England pacers break the jinx amid Will’s non-cooperation

An aerial punch down the ground from Mitchell Starc was a refreshing sight as Australia fetched a boundary after 55 balls. It wasn’t the only thing that came like a breath of fresh air on the fourth morning in Adelaide, for England’s tactful bowling performance was a welcome change after the leather hunts they have been subjected to on this tour starting from the second innings in Perth. In roughly ten overs, England not only managed to capture the well-set overnight batters but also picked up the remaining four wickets to give themselves an outside chance of staying alive in the Ashes, true at least at that stage considering their firepower.

With Mark Wood returning home, 22-year-old Shoaib Bashir’s 19 Test caps made him the most experienced among England’s frontline bowlers on duty. The lack of tactical nous was apparent in Brisbane – only once had Australia reached 100 quicker in a home Ashes Test while Brydon Carse conceded 95 runs in his first 12 overs. Australia scored 81 runs off the backfoot at the Gabba – the most on record by any team in the initial 20 overs and a dead giveaway that England bowled short and wide. Mediocre spells with the ball at crucial junctures had plagued their campaign so far, and they couldn’t have afforded another one as Australia resumed on 271/4, aiming to usher their lead of 356 into insurmountable territory.

Ben Stokes had his thinking cap on and his pace attack executed the plans to perfection. Josh Tongue was the wrecker-in-chief, lucky to be the beneficiary of the rare miscue from Travis Head before he set up Josh Inglis with the calculatedness of a finance geek. His bat comes down at an angle from third man, leaving his pads in danger. The natural inward angle of Tongue, whose modus operandi resembles that of Courtney Walsh given the ability to straighten the ball, made him the ideal exploiter. He attacked the stumps and made Inglis play, a couple of sliced shots demonstrating the open face of his willow. The growing concern around being a lbw candidate rooted Inglis to the crease and the moment Tongue changed his line to outside the off-stump, his bat flailed away from the body to offer a tentative poke. He saw the back of Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green earlier in similar fashion.

England’s short bowling was underlined by purpose. The direction was spot on, cramping Head and Alex Carey for room, as the extra bounce caught the left-handers by surprise. Stokes laid the trap by adding a leg slip for the keeper-bat and got the ball to rise to armpit level to find the glove. Having kept himself out of the operations on the moving day due to exhaustion, he zoned in on a good length to tuck Carey up prior to the effort ball that hurried the half-centurion. This dismissal came on the verge of the second new cherry’s enforcement, making it all the more impressive.

The Australian tail is a force to be reckoned with, and you don’t have to look too far in the rearview mirror for testimonials. Mitchell Starc has very recently produced consecutive fifties, so the threat of lower-order contributions loomed even as England now had swing and seam on their side. They stationed a short leg and two men on the hook to keep Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon guessing but bluffed the duo with shooters that jagged either way. While Tongue induced a loose shot from Cummins whose frontfoot was as stagnant as the implementation process of labor laws in the Bangladeshi garment industry, Brydon kept it straight and simple to beat Lyon’s flick. Sure of his ill fate, he anyway opted for a review and began trudging off, his amble contrasting the agility England carried into the field.

Joe Root intercepted a scorching cover drive from Head to save a certain boundary, Zac Crawley dived around at third man to earn Barmy Army’s approval, and Jofra Archer lasered his eyes on the ball to remove Scott Boland in his follow through. Even Harry Brook was a tidy customer at lone slip, grabbing three important catches, with that of Green swallowed inches off the turf.

England scored 286 in the first innings, including a century stand for the ninth wicket. They have a mountain to climb after Australia posted a target of 435, and losing over half their team already doesn’t augur well for the tall pursuit. It is safe to say the hosts have both hands on the urn, but England still have pride to play for, and as the caravan rolls on to Melbourne and Sydney, their pacers will fancy drawing inspiration from this masterclass in homework and application. They ought to sustain the momentum and keep up the good work, for there is a modicum of support. Will Jacks has become the second spinner after Shane Warne to attain the undesirable record of conceding 100+ runs in both innings of an Ashes Test. His failure at the holding job makes life difficult for a pace battery that doesn’t have enough miles under their legs.

While Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin have cracked the code on unfriendly Australian pitches, the reality is that spinners go through an ordeal Down Under. Since their last win there in 2010-11, no England spinner has taken more wickets in Australia than Root. Expecting Jacks, a better-than-average tweaker, to fully contain a batting order that adheres to a proactive template, would be overambitious. “I don’t think he’s bowled poorly,” assistant coach Jeetan Patel affirmed. “They’ve played him very well. They’ve used the crease. They’ve got deep. They’ve run down at him. They’ve used the off side and the leg side, and they’ve looked to score, looked to put him under pressure. That’s probably what you would do against a spinner of Jacksy’s nature, where it’s not his frontline skill, as such.”

England have selected Jacks owing to his all-round worth, and the onus is thereby on the seamers to do the heavy-lifting. The aforementioned opening session will serve as a benchmark, especially on surfaces that don’t possess as many demons as there were in Perth.