Well, who saw this coming? Australia’s grip on a two-nothing lead in the Ashes has disappeared in a heartbeat, the second Test now coming down to the wire at the Adelaide Oval and an intense final day of play ahead.
Australia has squandered a position where it looked like they simply couldn’t lose the match from. After racking up 8 for 442 in their first innings, they had England 7 for 142, a distant 300 runs in arrears.
Then it started. The momentum reversed with Chris Woakes and Craig Overton combining to put on 66 for the eighth wicket. England ended up with 227, still a long way behind.
Steve Smith chose not to enforce the follow-on, which, given Australia’s bowlers had struggled to run through the English tail seemed to be a wise option at the time. Australia went to stumps four wickets down and were promptly removed for 138, setting the tourists 354 for victory.
Not as large a target as Smith was hoping for, but certainly a hefty one; England would have to create history to win.
The tourists fought their way to stumps though, with almost half the runs on the board only four wickets down. Now, with two daylight sessions to bat, needing 178 runs for victory, England almost appear to be in the driver’s seat.
It’s a stunning comeback. Something no one could have seen coming.
Yet, the main talking point out of Day 4 wasn’t the stunning English comeback. It was Steve Smith’s pathetic use of the Decision Review System.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Australia had actually used DRS well throughout the first few days of the match. Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine were both saved reviewing LBW decisions in the first innings within an over of each other.
David Warner, Steve Smith and Peter Handscomb all saved themselves in the second dig for Australia, although Smith couldn’t save himself a second time.
England also had some luck – Dawid Malan saved himself once – but they had nothing compared to Australia until last night.
That many decisions being overturned probably says something more about the umpiring than anything else, but Australia’s second innings reviews will come back to haunt them.
Smith’s biggest mistake was not reviewing an LBW on Alastair Cook in the fourth over. Josh Hazlewood cannoned a ball into the English opener’s pads, and from the moment Cook missed the ball it looked out. Umpire Chris Gaffaney turned it down and Smith chose not to review.
Moments later, ball tracking flashed up to show it was doing what we all suspected – hitting the stumps.
The number of decisions being overturned gave Smith no reason to trust the umpires. Absolutely zero, and it seemed to make him trigger happy later in the innings.
Cook ended up with 16, out to another review after Gaffaney turned Nathan Lyon down on a huge shout.
The trend of decisions being wrong didn’t last though, much to the surprise of… well, everyone.
With England at 3 for 108 and the match delicately poised with Joe Root and Malan at the crease, Smith blew both of his reviews in the space of just four balls.
The first saw Joe Root given not out to a caught behind off Pat Cummins. With nothing on hotspot or snicko, LBW was also checked, but the ball going over off stump.
(Nigel French/PA Wire)
Losing one review you can handle, although you have to question the wisdom of reviewing a chancy caught behind.
Malan was then on strike to Hazlewood, playing back in his crease and being smacked in the pads. Smith again chose to review, but it never looked out, the ball going over the stumps and Australia running out of reviews.
Not long after, Malan was again hit on the pads. It was turned down by umpire Aleem Dar, with DRS showing it would have been umpire’s call. It would have meant Australia kept their review but that’s academic – there were no reviews left to use.
The Barmy Army had plenty of fun with it in the stands, but with Joe Root going to stumps on 67 not out and looking like he will make a serious score, England are right in this match.
They shouldn’t be after the first innings, but one or two bad sessions from the hosts has flipped the match on its head, and a lack of DRS challenges left could hamper Smith and his team today.
In total, eight decisions have proved to be wrong with seven of those being overturned. It’s little wonder Smith was trigger happy last night.
The umpiring throughout this second Test has been atrocious, so it would hardly be a surprise to see more poor decisions on the fifth day as everyone (the umpires included) starts to struggle with fatigue.
If that’s the case, Smith could rue his two moments of madness on the fourth night in Adelaide.
It could cost him a 2-0 lead in the Ashes.
Jeffrey Dun
Roar Rookie
Thanks for the tip Kev. Will look into it. Anything is better than Ch 9 commentary.
Alan
Guest
Too be fair, if Gaffney hadn't put his finger away and had simply been consistent in his decision making Cook would have been out and there would have been minimal pressure on Smith to review.
BA Sports
Guest
hmm... bit of pie in the face? Lucky, or just too good. They just one a test by the best part of 150 runs. Can we now ease up with all the OTT hysteronics
Sandy
Guest
I totally agree. Dar makes me cringe.
Matt P
Roar Rookie
Certainly, on this test, both teams have copped bad decisions (though we've gotten more). It's a problem when similar decisions are being inconsistently adjudicated, and it's even more a problem now that you don't get your reviews reset. For me that's already been shown to be a massive misstep, the "advantage" of ump's call being relaxed isn't enough. Bottom line is, the umpires are getting things wrong far too often so far and it's had too much of an influence this game.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
The umpiring has been poor through these two tessts. Both teams have suffered. The idea behind the reviews was to stop the shockers but these umpires have had shockers.
Red Kev
Roar Guru
If you use the CA APP Stream (through wifi so you don't destroy your phone data) it is about 40-50s behind the television broadcast. With all modern TVs being digital it is easy to set up a time-shift and sync whichever radio stream you are listening to with the TV images.
Richo
Guest
I wish they would let the game speak for itself and STFU once in a while! If your commentary can't add anything to the play, then stay silent. You have to wonder whether some of them get paid by the word.
