Young all-rounder Cameron Green was left out of the bowling attack during day five, and was not asked to bowl an over until late in the second session, with questions over whether he is carrying an injury.
“There’s no other explanation,” Shane Warne said on Fox Cricket. “After Lyon and Starc today, he would’ve been my first change bowler. And he hasn’t bowled.
“Maybe he’s only been told he can bowl if absolutely necessary … it just doesn’t make sense otherwise, does it?”
After Mitchell Starc ended his second stint with the new ball, Green was finally brought into the attack with England needing to survive 35 more overs, but that simply raised more questions as to why he hadn’t bowled earlier.
“Cameron Green, within three balls, has looked like one of the most dangerous bowlers we’ve had all day,” Warne said.
But captain Steve Smith cleared up the mystery after play, confirming the coaching staff hadn’t wanted Green to bowl at all on the final day due to his workload through the opening two Tests, with Boxing Day in mind.
Steve Smith saying the 'guys inside' didn't want Cam Green to bowl at all today. Solves that one.
And huge wrap for Starc leading the attack with Cummins and Hazlewood missing.
— Tony Harper (@toneharper) December 20, 2021
Carey concedes costly chance
Unlike his English rival, Alex Carey had been enjoying a flawless series with the gloves but he made a cardinal sin for wicketkeepers on Monday when he let a catch fly between himself and first slip David Warner.
The 30-year-old South Australian gloveman, in his second Test, watched on as a nick from Jos Buttler off Mitchell Starc sailed to the boundary for four.
It was at catchable height for both players but they each thought the other was going to go for it.
Former Test captain Ricky Ponting said on Seven’s Ashes coverage there was no doubt that Carey should have been the one who took care of the chance.
“As good as Carey’s been, 100% that was his catch. First slip should never take too many catches to his left,” he said.
Buttler should have been on his way for a duck, which would have made it a pair for the Test, but he got off the mark in fortuitous circumstances.
He has then stuck around, anchoring the English fightback to take the second innings into the last session of the match.
Poms concede selection errors
England have finally conceded what the rest of the cricketing world has been telling them repeatedly – they’ve stuffed up their team selections.
After losing four wickets late on day four to be on the brink of their second straight emphatic defeat, bowling coach Jon Lewis said they had also misjudged conditions for the day-night Test in Adelaide.
They expected more swing. And less spin. They got more spin. And less swing.
Facing a target of 486, they resume on Monday at 4-82 with neither hope of victory or forcing a draw.
“The wicket is obviously turning,” Lewis said after Sunday’s play. “And we felt the ball would move around under the lights a little bit more than it has.
“In hindsight, you might say we should have picked a different side. But at the time, we felt like we picked a team that would win the game.”
But at the time, England ignored the warnings of Adelaide Oval’s head groundsman Damian Hough. On match eve, Hough was asked if England would make a mistake by not playing a specialist spinner.
“Yeah, I think so. History says that the pitch will spin,” Hough said. England then named a team without a specialist spinner.
Which led to the sight of England paceman Ollie Robinson bowling some off-spin on Sunday. “It wasn’t in the plan,” Lewis said. “However he has done it before, he has done it at Sussex.”
In fact, Robinson had bowled 26 overs of off-spin for Sussex in his career.
Lewis likened England’s bowlers to a racehorse returning from a spell.
“The guys are, I would say, short of a gallop in terms of we didn’t get any middle time in the warm-up games,” he said of a preparation ruined by Queensland rain. (But) the guys should be getting better by now.”
England were roundly criticised for leaving their nation’s two greatest wicket-takers of all time, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, out of the First Test at the Gabba.
They also elected to rest their fastest bowler, Mark Wood, for the Adelaide Oval clash and now face the Herculean task of winning the three remaining Tests to wrest back the Ashes urn from Australia’s grasp.
“At the moment I would say the guys are in pretty good spirits in the context of what has been happening,” Lewis said.
English cricketers play well and win game in Australia
No, that’s a true headline. English cricketers Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood were on fire, scoring runs and taking wickets in Australia on Sunday night.
The only problem for the Test team was that they were turning out for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League.
Billings found the boundary 10 times as he smashed 64 to pace the Thunder’s 7-196 against the Brisbane Heat.
This is turning out to be some debut!
4-9 and still two overs to come for Saqib Mahmood! #BBL11 pic.twitter.com/xUOINCGeP6
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 19, 2021
Mahmood then destroyed Brisbane’s batters, taking 4-9 with his opening two overs before finishing with 4-22 as the Heat fell well short on 143 at the Gabba.
The paceman was considered unlucky not to get a spot in the Test squad and with the Poms playing so poorly, they could do a lot worse than to call Mahmood, and Billings for that matter, into the team for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
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