Zak attack: Crawley clobbers century as 'sloppy' Aussies pray for rain to save Manchester massacre

A swashbuckling 189 from Zak Crawley has spearheaded England’s surge into a position of dominance after two days of the fourth Test, putting Australia to a sword on a day that will live long in the memory of a packed Old Trafford crowd.

Coming off just 182 balls, Crawley rode his luck, regularly inside-edging past his own stumps and reaching three figures with a control rate of just 64 per cent; but in the perfect encapsulation of England’s ‘Bazball’ mantra, the opener, touted pre-series as the weak link in an imposing batting order, could not have vindicated Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s faith in his abilities in stronger fashion.

Together with Moeen Ali (54) and Joe Root (84 off 95 balls), Crawley’s monster knock steered the hosts to a commanding 4/384 at stumps, a lead of 67, after the England pace attack had made short work of Australia’s tail to start the day.

The visitors, meanwhile, looked bereft of ideas on what is surely their worst day of Ashes play since being skittled for 60 in an era-defining disgrace at Trent Bridge to surrender the urn eight years ago; with Pat Cummins looking burdened by the weight of captaincy for the first time and every plan of attack mercilessly ransacked by Crawley and company, a staggering 178 runs in just 25 overs during the middle session represented the moment Australia lost its grip on the series.

As a pace-heavy attack, having controversially left out sole available frontline spinner Todd Murphy, offered no challenges to the red-hot English trio, it was a day on which everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Adding injury to insult, a series of heavy knocks endured by Mitchell Starc, the left-armer appearing to struggle with lingering hamstring and ankle problems throughout the day before hurting his shoulder in the closing stages making a diving stop, could further weaken Australia’s position should the fifth Test become a must-win affair.

From dropped catches – Cummins himself the culprit on two occasions, including one where he failed to pick up a mistimed Moeen pull to his right to let it land safely – to misfields and everything in between, it was an utter nightmare for Australia in all facets, the day summed up by a late overthrow after Cummins, lost in thought, failed to back up at mid-on.

“They have been sloppy, haven’t they, Australia? Probably their poorest day of the series,” former England captain Nasser Hussain said on Sky Cricket.

“They have been scrappy. Dropped catches. Fielders haven’t picked up balls. Lots of players waving their arms around.

“Often when you look down on the Australian side historically you know who the captain is, whether it be [Mark] Taylor, [Allan] Border, [Ricky] Ponting, [Mark] Waugh.

“If you look down today there have been a lot of cricketers waving their arms around trying to help their captain, Cummins.”

As his captaincy also comes under criticism aplenty, with everything from his regularly reactive fielding placements to a failed short-ball assault to Root in particular, to failing to bowl Mitchell Marsh to Crawley, having knocked him over twice at Headingley, until the opener was well past three figures, this was without question Cummins’ darkest day in what has been a fine start to his captaincy.

With the pitch already showing signs of wear – Root denied a second century for the series by a wicked low shooter from Josh Hazlewood – the Aussies’ last hope of salvation rests with the Manchester forecast.

A heavy deluge predicted for Days 4 and 5 of the Test, with light rain a chance on the third day as well, could provide them with the draw needed to retain the Ashes – because if one thing is certain now, the Australians themselves seem out of energy and ideas to muster the rearguard required.

Things could hardly have got off to a better start for England, Cummins falling to the day’s first ball with a chipped drive to cover to hand James Anderson his first wicket at his home ground.

Chasing a maiden five-wicket haul against Australia, Chris Woakes appeared to have finished the job and secured his milestone when Hazlewood edged to slip with the score on an even 300 – but a no ball would reprieve the Australian number 11, and prove the one misstep by the hosts for the day.

Together with Starc, Hazlewood would add 17 runs before Woakes would at last have his man, caught at third slip by Ben Duckett to close the innings and bring the resurgent all-rounder a richly deserved five-for.

With Crawley hitting the first of an eventual 24 boundaries off the first ball of England’s innings – though a glove past Alex Carey down the leg side may have been the least authoritative of them – the hosts’ hunger for quick runs was instantly clear.

Duckett, though, continued his rough run this series outside Lord’s when his nervous prod off Starc took the outside edge through to Carey for 1; 1/9, though, would be as good as things got for Australia.

Promoted up the order to number three in the second innings at Headingley and then again for Old Trafford, Moeen belied his poor Test run-scoring record over a number of years from the outset.

A regular at first drop at County level, the all-rounder certainly looked the part, punishing anything wide and unveiling a series of classical cover drives, all the while dodging Australia’s expected short-ball attack with unwavering patience.

The day’s flashpoint arrived when Crawley, beginning to look nervous after a solid start, was adjudged LBW by umpire Joel Wilson after missing a Hazlewood nip-backer.

