England International Summer including the World Cup

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Hammered by 251 runs Lyon 6-49

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Olly Stone now injured

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LORDS 2ND TEST 14/8/19 TO 19/8/19



England squad for second Ashes Test: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes.

Australia's squad for the second Test: Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Tim Paine (capt) Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner

[apm51054]

Chance of play on first day seem to be remote

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Men's Ashes: Second Specsavers Test, Lord's (day two of five)
England 258: Burns 53, Bairstow 52, Hazlewood 3-58
Australia 30-1
Australia trail by 228 runs

England's fragile batting again buckled on day two of the second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord's.

Opener Rory Burns made a battling 53, only to be part of a collapse of four wickets for 46 runs that left the home side 138-6.

England partially recovered through a stand of 72 between Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes.

Bairstow was also helped by cameos from debutant Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, before becoming the last man to fall for 52 to leave England 258 all out.

Australia lost David Warner, bowled by Broad, to close on 30-1, but will be the happier side after captain Tim Paine won the toss.

espite the entire first day being lost to rain, bowling England out on this second day leaves the tourists handily placed to go 2-0 up in the series.

Further rain is forecast for days three and four and England may have the advantage of bowling last on a pitch showing signs of turn, but that benefit would only come into play if they can restrict Australia's first innings, then bat better at their second attempt.

This was a day when Lord's was turned red for the Ruth Strauss Foundation, a charity established by former England batsman Andrew in honour of his late wife.

Many of the crowd wore red, which was also the colour of the boundary, sponsors' logos and the names and numbers on the shirts of the players, who presented special caps to Strauss before play began.

While the sight of Strauss and his sons was poignant, it was also a reminder of the steady decline in England's Test batting since he retired seven years ago.

With the sun shining and the pitch showing no obvious demons, it was a surprise when Paine opted to bowl. Perhaps he wanted an early look at an England line-up that collapsed in the second innings of the first Test; perhaps he felt the best way to win a shortened game was to try to bowl the hosts out early.

Whatever the reasoning, the tourists grabbed the upper hand through the relentlessness of their bowling, which exposed the flimsy defensive techniques of most of the England top order.

Even though Broad got through Warner, who was booed off, the tourists survived Archer's much-anticipated first spell in Test cricket to come through a tricky final hour only one down.


England's day got off to a horrible start, with Jason Roy playing one of the worst three-ball innings you could ever see from a Test opener. A wild slash at Hazlewood was followed by a play-and-miss, then a poke to be caught behind.

After Joe Root was trapped on the crease to be lbw, Burns and Joe Denly battled to 76-2 at lunch to leave England marginally on top.

Burns showed the grit and patience that brought him a century at Edgbaston, but Denly was less secure and when he edged a beauty from Hazlewood to depart for 30, the slide began.

Burns was magnificently caught one-handed by a diving Cameron Bancroft at short leg off Pat Cummins, a worryingly out-of-touch Jos Buttler edged Peter Siddle to wicketkeeper Paine and Ben Stokes was lbw sweeping off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

Bairstow, on the back of four single-figures scores, and Woakes, previously so successful with bat and ball on this ground, steadied with stout defence and careful accumulation.

But when Cummins opted to go short at Woakes, a top edge for six was followed by a glove behind, leaving Bairstow with brief moments of support before he heaved Lyon to deep square leg.


Hazlewood was omitted at Edgbaston, but led the Australia attack superbly, none more so than in an opening spell when it seemed like every ball could take a wicket.

His line was immaculate and the ball moved both ways off the seam. Roy and Denly edged balls that nipped down the Lord's slope, while Root was lbw to one that came back up the hill.

Hazlewood was supported by the hostility of Cummins - all of Burns, Woakes and Archer fell to short balls - the nagging full length of Siddle and the guile of Lyon.

That is not to say the tourists were without fault. Burns was dropped twice - on 16 by gully Usman Khawaja and on 47 by a diving Paine, with Siddle the bowler on both occasions - and Warner spilled a tough chance with Broad on one.

Warner's form with the bat is also becoming a concern. The left-hander has now been dismissed by Broad in all three innings of the series, this time seeing his bails trimmed by one that scurried between bat and pad.

At the other end, Archer was roared in by the Lord's crowd and gave Bancroft some uncomfortable moments at speeds touching 90mph.

However, Bancroft and Khawaja held firm, meaning the prolific Steve Smith - scorer of twin centuries at Edgbaston - is still to come.

