Jump to content

 

 

Recommended Posts

Haigh on Khawaja, who, it has to be said, batted like a Test Match player. Of course he did have some help from the other end, which is, again, a proper Test Match trait, and one almost unknown to Joe Root.

 

 

THE ASHES | GIDEON HAIGH

Usman Khawaja: A model of simplicity and composure who proved he’s not done yet

new

Gideon Haigh

Thursday January 06 2022, 9.00am, The Times

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/usman-khawaja-a-model-of-simplicity-and-composure-who-proved-hes-not-done-yet-zjqbw8vnp

 

In the past eleven years, Australia have played 430 games of international cricket. Of these, Usman Khawaja, whose debut was the first of those matches, has played 94 — barely one in five.

Which is a bit odd, as it is hardly as though Australia has been overendowed with batting talent in the past decade. Narrow it to Test matches, and the proportion is still only 45 of 109, with fitness seldom a factor; rather has he tended to go in and out according to fluctuations of collective fortune.

Mike Atherton’s report: England’s failings cruelly exposed again

His 137 in the fourth Test, then, might be regarded as a flipping of that switch, originating in Travis Head’s birthday unlucky dinner, an opportunity grasped, and an opportunity forgone — Joe Root’s failure to catch him at slip on 28 made Khawaja’s day as surely as it ruined the hapless Jack Leach’s.

From that point, Khawaja’s touch grew ever surer. Alongside the herky-jerky gestures of Steve Smith, with whom he prolonged a partnership of 115 in 263 balls, he looked, as ever, a model of simplicity and composure.

 

Glimpsed early, the reverse sweep was sheathed thereafter. Instead the repertoire of economical drives, laconic pulls, fluid cuts, one gossamer glance off Mark Wood, and three consecutive cover drives when Leach switched ends and momentarily lost his length.

It was an innings to suit the occasion and to further beckon a whitewash, reflected in Pat Cummins’ fist pump as he started on Khawaja’s hundredth run just before tea. Signs of variable bounce bode ill for England. Ditto the weather. Ditto their form. To summarise: if it bodes for England, frankly, it’s not well.

What to say about the tourists? Perhaps pre-lunch rain dampened their ardour. With the exception of the irrepressible Wood, their initial effort drifted so badly it almost qualified as anomie. The captaincy was uninspired, the fielding flat-footed. Spells regularly began with half-vollies and dragdowns; concentrations wavered; reviews failed.

Ben Stokes offered bouncers with three fielders back as monotonously as a coach giving throw downs before leaving the field looking a bit ginger, and not in a good way — he did not bowl again. The part-time bowling that had to fill the breach was deflatingly ragged.

The second new ball in the hands of James Anderson and Stuart Broad paid dividends after lunch. Broad ended a handy innings from Smith not quite dispelling a sense that the days when he peeled hundreds off for fun are behind him, that he now reminds us of Marnus Labuschagne rather than the other way round.

That left Khawaja, picking up in Test cricket where he left off thirty months ago, albeit in rather better fettle.

Khawaja is not so much an enigma as what Australia tend to make of anything in cricket not immediately obvious, anything that cannot readily be typed or categorised.

Toughness, aggression, speed, revs: these are our cardinal virtues. Even without his heritage and faith, Khawaja would suggest different, subtler modes and possibilities. He does not run when he can walk, or shout when he can speak. You cannot imagine him cultivating a moustache, or speaking about himself in the third person.

 

His mimicry of LeBron James on reaching a hundred will doubtless become a meme, but in Khawaja also looked a bit like dad dancing. Generally he is quicker with a quip than a sledge, viz his response when criticised in summer by Ian Chappell, that “Chappelli’s not even the best player in his family.”

Behind these surface differences, however, lurks an experienced, robust and reliable professional cricketer who knows his own game and mind. Having passed 3,000 Test and 11,000 first-class runs in this innings, he is also a pleasingly familiar one, who enjoyed a hometown reception here in Sydney despite having been a Queenslander for a decade.

The innings addressed something of a gap in Khawaja’s record. Yes, he piled up 171 in the corresponding Test four years ago, but till that time he had averaged 23 against England, and Ashes performances count in these parts.

Khawaja had last been seen on a Test field traipsing off after defeat at Headingley, then seemingly left behind in the Australian search for new talent that has unearthed Cameron Green, Will Pucovski, Josh Philippe and Ben McDermott.

