the ashes
2015
batsmen Moeen Ali added a very useful
39, he is making an argument for moving
up the order. England finished on 312 all
out, a differential of 254.
My day at Lords started with Chris
Rogers and David Warner at the crease
as Australia looked to carry on building
an unassailable lead, rather than force the
follow on. In the second over of the day
I believe Chris Rogers suddenly looked
to be in difficulty and sat on the ground.
Rogers had been hit on the head in the1st
innings, and had suffered the same fate in
the West Indies. It has since been said this
wasn’t delayed concussion, but if there’s
any doubt on that he should be rested,
concussion can be a killer or life changing!
I do hope he’s well and we see him
opening at Edgbaston. He was closing in
on his half century when he ‘collapsed’
but was led from the pitch on 49.
Warner was joined by Steven Smith,
the pair were a delight to watch, it was
a pleasure to see shots from Smith that
you’d expect to see in a T20 game rather
than a test match at Lords! Warner was
more circumspect and scored a great 83
before he was caught by Cook from the
bowling of Ali, he’s becoming something
of an issue for the opener.
Michael Clarke joined Smith, he’s a man
in need of runs having been out for 7 in the
1st innings he was not out 32. Smith fell to
Ali - that part time bowler - having scored
58 - a superb test for the man back at the
top in the World. Mitch Marsh joined
Clarke and scored 27, including two huge
6’s into the members sitting at the front of
the pavilion, before his captain declared,
having doubled the Australian lead
they were 254 for 2 - England had taken
only 10 wickets over both innings! And
amazingly Jimmy Anderson didn’t have a
single wicket to his name.
And so in came the England openers, I’m
very concerned that I might just be typing
a huge row of here - so I’m going to keep
this brief like England’s innings. I think
I’ll just sum this up as quickly as possible
- England needed to play a calm innings,
they were highly unlikely to make the
total set, but there was an outside chance
to draw the game if weather intervened.
Well, they must have had a day trip
planned for Day 5! Did they come
remotely close to the 500 plus? No they
didn’t - they were all out for a frankly
shameful 103!
A mention for a wonderful throw by
Mitch Johnson striking the stumps at
some speed - he ran Stokes out, he seemed
to be in his crea se - but was up in the air
when the ball struck as was his bat! A
schoolboy error to say the least!
A superb performance by the Australians
- to come back in such a fashion after their
loss in Cardiff has to be admired.
“A mention for a wonderful throw by
Mitch Johnson striking the stumps at some
speed - he ran Stokes out, he seemed to
be in his crease - but was up in the air
when the ball struck as was his bat!”
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