again, rested and stressed. Lengthy-legged lope to the crease. Dabbed away by Khawaja for one. Head is sort of caught down the leg aspect, chasing a wayward ball, then Broad is getting the ball to leap off a size outdoors off stump.
For these nonetheless enjoying at house, that’s Khawaja’s second-highest rating in England. He has exactly one half-century.
thirty second over: Australia 78-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 8) We’re again, fed and glad I hope. Moeen Ali begins with a maiden to Travis head, who tries his greatest to attain a few instances however can’t beat the sphere.
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