For someone who had been seen as a back number, then, the eventual specifications of Khawaja’s innings, 405 minutes and 260 deliveries, present some impressive credentials: that’s Test match batting, in an era not minting it naturally. There is a sense that Australia have not got everything they could have from Khawaja, but there is still time.

Link to post
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, compo said:

On this wicket I think a draw might be on the cards 

There could be more rain, of course, but the luck is not with ENG.

 

I could see Mr Pat Cummins roaring in tomorrow, and skittling the top order. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, compo said:

On this wicket I think a draw might be on the cards 

Sydney was always the most likely venue to prevent a whitewash. Three days and three innings still to go, doubtful weather prospects, little movement off the pitch. There again, England's propensity for inept batting......

Link to post
Share on other sites

England first innings
Batsman   Runs Balls 4s 6s
Haseeb Hameed b Starc 6 26 1 0
Zak Crawley b Boland 18 55 2 0
Dawid Malan c Khawaja b Green 3 39 0 0
Joe Root c Smith b Boland 0 7 0 0
Ben Stokes lbw b Lyon 66 91 9 1
Jonny Bairstow Not Out 103 140 8 3
Jos Buttler c Khawaja b Cummins 0 8 0 0
Mark Wood c Lyon b Cummins 39 41 2 3
Jack Leach Not Out 4 15 1 0
Stuart Broad Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0
James Anderson Yet to Bat 0 0 0 0
Extras 8b 6lb 0 3w 2nb 19  
Total for 7 258 70.0 overs
Bowler O M R W
Pat Cummins 20 6 68 2
Mitchell Starc 14 2 49 1
Scott Boland 12 6 25 2
Cameron Green 9 4 24 1
Nathan Lyon 12 0 71 1
Marnus Labuschagne 3 0 7 0
Fall of wickets
Order Name Runs
1 Haseeb Hameed 22
2 Zak Crawley 36
3 Joe Root 36
4 Dawid Malan 36
5 Ben Stokes 164
6 Jos Buttler 173
7 Mark Wood 245

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/cricket/match/2022-01-06/england-cricket-team

Link to post
Share on other sites

THE ASHES | SIMON WILDE

Jonny Bairstow: Gutsy century for player who lost his way should ensure a run in the side

Simon Wilde

Sydney

Friday January 07 2022, 11.00am, The Times

 

 

 

At the lunch break on day three at the SCG, the fortunes of the England cricket team had sunk to their lowest ebb. I know, you were unaware such depths existed. But so craven were they in the morning, so soon after the evisceration in Melbourne, that no other conclusion was possible.

What did they sup during this darkest 40 minutes of their lives? Had the fans been given their say, it might have been hemlock. Instead, it was large helpings of northern grit.

In the good old days — before the long, failed experiment of Jos Buttler as a Test cricketer — Bairstow as the team’s batsman-keeper often operated with Ben Stokes as the engine-room of the middle-order batting, as they would be now.

 

Both men came late to this series — Stokes needed time in the middle to find his form after a long layoff and Bairstow only got a place in the XI after two Tests — but it is unsurprising that their belligerence came to the fore in this moment of crisis. They are two tough ginger-hued nuts.

 

For Bairstow to play so well coming into the game on little more than a cameo performance at the MCG, and sessions against a much-reduced array of net bowlers due to the ravages of Covid, was an exceptional effort.

Indeed, he is only the second England batsman since the 1960s to score a Test hundred in an Ashes series in Australia having not been in the team at the outset — an indication of how hard it is to get up to speed here when there is so little available cricket between Tests. The other player to do so was Stokes at Perth during the 2013-14 series, after coming into the team following Jonathan Trott’s abrupt return home.

 

In this partnership, Stokes led the way with three successive fours off Mitchell Starc but he needed extraordinary luck to survive and Bairstow’s was the purer innings. There were no signs of the defensive leakiness that has caused him problems in recent years.

Also — praise be! — he, like Stokes, had a plan to attack the bowling. Bairstow was certainly not going to let Nathan Lyon dictate terms, sweeping, cutting and dabbing him for four boundaries in his first four overs, and later slog-sweeping him for six. As a right-hander, this was easier for him to do than Stokes, and he made good use of the shorter leg-side boundary, ultimately forcing Lyon to switch ends.

