So violently did the 2015 Ashes swing towards England when it really mattered, it’s easy to forget that heading into the third Test, all the momentum was with Australia and pressure was mounting on the home side.
Australia had not just beaten England in the second Test but humiliated them by 405 runs. The match ended with England crumbling for 106 in the fourth innings on a Lord’s pitch so flat that Australia had scored 822 runs for the loss of just ten wickets across the Test.
It had been an abject display from England and their press and fans were unsettled.
“Bayliss confronts systemic problems”, read a headline on ESPNcricinfo.
“Trevor Bayliss warns of top order changes”, wrote the Daily Express of the England coach.
Even swing superstar James Anderson had been flogged at Lord’s. Never before in his long Test career had Anderson been cowed on home turf quite like this. After 148 Tests, they remain his worst-ever match figures – 0/137 from 33 overs, going at 4.15 runs per over.
Four Tests into the English summer of 2015 and Anderson was averaging 53 with the ball, having also struggled against New Zealand. He was days away from turning 33 years old. Many champion quicks have seen their careers enter a steep downward spiral at that age.
The Ashes was deadlocked at 1-1 and there were, perhaps, still some mental scars for the England team after their 5-0 thumping in Australia 18 months before. Anderson had been dominated by the Australians in that series. It got so grim for the veteran that he was smashed for 28 runs in an over by a batsman who laboured that whole summer in George Bailey.
Now here Anderson was, in his own jurisdiction – the country where he’d made so many batsmen look foolish – and he was averaging 50-odd for the summer and had just been pummelled by the Aussies at the home of cricket.
Could Anderson rebound? Could he shake this off and help England turn things around? Could he get back to tying batsmen in knots with his late-swinging deliveries?
As the Ashes headed to Birmingham, these were the questions that hung over the ground like the clouds England were praying for. In gloomy conditions, Australia batted first. Anderson took the new ball, as usual.
Just eight balls into his spell he had David Warner LBW when the left-hander seemed to be waiting for the ball to swing away only for it to seam back in to him.
Yet Anderson still wasn’t at his best in this six-over spell. Both his line and his seam position were not as precise as usual. By the time he returned for his second spell, Aussie veterans Chris Rogers and Adam Voges were looking comfortable, having put on 43 from 52 balls.
In his first over back, Anderson started hooping the ball in both directions. The atmosphere of the match changed immediately. The Englishman’s rare ability to manipulate swing in this manner sows doubt in the heads of batsmen, who suddenly start sparring at deliveries they could easily ignore, unsure which direction they may deviate.
Voges had been leaving the ball nicely, forcing the England bowlers to straighten their line. But Anderson had got into his head now and suddenly the West Aussie half-played at a ball that was at least 50 centimetres outside off stump.
Voges tried to withdraw his bat to no avail, edging through to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
Three balls later, Anderson floated up a wide out-swinger. It was a sucker ball and Mitch Marsh was a sucker.
Anderson leapt and punched the air like it was a home invader, celebrating this caught behind dismissal far more violently than you’d expect considering the calibre of the batsman.
He was feeling it. The tide was turning.
Jimmy Anderson exuberantly celebrates the wicket of Mitchell Marsh at Edgbaston in 2015. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
It took Anderson just four deliveries at keeper Peter Nevill who, for some curious reason, decided to shoulder arms to a delivery that always looked destined for off stump. Australia were 6/86.
Out came Mitchell Johnson, the express quick who had eviscerated England in the previous Ashes and had a long-running feud with Anderson. As if the English quick needed any more motivation at this point.
Anderson went around the wicket, angled the ball in at Johnson and then got it to straighten through the air.
Johnson pushed at it with hard hands and Ben Stokes took an easy catch at gully. Anderson had 4/8 in this spell. Australia were bowled out inside 37 overs on day one, went on to lose the match by eight wickets and the Ashes swung in the direction of the home side.
Anderson was not seen again in that series, having picked up an injury in Birmingham. But that one remarkable spell was the single biggest turning point in the series. It was also a seminal moment in Anderson’s career.
He has since gone from being very good at home to nigh-on unplayable. In 21 home Tests from that Birmingham match onwards, Anderson has hoarded 107 wickets at 15. India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies – no team has been able to curb him in England in that time.
The world’s No.1 Test team, India, have by far the best batting line-up in this format. Yet, when they went to England last year, Anderson sliced through them like a katana blade, grabbing 24 wickets at 18 for the series.
Now Australia are in his path.
And the ground where Anderson bounced back in 2015 just happens to be the one where he’ll get to play today.
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