- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
If England fans thought their dire tour of Australia couldn’t get any worse, news that captain Joe Root suffered an injury in the nets ahead of day three in Adelaide might just prove them wrong.
Root was reportedly hit in the testicles while taking throw-downs before play began on Sunday afternoon at the Adelaide Oval. He wasn’t wearing a box.
The skipper didn’t take the field with the rest of his teammates at the start of play on day four, with Ben Stokes leading the team in his stead.
It never rains … pic.twitter.com/2LqEPoyJCx
— Peter Lalor (@plalor) December 19, 2021
It’s the latest horror blow for England in what is fast becoming a tour from hell. Root so far has been one of the few bright spots for the visitors, managing two half-centuries to improve his 2021 runs tally to 1606 – the third-most ever recorded.
From the ECB just now: England captain Joe Root will not be on the field at the start of play today after being hit in the abdomen during throw downs in the warm-up before play. He is currently being assessed by the England medical team. #Ashes
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) December 19, 2021
While Root returned midway through the afternoon’s play, he was still clearly handicapped by the injury, failing to get a hand to a tough chance at slip off Labuschagne soon after coming on.
Worse was still to come shortly before stumps, with the captain copping a full-blooded hit to the unmentionables from Mitchell Starc, and instantly hitting the floor in agony.
That has floored Root.
Ouch. #Ashes pic.twitter.com/JSbsdr9Z76
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 19, 2021
Root would take several minutes to recover, only for the cricket gods to show no mercy. In Starc’s next over, the last of the day, Root would feather an edge through to keeper Alex Carey to all but extinguish England’s hopes of forcing a draw on day five.
Robinson’s ‘f—ing village’ bowling change raises eyebrows
It’s something you see on occasion in park cricket: the opening bowler switching to spin after a hard morning’s work.
But in a Test match?
(•_•)
<) )╯QUICK
/(•_•)
( (> BOWLING
/(•_•)
<) )> SPIN
/Ollie Robinson, everybody! #Ashes pic.twitter.com/Uoa4bwnRF2
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 19, 2021
With regular spinner Jack Leach dropped from the England team for the second Test, and part-time option Joe Root missing the early play on day four after copping a blow in the nets, it fell to Ollie Robinson to switch from his usual seam-up to send down some more than handy off-breaks at Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head.
Whether it was to fix England’s always concerning over-rates issue, or just to test left-hander Head against the ball spinning away from him, Robinson would only concede five runs from his first two overs, tying down Head in particular.
However, after being milked for six singles in a row in his third, the experiment was shelved.
The move was quickly deemed ‘f—ing village’ by The Grade Cricketer author and podcaster Ian Higgins on social media. It was hard to disagree.
If the ICC feed goes down again and Ollie Robinson continues to bowl offies with sunnies on we are literally watching 4th grade
— Ian Higgins (@1an_Higgins) December 19, 2021
In a coincidence, Labuschagne himself is known for switching between pace and spin during games, though in his case, his usual off-breaks are on occasion discarded in favour of the longer run-up. It was even too good for Test teammate Cameron Green in a recent Sheffield Shield encounter.
Get the feeling Cameron Green is going to be hearing absolutely heaps from Marnus about this one all summer long #SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/6BHAg7MVmF
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 13, 2021
‘Buttler-fingers’ endures bizarre morning with screamers and shells
The last thing you want when Steve Smith comes to the wicket is to drop him first ball.
And to make matters worse, England thought they had him out the following delivery but he was spared by the barest of margins.
The miserable Adelaide Test continued for English keeper Jos “Buttler Fingers” when he dropped a one-handed chance off the first delivery Smith faced from the bowling of Stuart Broad.
After a couple of costly fumbling efforts in the first innings, Buttler had actually taken an athletic diving catch the previous delivery to get rid of opener Marcus Harris for 23.
Smith was then trapped in front by Broad from the second ball he faced in an almost identical fashion to his dismissal for 93 in the first innings.
“How lucky is he? Unbelievable,” said former Test opener Matthew Hayden.