How's stat?!
Rory Burns has scored the most Test half-centuries (three) by an England player in 2019.
Stuart Broad has dismissed David Warner three times for 11 runs in 29 balls in this series. In the Ashes series played in 2015 & 2017-18 Broad bowled 309 balls to Warner without dismissing him once (for 139 runs).
England's team contains a record seven players whose first name begins with a 'J' - Archer, Bairstow, Buttler, Denly, Leach, Root and Roy.

[apm51054]

Aussies 90/4 at the close

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Men's Ashes: Second Specsavers Test, Lord's (day four of five)
England 258 & 96-4: Cummins 2-16, Siddle 2-19
Australia 250: Smith 92, Broad 4-65
England lead by 104 runs
The second Ashes Test is poised for a thrilling conclusion after a memorable fourth day in which the fast bowlers of England and Australia illuminated Lord's.

In a ferocious spell in which he touched 96mph, England debutant Jofra Archer struck Steve Smith on the neck and forced the world's best batsman to retire hurt on 80.

Smith returned 40 minutes later but, clearly shaken, shouldered arms to be lbw to Chris Woakes for 92 as Australia were bowled out for 250 - eight behind.

Pat Cummins used his own pace to remove Jason Roy and Joe Root in successive balls and, although Rory Burns and Joe Denly steadied England, both fell to Peter Siddle.

At the end of it all, England scraped to 96-4 - a lead of 104 - leaving all four results possible in a Test where the entire first day and most of the third were lost to rain.

To be out of danger, England will probably need to bat beyond lunch on Sunday.

But it may also be that their best chance of winning is to run through an Australia side chasing a low target, potentially without Smith, who, as well as being hit on the neck, required an X-ray on his left arm.

The finale will be played out on a pitch that is showing increasing signs of uneven bounce and in front of a sell-out crowd with the weather set fair.

After England were heavily beaten in the first Test, Sunday could see them back in the series, or the Ashes as good as gone.

Lord's has witnessed some incredible cricket this summer: the astonishing World Cup final, Ireland bowling England out for 85, and Jack Leach making 92 as a nightwatchman.

This ranks alongside them all and served as a perfect example of how exhilarating Test cricket can be when ferocious bowlers produce pace that rattles even the best batsmen.

The battle between Archer and Smith was sporting theatre, with the sickening blow suffered by the former captain leaving a previously baying crowd in worried silence.

The next act was Smith's surprising return, with Cummins then bringing his own fire and celebrating as if the Test was on the way to being won.

As England battled to stay afloat, the drama grew through two David Warner dropped catches and two lbw appeals from off-spinner Nathan Lyon that should have been given but were not reviewed.

In gathering gloom that necessitated the use of the floodlights, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler doggedly took the lead past 100 and left the match hanging in the balance.

Until lunch, it seemed inevitable that the prolific Smith would nudge, shuffle and occasionally drive his way to his third century in as many innings and put Australia into the lead.

That was all changed by Archer, who not only provided the pace that England have so badly needed in their previous battles with Smith, but also proved that the anticipation surrounding his entrance into Test cricket was worth the hype.

Archer had been worked over by Cummins when batting on the second day and dished out his revenge here. First he had skipper Tim Paine caught at short leg before striking a blow to Smith's forearm which required the X-ray but did not cause a fracture.

In the next four balls he faced from Archer, the uncomfortable Smith played three uncontrolled hooks and almost fended to short leg. From the fifth, the horrible impact to the neck forced him from the field.

When Smith was cleared by medical staff to make his return, Archer was out of his attack, but the batsman was clearly not himself. From the second ball he faced, he swiped Woakes into the leg side and, after a classical back-foot drive, edged another four.

Final proof that Smith was rattled came when his usual impeccable judgement failed, leaving him to play no shot to a straight ball from Woakes that would have hit middle stump.


Paine and Cummins made useful contributions of 23 and 20 respectively before Cummins hurtled in after tea.

Roy offered a leading edge which Cummins slid to take and, from the next ball, Root edged to Paine.

Burns and Denly added 55, the former gritty and latter occasionally loose. Denly was dropped on seven by Warner at first slip off Siddle, while Burns should have been given leg before to Lyon on 24.

Whereas Burns added only five more before got a lifter from Siddle that he edged behind, Denly took his score to 26 by the time he tamely patted back to the same bowler.

At 71-4, England were in real danger, but were seen through by Stokes and Buttler. Still, Stokes was dropped at slip on six by Warner and escaped being lbw, both off Lyon.


Former England captain Alec Stewart on TMS: "Absolutely even stevens at the moment. England need to be batting at lunch - can they get a 250 lead before bowled out?