However, having endured a rough run with the DRS with three successive calls going against them on Day 1, luck continued to go against Australia, Crawley’s review successful as the ball was found to be sliding down leg side – adding another poor decision to Wilson’s already spotty Ashes history.

Having been outpaced by Moeen through to lunch, with England 1/61, Crawley seemed to take it personally after the break.

Taking to Cameron Green with successive boundaries, the first narrowly clearing Usman Khawaja in the gully and the second imperiously driven down the ground, the opener, on 26 from 46 at lunch, needed just 21 more balls to reach his half-century, reversing Travis Head’s first ball for four to bring up the milestone in style.

The part-timer’s introduction brought with it an upping of the ante, Crawley taking Head’s next ball for six over mid-wicket to begin the most devastating onslaught of the series to date.

With Moeen reaching a well-made 50, his first in Tests since 2019, before falling to an exceptional Khawaja catch at short mid-wicket, the breakthrough would only bring Australia further pain as Joe Root arrived.

Having been quieted since a rampant century on the first day of the series, England’s premier batter was in a mood to feast on the excellent conditions and flagging attack, an emphatic pull for four off his first ball as Starc went short but not short enough the first of many.

Crawley, having mixed edges past his stumps with wild hacks outside off, all interspersed between some of the day’s most sparkling shots through cover and mid-wicket alike, brought up his maiden Ashes century in fitting fashion: attacking Cummins off a length and spooning a mistimed carve that landed safely in the covers, his celebration was tinted with sheepishness as he acknowledged both the applause and the ordinary shot that had brought it about.

Zak Crawley celebrates reaching his century. (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)

But Crawley’s gung-ho approach only accelerated after three figures: playing with the freedom and aggressive intent that are the conerstone of Bazball, he’d continue to throw the kitchen sink at everything he possibly could, with a retreating Australian field gave ample opportunities for singles in between.

As Cummins’ field placements began to fray – encapsulated by his movement of Mitchell Marsh to deep point in response to a wild Crawley heave through that region for four, only to have his next shot land precisely where the all-rounder had been previously – neither Root nor Crawley struggled to either rotate the strike or find the boundary with regularity.

Closing in on 50, Root even indulged in his pet shot, audaciously reverse-ramping Marsh over deep third man for six.

From 1/61 to 2/239 in a single session, with Root 44 off 35 balls and Crawley 132 off 128, the remaining deficit was immaterial: England had taken the match by the scruff of the throat, in what may be the first totally one-sided session of what has up until now been a remarkably even series.

Aside from an early appeal for a catch at slip that was found via video replay to have missed Root’s bat entirely, the third session was more of the same for the beleaguered visitors.

As Crawley brought up 150 with a serene drive down the ground off Cummins, his second consecutive boundary as the captain’s figures continued to take a battering at greater than run-a-ball pace, it was officially party time for a Manchester crowd baying for blood.

With the opener slogging Marsh audaciously down the ground for a one-bounce four, then going one better with a swiped six through the line over long on, a second Test double-century looked inevitable.

On 189, though, Crawley’s luck will at last run out; with the stand at 206, the highest of the series by some way, his latest attempted carve through the covers was brought undone by uneven bounce, inside-edging back onto his stumps.

Congratulated to a man by the Australians as he departed, Crawley, the subject of criticism aplenty after a lean run in the 2022 English summer, had well and truly sewn up his spot for the foreseeable future – and with the equally aggressive Harry Brook the new man in the middle, the fun looked set to continue.

However, what followed would be a circumspect end to a dominant day, England seemingly content with the glut of runs Crawley and Root had gorged on in the middle session: with Australia’s plans shifting from taking wickets to minimising the damage, England’s middle-order bosher would reach stumps without a boundary to his name.

Not helping the push for quick runs was a pitch beginning to show signs of wear, Root’s sparkling innings ended on 84 when an innocuous Hazlewood length ball skidded wickedly low under his back and into the furniture – an eerily similar dismissal to his fall in the second innings of the fifth Test in Hobart in the last Ashes series, though with the scoreboard looking substantially more favourable this time around.

Even Stokes looked content to stay steady until stumps, though the captain found his way to a pair of boundaries, one through point and the other behind square, to reach the day’s end unbeaten on 24.

Officially run ragged, with Starc finishing the day off the field with a shoulder injury to add to the Aussies’ despair, a final over from Marnus Labuschagne was safely negotiated, while showing the sort of uneven bounce that England’s bowlers will have noted with great interest.

Down and out for the Test, and possibly the series, it now seems Australia’s best hope to retain an urn now well and truly slipping from their grasp is to pray for rain, and lots of it.