Jeffrey Dun
Roar Rookie
"The Channel 9 Commentators call another game to what I’m watching ..." That's easily fixed. I watch with the sound turned down.
Geo
Guest
Woeful and inconsistent umpiring has made Smith look bad. Today, we'll be lucky to get a LBW unless it's a sand show crusher from Starc. Smith got out to a ball that was half outside leg and half the ball was hitting the stumps. Not many umpires over the past 100 years give THAT out, yet it WAS given out and Smith was doomed. There needs to be a small change to the rules - what does it matter if the umpire gives it out or not - if it's reviewed and at least half the ball is in line and hitting the stumps, it's out! The Channel 9 Commentators call another game to what I'm watching - they praised our bowling last night when much of it was way too short. I'm glad someone took KP out of the lineup when the Poms looked to be on top. He was carrying on like a Barmy Army member, and let's face it - they're only "cute" when we're belting the crap out of the English. My aren't they annoying when things go well - it's like listening to a Melbourne Storm, Broncos or Roosters supporter trying to tell us they haven't got 25 advantages over all the other teams!
Andrew
Guest
Both of Smiths' reviews hit the batsmen above the knee roll. Generally by that, it's more than likely going over. Unfortunately the reviews were just desperation (pressure in needing a wicket) that made him use it up. The big fault that was made was the fact that there were several previous reviews that had gone over the stumps. It was very risky to even attempt reviewing the second review knowing that it was the last one and also the previous one not a few balls ago had gone over as well.
spruce moose
Guest
Chris, once real time technology becomes available, then we won't even need umpires. Players will be appealing to a TV camera fixed in the stands, and not to an umpire. They actually won't need to be there. Do we seriously need an on field umpire simply to raise his finger or wave his arm for a boundary when a TV screen can do the same thing? How sad will that be? Be careful what you wish for.
Red Kev
Roar Guru
Until the technology advances (and it is always being upgraded, the models have halved the error margin on predictive ball-tracking if the companies are to be believed, and the cameras are up to 10 times higher resolution) to the point that each and every ball can be reviewed by the third umpire in near real time, the DRS and reviews will be a problem. Once we get there, every appeal will be checked and determined within 10s by the third umpire and there will be no mistakes (if you trust the technology in a game where cracks in the pitch, variable bounce and late swing are a thing)..
AJ Mithen
Expert
The Adelaide deck does seem to have picked up some bounce in the last day or so... But Smith never should have listened to Hazlewood on the second DRS call. Of course Hazlewood is going to say to look at it!! In any event, people are acting as if England are only 25 runs from certain victory. Australia are going to smash them. It's exciting at the moment but don't lose sight of the wider scene playing out here.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
This is what I don't like about the current system. If the idea is to get as many decisions right as possible, why put in place a system that leaves you with the situation where you can have bad calls that can't be reviewed because you only allow a very limited number of reviews. People talk about "howlers", but where the batsman can know that he got an inside edge and shouldn't be out LBW, or know the he missed the ball and hit the ground (although sometimes when they are simultaneous a batsman might not realise they feathered one) and so make a call where they know for certain, it's pretty rare that the fielding team are going to be able to comprehensively know that the umpire got the call wrong, so it's always going to be a guess. I don't know how long ball tracking takes to happen, but surely they could have it so that the moment the ball is bowled ball tracking starts calculating and by the time the appeal has happened and the umpire has made his call, the third umpire can have the ball tracking come up and make a call quickly, or something. But any method that relies on teams not referring things where they don't go their way or the system is not allowed to be used just results in more bad calls going missed, either because they don't refer one that should have been overturned through fear of losing referrals, or because they miss a couple and referrals are no longer an option. And when you get a test where as many wrong decisions have been made as there has been here, the restrictions put upon DRS become a big issue.
Matt P
Roar Rookie
Lucky? England are only halfway to the target with 6 wickets left, and a third of their score is from one batsman. This match is far from over.
rl
Guest
and, as Kerry O'Keffe once said, throw in that Hawkeye seems to be run by a couple of UTS students sitting in a computer lab sharing a joint. (and btw, compared to the last three Aussie captains, I reckon Chappelli is a genius!)
Matt P
Roar Rookie
How much was Smith's DRS blunder influenced by the shocking officiating? Raising their fingers instantly the moment we're struck on the pads, and not wanting anything to do with England batsmen being trapped plumb. Credit to England for fighting back, but far out, I thought the rub of the green was supposed to go towards the team on top?
Rob JM
Guest
The real problem is that umpires don't/cant call for a review. Its a pathetic system when a potential nick isn't reviewed when it could be. Any time an umpire is in doubt he should call for a review. There is no excuse for wrong decisions.
spruce moose
Guest
Sorry Scott, but this is a rare miss by you. This is just reactionary puff from one session or so that went wrong for Australia. It is not really Smith's fault he has no reviews. The umpires twice made a mistake with Cook in one innings - fortunately Australia corrected one of them. The umpires have been wrong an unusually incorrect amount of times this test. Under the circumstances I don’t think it was inappropriate for Smith to review. Yes, he now throws himself at the mercy of the umpires competency tomorrow, but conversely it may also help him. If the umpires are mistaken in not giving people out, then they will also be mistaken in giving people out and England may not have reviews up their pockets (Root is almost certain to burn one if he gets a marginal call).