To score a century in these circumstances, with the dressing room full of recrimination and uncertainty about the future, was no mean feat. Bairstow might easily have retired hurt after taking a bone-jarring blow on the end of his right thumb from Pat Cummins, and his post-match comments suggested he ignored medical advice by carrying on. After that blow, he hooked Cameron Green for six and scored 43 from 49 balls, a gutsy effort.

He also had to put up with the mindless abuse of a group of Australian fans as he walked up the steps of the pavilion at the tea break. Their comments were along the lines of advising Bairstow that he might like to lose some weight, but were heard not only by Bairstow and Stokes but several members of England’s back-room staff, who alerted the ground authorities, leading to their ejection from the ground.

Quite why Bairstow’s Test career lost its way is hard to fathom. There were technical shortcomings for sure, but as a keeper-batsman he had the security he needed to feel a central member of the team. Once moves were made to take the gloves away from him — first to hand them on to Ben Foakes in the winter of 2018-19 and from the following winter to Buttler — his self-belief gradually eroded.

The national selector Ed Smith challenged him to become a front-line specialist batsman, which was not the role for which his earlier career had prepared him. It is unarguable that Buttler has made less of the dual role of Test keeper and batsman than Bairstow. Buttler’s batting average in Tests in which he keeps wicket is 29.94 with one hundred, Bairstow’s 37.37 with five hundreds.

 

Both have struggled with Test cricket of late partly because they have been such dominant white-ball players — arguably England’s two best batsmen — and the requirements are so different, and partly through the fatigue that comes with trying to play everything (including the Indian Premier League).

The instruction to turn himself into a specialist batsman resulted in Bairstow spending almost a year out of the Test side. He played a Test in Centurion as a last-minute replacement following a viral outbreak in the camp, but after that did not reappear until last winter’s tour of Sri Lanka and India when rest and rotation meant that the notion of a first-choice England Test XI lost most of its meaning.

He made some solid contributions in Sri Lanka before being sent home for a short rest, a trip that was not hassle-free and probably was counterproductive. By the time he returned he had lost all momentum. He did not start the New Zealand series last summer, but scored runs against India at Lord’s when he was recalled, and has now made runs again after sitting on the sidelines in Brisbane and Adelaide. Damaged thumb permitting, it would be a surprise if he does not now get an extended run.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jonny-bairstow-gutsy-century-for-player-who-lost-his-way-should-ensure-a-run-in-the-side-ksvwrphv9

Link to post
Share on other sites

THE ASHES | MIKE ATHERTON

The Ashes, England v Australia: At last! England have a good(ish) day thanks to Jonny Bairstow’s century

Sydney (third day of five): England, with three first-innings wickets in hand, are 158 runs behind Australia. Full scoreboard at the bottom of report

Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent, Sydney

Friday January 07 2022, 9.30am, The Times

 

On the pinkest of days, played in memory of Jane McGrath, the late wife of the Australian fast bowler, Glenn, England’s blushes were spared by a wonderful counterattacking hundred from Jonny Bairstow. Standing in the middle of the Sydney Cricket Ground, with the embers of a hugely entertaining day’s cricket barely flickering, Bairstow stood with his arms raised and emotion written all over his face, as he celebrated his first Test hundred for more than three years.

When the final over began, Bairstow found himself on 99. Pat Cummins, who had earlier knocked back Bairstow’s thumb with a kicking short ball, set the kind of field to the off side that suggested he was not in the business of offering an easy passage to the hundred. Having slashed at and missed two wide balls already, Bairstow moved across to the fourth ball of the over in anticipation of the wide line, and smeared it to the third-man boundary.

As he ran through towards the old pavilions, arms raised and roaring his delight, the ground rose to him — appreciative of a contest at last — as did the England dugout. To celebrate this first hundred of the tour and the first time an England batsman had really put the opposition bowlers on the back foot was a lift they badly needed, after a dismal start in which the top order were demolished in a blistering pre-lunch session. England remain in arrears but it could have been so much worse.

 

At lunch, four wickets down, it seemed inconceivable that the follow-on would be avoided, a critical factor with rain forecast. That it was, was due to three of England’s most spirited players, as Bairstow shared vital partnerships with Ben Stokes, firstly, and then Mark Wood, interspersed by an eight-ball duck for Jos Buttler, who looks done for. Buttler’s hand is heavily bruised after a blow on the second day when keeping wicket. Sam Billings has been called up to join the squad, and could make his Test debut in Hobart.

