Ben Stokes took another bite out of the Aussies with an audacious innings for the ages, but ultimately left Lord’s with a sour taste in his mouth.
Unlike his heroics at Headingley four years ago, or in the World Cup final just weeks before that, his one man batting masterclass could not find a way past this Australian team. And the fact that they won out against an inspired Stokes, a wound up Stuart Broad and a febrile Lord’s crowd making noises like no other, their 43-run win was even more dramatic than anyone could have imagined when they filed into the ground in the morning.
Just three Test matches remain in this series and at 2-0 down, England are already staring into the abyss as far as regaining these Ashes goes, because their consistently wild approach has been dealt with superbly by the best team in the world.
There was a germ of hope for the England supporters in the ground, many of whom had taken a £25 punt on there being some fifth day action, while kids were just £5 a pop, for people’s Sunday. They would have all gone to bed the night before praying for some Stokes magic and for a good four hours they got exactly that.
First there was the extension of the calculated and optimistic partnership with Ben Duckett that topped out at 132 when the Notts opener edged a short ball to the keeper having played it well until then. Then the arrival of Jonny Bairstow immediately got pulses racing, knowing that this pair had both the strokeplay and the character to test the Aussie mettle once more.
But it was the controversial removal of Bairstow for just 10, stumped off the quick bowling of Cameron Green that took this game and Stokes’ performance into another realm. From the final ball of the over Bairstow let it go through to the keeper, marked his ground and then walked out of his crease to have a chat with Stokes, as is entirely normal.
He did not realise that Alex Carey standing back had immediately thrown the ball at the stumps and, well out of his ground, he was given out. Technically he was out. And lots of former players including four former England captains described the act as a variation on a ‘dozy’ theme.
But both Bairstow and Stokes were deeply unimpressed, so too was the crowd, and so three was Broad when he got to the middle to agitate and irritate the Aussies, telling Pat Cummins: “That’s the worst thing I’ve seen in cricket.”
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This was the same Broad who, in the Ashes 10 years ago edged the ball to slip via the keeper’s gloves and stood his ground waiting for the umpire to make a decision. Perhaps irony gets lost in the heat of the Ashes battle, but it meant that any idea that this would continue to be the ‘friendly Ashes’ was now long gone.
After the match Stokes said that he had some concerns over the way the Australians had won the game, but in the moment the only way to express his feelings of anger was with the hammer blow of willow on leather. Nine times he sent the ball hurtling over the boundary rope for six, and each one was hit with the venom of injustice.
The crowd responded in equal measure, and there surely cannot have been a louder cheer all game than when Steve Smith - player of the match for his first innings century - dropped a catch when Stokes had made 114. The England captain continued to manage the chase with superhuman concentration, adding 108 with Broad who contributed just 11, until the luck and the judgement ran out.
Carey took the catch from a sliced top edge and Hazlewood had his man. The end came swiftly enough after that, and despite the entertainment, England have an even bigger mountain to climb in Leeds.
