England 258a/o 1st Innings

• Burns 53
• Bairstow 52
  • Hazlewood 3/58
  • Cummins 3/61

Australia 250 a/o 1st Innings

• Smith 92
• Khawaja 36
  • Broad 4/65
  • Woakes 3/61

England 258/5d 2nd Innings

• Stokes 115*
• Buttler 31
  • Cummins 3/35
  • Siddle 2/54

Australia 154/6 2nd Innings

• Labuschagne 59
• Head 42*
  • Archer 3/32
  • Leach 3/37

What a test match we witnessed. A thrilling rain affect match full of emotions and excitement. So good to see a player of Jofra Archers caliber in the side. He is what test match cricket needs, the excitement that he offers is great for the game. He was on a different level on his debut, bowling a stunning spell of pace and bounce. His quickest ball of the test was up at 96mph!! Archer had the batsman in all sorts of trouble, pinning Smith several times before he had to leave the field after failing a concussion test. Labuschagne, was on the end of a vicious bouncer second ball which smashed him in the grill. Luckily, he was ok and able to continue.

Jofra seems to deceive batsman with his effortless run up and action. He sort of ambles to the crease, and runs through his action without a massive bound, so it is tricky for the batsman to know what he is going to do. Archer bowls his stock delivery from close to the stumps which nips back into the right-hander. So when he bowls a short ball, it is coming back at you even when you try to sway out of the way. He truly captivated the whole of Lords, emptying the bars and food outlets, and kept fans rooted to their seats just as Flintoff and KP did. As an England fan, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Archer and England.

Steve Smith missing the Headingly Test is a massive loss for Australia. He is the glue that holds them together and has scored around 40% of their runs this series. England will definitely fancy their chances and must take advantage. No matter what your thoughts on Steve Smith are, nobody likes to see a player get hurt in that fashion. Unfortunately that’s the nature of the game and these things do happen but hearing some fans booing him when he return to the field was ridiculous. Questions however, do need to be asked of the Australian Team Management, for letting Steve Smith return to the field after failing concussion testing earlier in the day. If Smith failed the on field test, the likely hood of delayed concussion is far greater. The ECB concussion protocol states that “You are up to three time more likely to sustain a further concussion or other injury due to impaired thinking, reaction time and balance”. So letting Smith back on the field is, in my opinion, putting him at further risk. Player safety is paramount and Cricket Australia should have gone against his will and kept him off  the field. 

The result of a draw could have been a lot better but also could have been a lot worse. With three tests remaining, England now need to win at least 2 of the remaining 3 Ashes tests to regain the Ashes. Australia on the other hand only need to win one more test to keep hold of the Ashes, which makes the Headingly test a very important one. 

Broad and Woakes also bowled well again. Broad claiming a hat trick of dismals of David Warner as Warner continues his horrible form. Don’t write Warner off though, if he starts firing he would be a great asset for the Aussies. On Day three, it took England bowlers a while to get into their bowling rhythm, bowling too short when the conditions suited bowling full and getting the ball to swing. I am also not a fan of bowling around the wicket to the left handers. Don’t get me wrong I know that Broad likes to get the ball to straighten against the leftie trying to pin them on the pads, but when you have 4 slips and a gully I think it is a waste. Woakes started bowling over the wicket to the lefties and soon got the wicket of Khawaja caught by Bairstow. 

Burns and Bairstow saved us with the bat in the first innings, as Burns continuing his good recent form and Bairstow finally starting to tick. Ben Stokes also got his name on the honours board at Lords in the our second innings, following his 115*. What a knock! Just when we needed it too. Fair play to him, as he looked very scratchy at the start of his innings but dug in a scored a fabulous ton. He is having a great summer with the bat following the World Cup and that is transferring into the Ashes series. Hopefully he can continue his form, as England will definitely need him if they want to win the Ashes. England ended up declaring on 258/5d and leaving Australia needing 268 runs to win. 

Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne saved the day for Australia as the provided resistance to the sharp pace and bounce of Jofra Archer. Labuschagne also went down in history as he became the first player in history to be a concussion substitute. 

Unfortunately England couldn’t produce the win but hopefully they can go one further at Headingly. England are likely to keep an unchanged side for the next test, although I hope the batting order changes. I would like to see Jason Roy dropped to 3 or 4 and open with Joe Denly. This will hopefully give him more of a license to play his natural game. Plus Joe Denly has a cracking technique and may be more suited to playing the new ball. Some of the players that needed to perform, started to pull it out the bag, but Jason Roy needs to show application and patience. The Aussies will test Roy out with the short ball and I would prefer him to get out taking it on rather than getting in a poor position and fending it off.