"For that to happen Stokes and Buttler need to play like we haven't seen them bat so far in this series. Stokes was as bad as I have seen him play today but the good thing is both frontline batsmen are still there."

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan on TMS: "England can get another 100. But they could lose four wickets inside the first 30 minutes and it could be Australia are chasing 150."

[Admin]

Test a draw highlight Denly taking a riduculous one handed catch outrageous

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Headingley Cricket Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as Emerald Headingley Cricket Ground, is a cricket ground in the Headingley Stadium complex in Leeds, England. It adjoins the Headingley Rugby Stadium through a shared main stand, although the main entrance to the cricket ground is at the opposite Kirkstall Lane end. It has hosted Test cricket since 1899 and has a capacity of 18,350.
In 1902, Yorkshire beat the touring Australians by five wickets, after dismissing them for 23 in their second innings with George Herbert Hirst and Stanley Jackson taking five wickets each.

Donald Bradman's innings of 334 in the 1930 Ashes Test included 309 runs on the first day, and he followed it in the Australians' next test at Headingley in 1934 with an innings of 304.

Spinner Hedley Verity took 10 wickets for 10 runs in 1932 for Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire, still the best bowling analysis ever in first-class cricket. Verity had also taken all ten against Warwickshire at Headingley in 1931.

In the 1948 Ashes series, Australia scored 404 for three on the last day to beat England. Arthur Morris scored 182 and Bradman scored 173 not out.

In the Third Test against New Zealand in 1965 John Edrich hit 53 fours and 5 sixes in his 310 not out. Captain M. J. K. Smith declared before Edrich had a chance to pass Gary Sobers' Test record 365 not out, and England won by an innings and 187 runs.[2]

In the third test match of the 1975 Ashes series (a four-test series), early on Tuesday 19 August head groundsman George Cawthray discovered that campaigners calling for the release from prison of George Davis had dug holes in the pitch and poured oil over one end of the wicket. This led to the match being abandoned and declared a draw, denying England the chance to win back the Ashes.[3]

In the 1977 Ashes test, Geoff Boycott scored his hundredth first-class hundred. Four days later, by winning the same game, England won the series and regained the Ashes.

In the Third Test of the 1981 Ashes England were forced to follow on. However Ian Botham scored 149 not out, and then Bob Willis took eight wickets for 43, to give England an eventual 18-run victory. Two members of the Australian team had taken the 500–1 odds. This was only the second time in the entire history of Test cricket that a side had followed-on and won; something which would not occur again until 2001.[4]


In the Test of 1991, Graham Gooch scored a match-winning 154 not out, carrying his bat throughout England's second innings of 252, against the West Indies including Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

In a game they had to win to stay in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, the eventual cup-winners Australia chased down South Africa's 271 for seven after being 48 for three. Steve Waugh, who had been dropped by Herschelle Gibbs as he attempted to throw the ball up in celebration, scored 120 not out.[5]

In 2000, England dismissed the West Indies for 61 to win by an innings and in two days, with Andrew Caddick taking four wickets in an over. England won again seven years later in 2007, as Ryan Sidebottom took eight wickets for 86 in two innings as England subjected the Windies to their worst Test defeat ever, an innings and 283 runs.

In August 2001, England successfully chased 315 to beat Australia, with Mark Butcher scoring an unbeaten 173 as England won by six wickets.[6] However, in August 2009 in the 4th test of The Ashes series, Australia beat England in 2½ days by an innings and 80 runs. Australia took twenty wickets with an attack without a spin bowler. England's middle order batsmen (Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood) scored 16 runs between them in two innings.

On 17 August 2017, Yorkshire Vikings posted the highest ever T20 score in English domestic cricket of 260–4, with Adam Lyth scoring the highest individual score (161) in English T20 domestic cricket.

Twelve days later, Shai Hope scored two centuries in the test match between England cricket team and West Indies cricket team, making him the first batsman in first-class cricket at Headingley to score a century in both innings.


It hosted four matches at the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[7]

In Tests, the highest team score posted here is 653/4 dec by Australian national cricket team against English national cricket team on 22 July 1993. The leading run scorers here are Don Bradman- 963 runs, Geoff Boycott- 897 runs and John Edrich Stewart- 849 runs. The leading wicket takers are Fred Trueman- 44 wickets, Stuart Broad- 42 wickets and Bob Willis- 40 wickets.

In ODIs, the highest team score posted here is 351/9 by England against Pakistan on 19 May 2019. The leading run scorers here are Eoin Morgan- 477 runs, Joe Root-421 runs and Marcus Trescothick- 408 runs. The leading wicket takers are Chris Old- 12 wickets, Adil Rashid- 12 wickets and Ian Botham- 11 wickets.

