I looked at my phone, and it was 65/2. Let’s watch a bit of ‘BazBall’ I said to myself – and by the time I got down the stairs, it was 76/4. A moment later, Joe Root chucked it away with a loose drive, and it was 76/5. While I had my first cup of tea of the day, wrapping myself in blankets and scrabling to get the heating on, I wondered about the quality of batting in this game.
Root’s shot did not help, and I considered going back up to bed. He does not look himself yet – perhaps all the talk about Root’s record down under is having an impact. He has 4 test matches left to show his class, and he just needs to remember that while his record in Ausralia is not too bad – better than Graham Gooch’s. But his shot today was poor, and I quickly saw that his was the third loose off drive in 15 minutes after Ollie Pope and Harry Brook.
Don’t get me wrong, we have seen some great bowling, and sometimes it is the balls between the wickets that is the difference that leads to the poor shots later. But for me, its been poor shots from Zac Crawley, Pope (twice), Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse (twice), Mark Wood, Travis Head, Cameron Green…..and I am pretty sure I have missed some.
At the other end of the scale – Root (first time), Stokes (second time), Jake Weatherald, Steve Smith and Usman Khwaja got good balls.
Somewhere in the middle – I have some sympathy for Brook in the first innings and Jamie Smith in the second – both done on the pull shot when they did not quite go for it. For those two, the lesson is clear – go for a full-on pull/hook or leave the ball alone – do not be half-hearted.
What we have seen so far (except those two pull shots) is overly aggressive batting by England and overly defensive batting from Australia. Despite various ridiculous comments coming out of India about the Perth pitch, this pitch is not that bad (Spoiler India – your dustbowl pitches are bad). No, down in Perth, it is all about the lack of application and quality with the batting.
While I have been writing, England managed to drag themselves up to 164 all out, setting England a target of 205 for Australia. To be honest, it does not feel like it is going to be enough, but it is the highest score in the game
Right now, my 5-0 prediction is still safe.
What screen is the third umpire watching?
Shortly, Jamie Smith was given out caught on the pull stroke by the third umpire on DRS. This followed 5 minutes of video replays that showed quite conclusively that Smith missed the ball. It was very clear to see.
The commentators felt that the thirs umpire was influenced by Smith’s willingness to walk on without histrionics when it was given. I think Smith got it right – go with what the umpires say, even when they so obviously get it wrong. Otherwise, the crowd would be on him all series as another ‘moaning Pom’. It is even worse when you look at Marnus Labuschagne’s non dismisal yesterday on the review.
The umpires should never be affected by the player’s facial expressions – that just encourages players to try it on and ‘cheat’ – it leads to more appeals, less batters walking, and more catches being claimed unfairly.
We can not blame the players when the umpiring is so poor.
Cricketed 