Bairstow and Stokes enjoy each other’s company in the middle and added 128 together, after which Bairstow and Wood romped past the follow-on, with a delightfully wacky partnership worth 72 in a dozen overs.

 

Both partnerships were fashioned in pain. Stokes, making his first impression of the series, winced, grimaced and clutched his injured side every time he played an expansive stroke, and must surely be a doubt for Hobart. Bairstow had his thumb jammed by Cummins immediately after Stokes was dismissed and spent the rest of his innings with it in heavy strapping and was clearly hurt. When he went down after being hit, you would have put decent money on a break or fracture and so it was a gutsy performance as well as a brilliant one.

Bairstow was a late casualty of England’s selection indecision before Brisbane, having looked out of touch in the warm-up match, and was brought back into the team in Melbourne. Like Stuart Broad, he is often at his best when he has a point to prove and, although it has come a game later than he would have hoped, this was a statement from a cricketer who feels his Test career is not yet done.

Having witnessed the pre-lunch carnage, and the number of batsmen hit on the gloves by sharply rising deliveries, both Stokes and Bairstow decided to try to take the attack to Australia and in particular to Nathan Lyon, who received some punishment. Bairstow was especially strong on the sweep and Lyon’s dozen overs went for 71, although he did account for Stokes, leg-before on the back foot.

Stokes’s off stump was clipped by a ball from Cameron Green without the bails being dislodged

 

Stokes, in particular, needed some huge slices of fortune to survive. He was dropped by Cummins on nine — a tough caught-and-bowled chance — and left a ball from Cameron Green on 16 that hit the stumps almost flush but, remarkably, did not dislodge the bails. The deflection off the stump encouraged the umpire Paul Reiffel to uphold a leg-before decision, and David Warner spent the time during the review process, flicking at the stump with his finger to try to remove the bails, a sign of how astonishing the moment was.

Still, after a series in which he had played with uncharacteristic caution, it was good to see Stokes take the attack to Australia, despite his obvious discomfort, three consecutive boundaries coming at one point off Mitchell Starc. Bairstow’s half-century came in ten balls more than Stokes’s, 80 balls to 70, but then he accelerated when Wood came to the crease, one six off Green almost hitting the electronic scoreboard full on.

Wood was not to be outdone, sending a mighty hook from Cummins into the Brewongle Stand. Scott Boland had taken a tumble before tea and went for a scan and with Lyon not able to contain for once, Cummins was under pressure for the first time in the series. He took the load on his own shoulders and eventually got Wood to a sharp bouncer that the DRS process suggested flicked bat before cannoning into helmet — although the review was highly speculative judging from the immediate reaction.

 

For once, Australia were far from flawless in the field, having taken a wicket with a no-ball the evening before, and having spilt two chances, the first by the wicketkeeper Alex Carey before Haseeb Hameed had added to his overnight score. That said, the intensity they summoned before lunch, after a delayed start for rain, was something to behold, and England’s top order was unable to resist some searing bowling.

Both openers were gated in the early thrusts, with Hameed unable to take advantage of the earlier drop after he aimed an uncharacteristically loose drive at Starc. Zak Crawley was dismissed similarly by Boland, but at least he has some presence at the crease, even if it is yet to translate into anything meaningful. Boland’s pinch-me-awake start to Test cricket continued with a four-over spell that brought two wickets without conceding a run.

 

Boland’s introduction coincided with a remarkable passage of play, as nine maiden overs immediately before lunch produced three wickets and any number of blows to the gloves as the hard new Kookaburra spat off the drying surface. Crawley had his bat blown from his grasp by a Starc lifter before his dismissal, and Dawid Malan was hit three times on the top hand, before tickling the final ball of the session off his glove to a craftily placed leg slip.

The middle wicket of the three? That belonged to Joe Root, who started the new year aiming the kind of back-foot punch with a straight bat that has brought him thousands of runs in England but a lot of pain and frustration in Australia, because of the extra pace and bounce.

Having helped usher Australia to an imposing total through some lacklustre captaincy and butter-fingered catching, he began the new year with a seven-ball duck. The end days of his captaincy are upon us.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ashes-england-v-australia-at-last-england-have-a-good-ish-day-thanks-to-jonny-bairstows-century-ts9bmch7p

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.