It was also Australia’s third-highest margin of victory over England in terms of the number of runs following wins by 562 runs at The Oval in 1934 and 409 runs at Lord’s in 1948 in teams which boasted batting great Don Bradman. Those fears have been justified in the Second Investec Ashes test at Lord’s.
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But both batsmen have been tried by England before and been found wanting.
But if such a plan had indeed been hatched, it backfired spectacularly at Lord’s.
The 405-run victory margin at Lord’s was the biggest by runs in an Ashes match since 1948, and the fourth biggest of all time. In the first innings Marsh took the two key wickets of Cook and Ben Stokes. On a pitch which had was widely written off as a featherbed when England’s attack toiled to little effect in Australia’s first innings, the tourists extracted lift and bounce with Johnson’s extra pace marking him out as class above anything England could muster.
“Eight times in the last seven tests England has been 50 or less for 3 after 15 overs”, said ex-captain and opener Mike Atherton, pointing out a problem that threatens to cripple England.
South African-born English cricketer Kevin Pietersen has lashed out with a series of mad tweets at England’s hierarchy, labelling his omission from the Three Lions” Ashes squad as “ridiculous’.
Jonny Bairstow, busy compiling a century for Yorkshire while England were bundled out for 103, is making a persuasive case for a recall and Bayliss did not deny that potential changes will be discussed when the selection panel meets on Tuesday to pick a team for the third Test at Edgbaston, which begins a week on Wednesday. Although replacing a player of Bell’s experience is a hard thing to justify.
“They are obviously good players – the reason they are in the team is that they are thought of as the best players in England but there are some good players on the outside”, said Bayliss.
“You always have to remember the state of the series after a defeat like this. They play under enough pressure, and I’m certainly not going to add to that”.
Woe betide any groundsman from now on who errs on the side of blandness.
Mitchell Johnson took three wickets in each innings, while Josh Hazlewood picked up five wickets in the match after Steve Smith had scored an outstanding double century in Australia’s huge first innings total of 566-8 declared.
After producing an excellent all-round performance to pull off a surprise 169-run win over their arch-rivals in Cardiff, England were completely outplayed on a similarly flat pitch. It didn’t work and Warner was gone for 38.
Chris Rogers was being monitored by doctors following his dizzy spell during the game at Lord’s with a decision on his fitness to come over the next week.
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101-8 – Stuart Broad almost slaps Lyon straight to cover in the 32nd over and at the end of the 34th he falls straight into the trap by failing to get sufficient air on his chip shot to avoid Adam Voges.
