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Australia have an embarrassment of riches but I can’t see how England can dig their way out of the hole they’re in.
We’ve still got Josh Hazlewood to come back into this team but the Poms have already chopped and changed their side.
Only bad weather in Sydney or Hobart can save them now from a 5-0 whitewash.
I thought Australia would wrap up the third Test today to seal the Ashes but I didn’t think it would be done so quickly.
I’ve already described the English batting as mediocre but to get bowled out for 68 was humiliating.
Joe Root and Ben Stokes started the day well. Stokes had changed his set-up trying to find some form but how good was that ball from Mitch Starc to get rid of him.
Starc’s scrambled seam deliveries are an extra string to his bow he’s added.
The main advantage when you bowl with a scrambled seam is that you don’t know how it’s going to deviate off the pitch so what hope does the batter have.
They’re basically fast spinners. With scrambled seam you’re angling it for a cutter but you’re actually bowing it like you’re swinging it but it won’t swing because you’ve got the seam angled so acutely.
High-class batters can see swing movement in the air whereas scrambled seam moves very late.
There was nothing wrong with the pitch – England can’t blame that. It had a bit in it but it wasn’t one where you’d expect a team to get knocked over for 68.
I used to watch Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure back in the 1980s but this was Bolo’s Excellent Adventure today.
Scott Boland claims the inaugural Johnny Mullagh Medal. (Photo by Darrian Traynor – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
How good was it to see Scotty Boland tear through England in his debut?
To think he woke up Christmas Eve just loving being around the squad and by that night, Tony Dodemaide, who was the last Victorian to debut in a Boxing Day Test, is telling him that he’s in.
He bowled well in the first innings to get Mark Wood out. Unbelievably enough he had 1-48 which was the same figures Dodders had in his first innings. He finished his with six wickets in the second innings too but it cost him a lot more runs so there’s some symmetry there.
I thought getting two wickets in an over at the end of day two would be the highlight of Boland’s Test but there was more to come today.
He hardly bowled a bad ball, kept it in the challenging channel.
His spell today is up there with Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne among the best MCG moments ever. I thought he was going to end up with more wickets than runs conceded but you can’t be unhappy with 6-7.
He then wins the Johnny Mullagh Medal – as an Indigenous player, it was perfect.
It was a really good selection by Australia.
I don’t like rest and rotation but it looks like there’s a chance Mitch Starc will rest in Sydney. If Josh Hazlewood is good to go again he should come straight in and if he needs more time, bring back Jhye Richardson because he will be bursting at the seams after his five-for in Adelaide.
England made wholesale changes for this Test so where to now for them?
They had got their bowling selections wrong for this series, particularly in the first two matches but that’s irrelevant if you don’t have any runs to defend.
If it’s a flatter pitch at the SCG so their batters should be able to spend more time in the middle but I can’t see how they can avoid the series whitewash.
We saw none of the fight needed from the English batting. There’s no hope of scoring enough runs to win a Test match.
They just need to try to get little wins within these last two matches. To force the game into a day five is a win for them. Be competitive and try to rebuild for the future.
They’re in a world of hurt. It will be hard for them to take anything out of this series.
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