Other events
Headingley Cricket Ground's first concert occurred on Friday 18 September 2015 when Ska band Madness performed in front of an audience of 7,500.[8][9]

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Pope in squad Roy's been hit on t'head

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England v Australia, third Specsavers Test (day one of five)
Australia 179: Labuschagne 74, Warner 61, Archer 6-45
England: Yet to bat
Scorecard
Jofra Archer took six wickets to help England bowl out Australia for 179 on a truncated first day of the third Ashes Test at Headingley.

Archer's 6-45, five of which came in the final session, reversed the fortunes of the home side after they were in danger of wasting ideal bowling conditions.

Either side of two lengthy delays for rain and bad light, Australia reached 136-2 thanks to a third-wicket stand of 111 between David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne.

But Archer, who made such an explosive debut in the second Test, had Warner caught behind for 61 to spark a collapse of three wickets for three runs.

Even at 173-6, honours seemed to be even, only for Archer to return once again and run through the tail. The last four wickets fell for six runs.

Labuschagne, in the Australia side as Steve Smith's replacement, battled to 74, but was lbw to a Ben Stokes full toss before Archer trapped Nathan Lyon leg before with what proved to be the final delivery of the day.

England, looking to level the series at 1-1, will be hoping to establish a match-winning first-innings lead on Friday.

Although Australia are on the back foot, they will know they are perhaps only one England batting collapse from going 2-0 up with two matches to play and thus retaining the Ashes.

This was a curious day, one when England's bowlers threatened to frustrate as much as the weather.

On a pitch which looks set to deteriorate enough to make batting last difficult, Joe Root opted to try to exploit the overhead conditions in a bid to get at an Australia batting line-up missing the concussed Steve Smith.

For long periods England were at risk of failing, especially as Warner and Labuschagne scored freely after tea, when the bowling was loose, the fielding ragged and Root's captaincy too aggressive.

Even the irrepressible Archer, given a hero's welcome in Leeds after his fiery debut at Lord's, was subdued early on, rarely touching 90mph.

However, if his bow in Test cricket showed that he possesses the exciting raw pace to trouble the best batsmen, his late intervention here was a demonstration of full length, seam movement and control.

The crowd cheered him all day - when he began a spell or even touched the ball in the field. By the end, as he led England from the field, the were saluting England's new bowling hero.

[richard]

I am certainly pleased England aren’t playing West Indies this year. Despite the latter’s fall from grace.

I must be one of an ever dwindling small number to have witnessed live and in person England’s 71 at Old Trafford in 1976 and the 46 at Port of Spain in 1994, the respective lowest scores against the WIndies at Home and Away.

I wouldn’t have been too hopeful of keeping that “record” the way things are going.

Incidentally. Is 85 against Ireland better or worse than 67 against Australia?

[Admin]

Possibly inability of batsmen to bat for long periods wonder why?!!!!

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George Dobell of ESPN nails it

Just as you wouldn't go to your butcher for your eye surgery or your vet for your vegetables, so you shouldn't be asking a middle-order batsman to open the batting in Test cricket.

Yes, we know Jason Roy can do the role in ODI cricket. But ODI cricket is played with a Kookaburra ball that barely swings. And it's played, on the whole, on pretty flat wickets where the bowlers gain little seam movement. It is, in short, a different game.

Opening the batting in first-class cricket is a specialist role. It's not so much about the shots you play as the shots you don't. It's about knowing which balls to leave, about having the patience to wear bowlers down and the defensive technique to withstand the moving ball. And if you don't have someone who can do that, you risk exposing a middle-order who may legitimately not have those skills, to the new ball and fresh bowlers.

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While Roy could, perhaps, learn the skills required to open in Test cricket, expecting him to do so at this level - and against an attack as good as this - is naïve to the point of recklessness. He does not open for England Lions and he does not open at county level. While Surrey did, briefly, experiment with him in the position, it was a ploy they abandoned in 2012. And it wasn't because he made it all look too easy. In all, he averages 31.65 in the role (which he last attempted, in just two innings, in 2015) in first-class cricket. He now has the second-lowest average (9.80) for an opener with five-plus innings in the Ashes since the start of the 1900s. Only Geoff Cook, who average 9.00 in the 1982-83 Ashes, is lower in that time.

Whether Roy has the appetite for the role is unclear. A couple of day ahead of this game, he spent much of his time in the nets trying to slog almost every delivery he faced into the stands. Maybe it was an exercise designed to build his confidence but, in the long-term, it is competence than breeds confidence. It rarely works the other way around.