Umpire Rod Tucker adjudged the LBW not out and England appealed to the third umpire. The ball was adjudged to have been hitting the stumps but Smith was hit in the “umpire’s call” area on off stump, meaning the on-field decision was upheld.
Former ICC umpire of the year Simon Taufel on Seven said Smith was lucky but the correct decision had been made.
“The benefit of the doubt here goes to the umpire’s decision on the field, not benefit of the doubt to the batter,” he explained.
????️ Audio ????️
Simon Taufel explains the umpire's viewpoint for England's review of Steve Smith's LBW #Ashes pic.twitter.com/k03gN0a9he
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 19, 2021
“As we know with these types of decisions and if you look at the replay, you’ve got the off stump line obscured by the batter’s pad. It’s a really difficult judgment for the umpire to pin-point exactly the point of impact in line with off stump.”
Taufel said the DRS is designed to get rid of the shocker, “it’s not designed to change or overrule umpires on marginal decisions on field”.
“It’s very much a marginal call because technology is not 100% accurate, there is some element of degree of error within all ball-tracking and all ball predicted path.”
Buttler ended up enjoying a rare victory when Smith clipped an Ollie Robinson delivery down leg side and the keeper made a full-length dive to his left to dismiss the Australian stand-in skipper for six.
Laughs aplenty as Smith’s cricket obsession perfectly captured by wife
Acting Australian captain Steve Smith famously can’t get enough of cricket during the day. Tales of him shadow-batting throughout the night on overseas tours and struggling to sleep due to nerves have become legendary for arguably the best batter since Don Bradman.
Steve Smith (Photo by Getty Images).
Wife Dani Willis knows Smith’s habits better than most, but even she thought the latest round of Smith testing out a new bat at almost 1 in the morning was worthy enough to share on her social media.
Steve Smith’s wife catches him shadow batting at 1am in their hotel room.
???? Instagram/dani_willis #Ashes pic.twitter.com/5COJlUWiJt
— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) December 18, 2021
If it helps you get a Test average of beyond 60… whatever works, Steve.
England’s selection savage as 2-0 deficit looms
The visitors’ batting has drawn much of the ire of critics thus far this series; but their bowling, having seen Australia score in excess of 400 in both first innings, has been equally disappointing.
Having been slammed for leaving out veterans James Anderson and Stuart Broad at the Gabba, the Poms have once again copped it from former greats Shane Warne and Mark Waugh on Fox Cricket… this time for resting/omitting the pacy Mark Wood in Adelaide.
“The problem with England is they keep thinking ahead. Any chance of them playing the Test matches in front of them?” Waugh said.
“They’ve picked five bowlers [who are] exactly the same here. I don’t know what the think tank’s doing. Unless Mark Wood had a niggle, he had to play here.”
“There’s history that he can’t play back-to-back Test matches,” Warne teased.
“Then throw their computer into the Torrens River!” Waugh replied. “I’m sick of their computers and analysts, get rid of them.”
Warne agreed with Waugh’s scathing verdict, adding: “The other thing with Mark Wood, he actually worried David Warner, he worried Travis Head.
“I just don’t understand if they were watching the same game we were.”
According to the champion leg-spinner, Wood’s return for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne should be one of three, or even four, changes England make, with wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and opener Rory Burns in the firing line.
“Wood has to play- he just has to play, he’s the first one picked,” Warne said.
“I think you have to play a spinner, it’s going to be flat down in Melbourne and Sydney. You can’t pick them for one Test, have 140 on the board, then drop them- you can’t treat a spinner like that.
“Whether it’s Dom Bess, because Australia’s got four left-handers in the top seven, or they go back to Leach and give him another chance.
“And in the batting – Zak Crawley, he has to open the batting. He’s a good player, he’s made a Test double hundred against a good attack. Burns has got too many moving parts.
10 year old boy watching Rory Burns in the nets: "Do you like cricket??"
Rory Burns: "sometimes mate"
— Josh Bristow (@JoshTBristow) December 18, 2021
“[Unless] Jos Buttler comes out and makes a hundred in the second innings… I think the [Jonny] Bairstow conversation will definitely be happening too.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.