Aside from providing us with one of the most thrilling days of cricket in history, what the third Ashes Test has done is ensure both of the next two matches will be blockbusters.
The last five series between Australia and England each finished with dead rubbers, the Ashes already having been secured in either the third or fourth Test.
While Australia can retain the Ashes by winning the next Test in Manchester, the series itself would still be alive in the fifth Test and the tourists are desperate to end their 18-year run without a series victory in England.
Regardless of what happens in this next match, the fifth Test will be drenched in drama.
The last time we had an engrossing finish to the Ashes was a decade ago when the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the fifth Test before England wrapped up the series at The Oval.
When England were nine wickets down yesterday this series looked like it may end with a whimper, with Australia 2-0 up and the hosts labouring.
Instead we’re now set to be served two of the most important Ashes matches of the modern era. It gets better, too. For the first time in this series we’re likely to see both sides at full strength.
Australia’s batting maestro Steve Smith will make his return from a concussion injury, massively boosting the potency of their line-up.
England, meanwhile, look set to welcome back the world’s best swing bowler James Anderson. The 37-year-old has missed the past two Tests due to a calf strain he suffered early in the series opener.
Both of those champions will be hell bent on making a major impact at Old Trafford. The prospect of Anderson and Jofra Archer bowling in tandem against Smith is enough to make any cricket fan giddy.
Similarly appetising will be watching how Australia’s elite attack responds to the pasting they copped from Ben Stokes. The England all-rounder produced one of the all-time great Test innings yesterday, a knock so audacious that it seemed to catch the Australians off guard.
The Aussie attack was like a boxer that had kept its opponent at bay for the whole bout, never allowing them within arm’s reach, only for their foe to unexpectedly burst inside their guard and unleash a maelstrom of devastating hooks.
England’s Ben Stokes (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Will they be punch drunk at Old Trafford? Or will that stinging assault from Stokes bring the best out of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon? It will also be fascinating to see the response of Australian captain Tim Paine.
The Tasmanian has received too much criticism over his brief Test career in my view. He took over a basketcase of a side reeling from the ball tampering controversy and has led them with class and composure.
There’s no denying, though, that he’s having a shocking Ashes. Or that he lost control of proceedings during the Stokes blitzkrieg. It was bizarre to watch the Englishman allowed to take easy singles late on in over after over. Farming the strike should not have been so simple.
Paine’s big challenge this week is to keep his team level headed. As agonising as that loss must have been, they still need to win only one of the next two Tests to retain the Ashes.
They were rank underdogs to win the third Test after losing Smith to concussion, with many fans and pundits expecting them to fall apart.
They didn’t. Australia dug deep, scrapped hard in tough conditions and put themselves into what looked like an unbeatable position.
Then Stokes happened.
Overall, though, there were many positives for Australia to take out of that Test. The sparkling performance of Marnus Labuschagne is a massive plus for the tourists. So, too, is the rampant form of big quick Josh Hazlewood, who has 12 wickets at 18 in his two Tests this series.
Australia’s Nathan Lyon (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Australia have shown admirable resilience multiple times in this series. They were in several dire situations in the first Test and fought back to win. Then at Leeds they lost Smith, were forced to bat under lights on seaming deck and still controlled the match until the dying minutes.
There is no reason to believe they will wilt in the wake of yesterday’s events. Paine’s single biggest attribute as a skipper appears to be his calm nature. If he can keep his charges composed over the next few days then they have what it requires to retain the Ashes or even win the series.
Whatever happens, it looks set to be damned exciting. Stokes just set these Ashes ablaze. Kick back and watch them burn.
TheGeneral
Roar Rookie
redbackfan, Two teams are relegated from Division 1 in county cricket and two teams are promoted from Div 2. Much like english soccer with 3 teams relegated from the epl to the lower division championship. Therefore the worst teams are in Division 2. Having said that there are probably some very good players in that division.
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
no problem, I don't know too much about div 2 county , Labuschagne's excellent performances there were mocked a bit but seem to have stood him in good stead, and I think shield runs even without a few internationals are hard-earned, even the redbacks have an excellent pace quartet , Richo can't get a game!
TheGeneral
Roar Rookie
Redbackfan, Sorry I misread his average. It is 125.0 with a 69 not out and a 56 at a strike rate of 76. Very very good but as I stated it is in Division 2 of the championship,
TheGeneral
Roar Rookie
redbackfan, I accept your updated figures re Carey. Yes he is averaging 76 in two county innings but it is Division 2 of the county championship. Would be 3 rungs below test standard. And his first class average in Australia is mostly with weakened shield sides due to test commitments. That is not to say he will bat badly if and when he is promoted to the test side. But lets hold off on your test expectations till he plays a few innings, then we can judge his performances. I hope he does do well when he makes it, as any proud Australian supporter would.
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
Carey's first class average is 31.38.(includes recent county game is why you may have got it wrong) we all have opinions, but if you want to use facts, get them right, espn cricinfo will see you on the right path
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Yep the DRS showed the ball do an odd ricochet after glancing the front pad, a bit like the magic bullet in the JFK assassination which went through the Prez and then in and out of Governor Connolly. I’m not a conspiracy buff so I don’t think Umpire Wilson was working for the CIA or the Mafia. Much as I’d like to have someone to blame and say we woz robbed, I don’t think we were. If Lyon takes a pretty straightforward throw on the bounce for the run out this would all be academic.