It seems absurd that an England system that prides itself on attention to detail - this is the side, remember, that provided its players with a cookbook involving various quinoa recipes in a bid to ensure they were in optimum position - can take such a laissez-faire attitude to such a key position. And absurd they can go into such games, against such attacks - and we really do have to acknowledge that this is a terrific Australia bowling line-up - with such a makeshift solution despite their coach acknowledging ahead of the game that Roy is, in his view, better suited to the middle-order.

So it was irresponsible to pick Roy for this role. Just as it was irresponsible to ask Ollie Pope to bat at No. 4 - a position he had never fulfilled - in the Test series last summer. Pope, you may recall, came into the Test team having never batted before the 20th over of a first-class innings. He was used to batting at No. 6 for Surrey.

On both occasions, the over-promotion of Roy and Pope risked ruining a talented player. Nathan Leamon, the sometime England analyst, has previously talked of data that suggests that the longer it takes new players to achieve success, the less likely it is they will go on to enjoy long careers. Destroying players' self-confidence in the formative stages of their career could cause lasting damage. The fact that England are considering swapping the positions of Roy and Joe Denly - who looked so out of depth while batting on Friday that it was tempting to call the coastguard - is not especially encouraging.

In truth, Roy is probably not well suited to batting at No. 4 in Test cricket, either. It would be easier, for sure, but it would still require patience, technique and discipline. And while he is a man with many skills, the stroke that brought his dismissal here - edging a drive at one outside off stump that left him a fraction - did nothing to suggest he has those qualities. He might well prove best at No. 6. But England aren't looking for No. 6s.

Conditions were pretty good for batting on Friday. Yes, the attack was good and there was seam movement. But it was sunny and there was none of the swing that troubled batsmen on Thursday. England will be deluding themselves if they hide behind the conditions as a reason for this capitulation.

Ed Smith, the head selector who has pushed for Roy to open, Pope to bat at No. 4 and Denly to win an extended chance in the side, does not emerge from this situation especially well. He has previously defended his selection policy by stating "there has to be a compelling reason not to have one of your top players in the team". But such a naïve policy ignores the balance required to build a side; it ignores the specialism required at this level; it involved far too much wishful thinking. It just isn't working.

Ultimately, though, all these issues stem back to one fundamental problem: county cricket does not appear to be producing top-order batsmen of the quantity or quality required. Until they do, England's team management will always be looking for contingencies and England's middle-order will continue to be exposed. Eventually, the penny will drop at the ECB, that by eroding the primacy of the county championship, they have eroded their Test team's ability to compete. They are the ones to blame for these embarrassments. The team are simply the product of a broken system.

There are, however, some other options. There's Dom Sibley, of Warwickshire, who has churned out runs consistently over the last year and has the patience of an old-school opener. There's Zak Crawley, who looks a fine talent and plays the short ball particularly well, but who is very young, very green and, perhaps, a little vulnerable to expose at this stage. And there are the likes of Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman whose averages in the high 20s or low 30s are suddenly not looking all that shabby.

But increasingly, as you cast around the counties for options, you are reminded of Bob Dylan's great line: "All these people that you mention, I know them they're quite lame, I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name." It probably won't matter too much who England pick. The system is broken.

Sound like hyperbole? Well, this was England's lowest Ashes total since 1948 and their second-lowest since 1909. It was the fourth time in the Trevor Bayliss era that they have been bowled out for under 100; no other Test side has suffered such an indignity so often. It keeps happening. And if things keep happening, they can't be dismissed as an aberration.


There is a lack of respect for the old virtues of batting; for determination and patience and technique. And there is a lack of respect given to the county game which builds players; truly, the changes made in recent years amount to an act of vandalism. If the ECB truly care about Test cricket - oh, they talk a good game, but there's very little evidence of anything other than talk - they will acknowledge that you don't build Test success by focusing on white-ball cricket and you don't build a team by picking the most attractive stroke-makers. The ECB's policies played a key part in winning the World Cup, but are about to play a key part in losing the Ashes.

England's Test batting is painfully weak. Perhaps as weak as it has ever been. Unless the ECB have the courage to change the county structure - and yes, that includes backtracking on the monstrosity that is the white-ball window and accepting that the focus on The Hundred won't do a thing to help the Test team - it will keep happening.

[Admin]

22 AUG 2019INTERNATIONAL TEST MATCH SERIES - DAY 2 OF 5
England
First innings 67 all out
Close
Australia
First innings 179 all out
Second innings 171 - for 6 wickets (57.0 overs)
Close - Australia lead England by 283 runs with 4 wickets remaining