While Steve Smith again made England the victims of a waking nightmare, a pair of Aussie left handers did their part to bat the tourists into a commanding position on day four of the first Ashes Test yesterday.
Smith’s control over England has become so complete that it needs no further explanation. Just watch and savour.
Instead I’ll focus on two mortals who have taken significant steps in their Test career over the past four days – Travis Head and Matt Wade.
Wade demanded wider attention yesterday due to his rollicking knock of 110 which helped pushed Australia to a lead of 397 after Smith earlier scored his second century of the Test.
What came before Wade’s onslaught, though, was crucial. The Tasmanian was handed a nice platform from which to launch into his aggressive brand of strokeplay thanks to a dogged, disciplined innings by Head.
The South Australian increasingly appears capable of, and willing to absorb pressure. Twice in this Test he has arrived at the crease amid bedlam and quietly constructed an influential knock.
Scores of 35 and 51 don’t leap off the scorecard. Context is key, though, and viewed in context both of those knocks helped sway this Test towards Australia.
On day one Head walked out to the middle tasked with halting a top order collapse and a marauding England attack. His side was 3-35.
The 25-year-old held up England for 80 minutes. Yes, I get it, he made just 35. But that was more than David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Matt Wade and Tim Paine combined.
He blocked England’s march long enough that the ball had stopped swinging by the time tailenders Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon constructed pivotal stands with Smith.
Head didn’t star like Smith, but did play a role, a valuable role. Yesterday Smith starred once more and Head again played a role, even more valuable this time.
Australia were three wickets down and trailing England by 15 runs when Head began his innings. England were surging towards victory.
Had Head fallen cheaply at this point, Wade would have been dropped into a pressurised situation demanding circumspection, which doesn’t mesh with his cavalier brand of cricket.
Wade, clearly, is at his best when he has the freedom to indulge his instincts, to take on the bowlers. Over the following two-and-a-half hours, Head grafted to ensure Wade would be presented with just such a favourable scenario.
When finally Wade took his guard, the mood of the match had changed dramatically thanks to the 130-run stand between Head and Smith. England looked flat. Soon they looked flatter.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
That was due to Wade steamrolling them in tandem with Smith, who by this point was batting in Harlem Globetrotters fashion.
Head’s stonewalling had helped transform England’s attack from rampant to subdued, from cock-a-hoop to ripe for the plucking.
Wade was the right batsman to enter. He had the power to fell a dazed opponent. A couple of crisp cover drives, followed by a flick off his pads helped him sprint to 15 from 14 balls.
With Smith taking the mickey at the other end, Wade’s assertive start meant England had little time to enjoy the wicket of Head – they were immediately under siege.
Wade didn’t get carried away, though. He didn’t start trying to manufacture boundaries, denying England’s bowlers respect.
Instead Wade bided his time, scoring just ten from his next 34 balls, before deciding he was now well placed to hit top gear.
He duly clattered 85 from his next 95 balls. As each of his forceful strokes reached the boundary, England’s hopes of victory diminished.
In this way, there was a Gilchrist-like impact to Wade’s ton. The legendary keeper often finished off opponents that had been softened up by the top six.
Yesterday it was Wade’s turn. And Head should be registered with the assist.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Yea that’s the two. Fortunately we had a couple of genuine test bowlers to get us over the line at the death.
Nick
Roar Guru
35k is absolute poo money no matter the the tax rate. No wonder Darrell hair stole money from the ICC. My price would be $150k, rent in Dubai taken care of + guaranteed Emirates business class for travel.
JD St George
Roar Pro
You mean Siddle and Pattinson who were the best bowlers in the 1st innings and the best tailend batters in the 1st and 2nd innings uglybetty?
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
That ball failed the smell test!
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Reckon you are right - probably when he was captaining SA in 4 day shield games trying to get an outright - I suspect a lot of them fizzled out in to a draw back in the 70s
Josso
Guest
What ever happened to baggy green dot com?
Paul
Roar Guru
Fair call SM, but a base contract of $35K is not big bickkies, regardless whether it's taxed or not. I would have thought these guys need to earn enough that IF they get the chance to do a home Test, they won't be tempted by 200K, for example, because that's the sort of money they're making - minimum. In saying that, they need to lift their game. If the blokes umpiring in this Test are supposed to be elite, the game at the highest level has a real problem with it's officials.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
You're response is limited in its form so not sure who/what you are relying/referring to.
Peter Warrington
Guest
that's always howi remember it but other than Brisbane in the 74-5 ashes I never found much evidence of it might have been more a tour game/shield thing?
Peter Warrington
Guest
well normally I would laugh about Paine. but he done good last night. they all did.
Simoc
Guest
Absolute laughable rubbish. Just ask those players. They wouldn't cut it now at the level they played at. But folks just love looking back with rose coloured glasses.
Peter Warrington
Guest
even if they don't win, they have to stay positive, ripping England apart after they passed us with 4 wickets down - we are all over them Cardiff 2009 felt like a loss. who is around the team who can avoid a wobble, if we don't win?
AREH
Roar Guru
That may be the approach. Highly unlikely they will pull it off, but if a platform was laid, there's certainly enough strike power to cause some sweating. I think back to the end of the 2013 series at The Oval, where England crashed 206 in 40 overs in an unlikely attempt to chase, and fell short only due to bad light. That said, a completely different context with the series sewn up and nothing to lose.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Don't get me wrong U. I'm not pushing for UK to be dropped at all. Just providing some context as to discussion re Bancroft/Warner "failures" from one Test. Future performances may put UK under pressure, but I'd be leaving the top 3 exactly as they are for Lord's and probably for the 3rd Test, right now. (Burns is home in OZ so won't feature in this series anyway).
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
A few early wickets would be the start we need. If they get to lunch only one or two down the hill will start to get very steep very quickly. Every over they survive will be like a nail in the coffin.
U
Roar Rookie
Khawaja has runs on the board with 6 centuries and over 40 tests played. Bancroft doesn’t have any leeway with Burns and Harris biting at his heels as well
birdhead
Roar Rookie
good points, the fact our quicks have bowled so many overs in the first innings is going to hurt a bit. you saw the english bowlers struggle with speeds down for the same reason as they started getting tired in our second innings. also note our quicks bowled a lot more overs in the first than the pohms. with the series over such a short time we could do with a few cheap ones today
Jeffrey Dun
Guest
"Modern players are full-time professionals who can spend massive amounts of time refining their game compared to players who were amateurs...". I thought that the English have had full time professionals in their systems for many, many years. For example, Jack Hobbs was a professional and was born in 1882. Being full time professional improves fielding standards and general athleticism. But if it improved bowling skills for example, where are all the professional leg spin bowlers who are better than the mere amateurs such as Grimmet and O'Reilly ? "...assembled a team of the best players from the pre-WW2 era and gathered a team of the best players from the last 20 years, the modern team would likely destroy the old team...". That depends. How would an Australian batting line up go against Grimmet and O'Reilly on a dusty turner ?
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Very good article and thoughts on Head in particular Ronan. I would say Wade was a bit lucky not to lose his wicket on three or four occasions before he was 60 but it was a great knock and he couldn't have done any better and it is Wade who really propelled australias run rate for a chance to win the match today either way. I doubt england will prepare as brown or flat a pitch again until perhaps the oval test match which won't suit Wade as much but he can do no better than his second innings effort and will be hard to validate not starting him in the next test. The only concern is where we may need extra bowling assistance who does one drop if the deck does look like it needs the all rounder or extra spinner?
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Hi Jeff. Totally agree. I was actually talking about Bancroft there mate but that wasn't very clear.