AREH
Roar Guru
Yeah I could also see him missing. I suppose he has i) Made some starts in the series and, ii) been dismissed by a superb delivery more than once, but he's still yet to stand up in an Ashes test when it really matters. Suppose one might argue he is a better chance of producing a big score than say Harris.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Khawaja in England from 12 innings is averaging sub 20. Surely you are better off trying someone else, it's that old definition of stupidity thing,doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
TheGeneral
Roar Rookie
So you have a crystal ball. Carey average FC is 29,4. The comment that it is heading north is pure fantasy. The "sitter" that he missed in the second test was a full length dive to his right (not left), and he just got his glove to it. Thought he showed good judgement in the 3rd test, leaving to Warner for 3 of his catches when it might have been iffy if he had gone for them. By the way Carey average in T20 13.9 and in ODI 40. Admit that is very good mostly made in the recent world cup, where his keeping was average.
James Butcher
Guest
Unless you’re Joe Burns or Kurtis Patterson
Fair point, but watch the replay. I think most people would reckon the DRS got it wrong, hit his front pad first then glanced on to his back pad making it look like it turned more than it did. This is from an Aussie, I dont think it was plumb.
PeteB
Roar Rookie
I’d back Australia with Smith back in the side. But it’s most likely going to come down to the team that gets the best of the conditions at the time. Winning the toss and making the right decision to bat or bowl will most likely play a big part.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Agree with this - just shows the old tactic of trying to give the established batsman the single to get the number 11 on strike doesn't work in the age of T20 cricket. Captains and bowlers are going to have to be more inventive in these sorts of sitiuations in future.
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
paine fc ave 28 (heading south) carey fc ave 31 (north) paine dropped a sitter off burns to his left in test 2 and missed a sitter to his right (cant remember batsman) in test 1, between him and first slip and he didnt get close. panicked as captain and lost match. has 2 matches to prolong his career. (and a wicketkeeper would have no idea if someone was sandpapering a ball of course)
AREH
Roar Guru
Agree about discarding after a single test, I hate seeing that, even if Harris looked in all sorts. Can understand though in doing so given this next test is everything. I don't even think two is enough, and thought they would persist with Bancroft for one more minimum. Instead they went sideways. England may often get batting selections wrong, but even if so, they back who they punt on until certain - even Roy has had four consecutive looks at it, despite one fifty from eight knocks.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
England may get a bit cocky after that win which all came down to the superhuman efforts of one individual in Stokes. They have a lot of flaky players in their team and I reckon Lyon has Stokes measure. They went into this Test super confident with Steve Smith missing from the Australian side but were well behind in the game for most of days 2, 3 and 4.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
I thought Harris look more composed than Bancroft who was a rabbit in the headlights in the previous two tests. There is no way that he will be back. Agree that England's batting still have issues that have been papered over by Stokes's amazing innings. Both openers looked hopelessly out of form as is Butler and I still think Root, Denly and Bairstow are vulnerable.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Great stuff Ronan - some calm perspective after all the recriminations and soul searching after what was a pretty devastating result. As you've indicated there are a lot of positives to take out of the match - we should probably not have been in the game after posting a relatively low first inning score so to bowl England out under 70 was an amazing achievement. Dave Warner seems to have his mojo back after taking some brilliant catches and making a 60, Hazlewood is in wonderful bowling rhythmn and Marnus Labuschagne was a revelation. I also thought Lyon showed his class during the Stokes onslaught. Most of the batsmen got starts in the second innings but some could have put on a few more. I was disappointed with Cummins and Pattinson on the final day. They bowled far too short. I was also pretty disappointed with the fields set for Stokes when he was batting with Leach which put no pressure on him whatsoever and the ridiculous burning of the review when Cummins obviously pitced outside the leg stump. Hopefully Tim Paine learns quickly from this and agree he has copped too much unecessary criticism. I wouldn't be making too many changes for the Fourth test apart from bringing in Smith and Siddle for Pattinson and either Wade or Khawaja. Will be interesting to see who they drop out of those two. Khawaja has so much ability but gets out so meekly at times. Just wish he would use his feet more and get in behind the ball rather than those lazy wafts outside the off stump. I think we are still in this. Many have written our chances off but this team has shown some pretty amazing resilience to come back from seemingly hopeless situations.
Kandeepan Arul
Roar Rookie
It appears that that the poms have been busy backing their team to win the next test match. If the odds are anything to go by England will be starting as warm favorites for the next test match. Bit hard to fathom since Smith coming back far outweighs Anderson’s inclusion. At 37 it is hard to think that Anderson could still have a major impact with the ball. As impressive as Stokes’s innings was his overall test average of 36 over 55 tests indicates he is due for a run of low scores.
Nudge
Roar Rookie
Yes you can drop Harris after one test. Everything is on the line so you pick your best 11. To me he looked intimidated and all at sea when batting. Khawaja while not going on to make a significant contribution doesn’t look intimidated while out there. I think his record is incredible as opener but think that is from a small sample size. I think Harris will also be down on confidence after throwing to the wrong end and missing a tough chance in that last hour. England’s batting is still very poor. Woakes may get dropped for Anderson so every chance Archer will bat 8 Broad at 9. Long tail. Burns May have run his race now, Roy if not dropped can’t buy a run, Root is struggling but could come good, Denly struggling as well. Butler and Bairstow don’t seem in great nick and then their is Stokes. He’s obviously in cracking form but he usually gives you a chance at some stage. We just got to take it. In my mind the next test is 70/30 to England and if they win that one, the last test is 80/20 to England. So for me, I reckon it’s about 50/50 with who ends up with the ashes