(^) Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019
78 THE ASHES THIRD TEST^ 1 DAY TO GO
JASON ROY became the latest
Ashes batsman to be struck on
the head yesterday but looks
sure to recover in time to take
his chance — perhaps for the last
time — at the top of England’s
Test order.
The opener was hit on the neck
during practice when a delivery
from Marcus Trescothick, invited
to join the coaching staff here,
with the side-arm ‘dog-ball
thrower’ bowling aid reared up
at him in the Headingley nets.
It came after Australia’s Marnus
Labuschagne was also struck on
the helmet again yesterday, this
time by team-mate Mitchell
Starc, and followed hot on the
heels of Steve Smith being ruled
out of tomorrow’s third Test with
concussion.
Roy appeared unhurt and passed
an initial test by England’s
medical staff, but in the current
climate of extra concern over
LANGER
RULES
OUT A
BOUNCER
BATTLE
RATTLED
THE ASHES
PAUL
NEWMAN
Cricket Correspondent
J
ustin Langer was
yesterday forced to
accept the loss of the
world’s best batsman
for the pivotal third
test — then insisted that
australia would not seek
retribution at Headingley.
the australia coach perhaps did
not choose the best words when
he said it was a ‘no-brainer’ for
steve smith to be ruled out of
tomorrow’s all-important ashes
clash with the delayed concussion
he suffered at the hands of a
brutal Jofra archer bouncer.
But Langer was adamant that
australia’s formidable pace attack
will not seek revenge for the
absence of the man who proved
almost impossible to get out
before england’s overnight sensa-
tion floored him at Lord’s during
an extraordinary test debut.
‘We’re not going to get caught up
in an emotional battle of who’s
going to bowl the quickest bounc-
ers,’ said Langer. ‘We’re here to
win the test match, not see how
many helmets we can hit. that’s
the truth. We know what our plans
are to beat england and we will
stick to them.’
it was Ben stokes who told
australia after the eventful draw
at Lord’s to prepare for more
bouncers from archer when battle
resumes in a third specsavers test
england cannot lose if they are to
stay in the ashes hunt.
But, unusually, australia refused
to indulge in a war of words yes-
terday as the tourists’ friendlier,
touchy-feely, post-sandpapergate
approach continued with their
coach taking the absence of smith
on the chin, so to speak.
‘Mike atherton said a really
interesting thing to me the other
day,’ said Langer. ‘that we seemed
a very different australia team
this time. He said, “in the past you
puffed your chests out, grew
your beards and were all tough,
bowling as fast as you could. this
isn’t as macho as before”.
‘so we’re not here to see how
many bruises we can give. You
can’t get out with a bruise on your
arm. We will pick the team we
think can win this test on a wicket
we believe will be quite slow.
‘i’m sure the bouncer will still be
part of every bowler’s armoury
and if it helps get a batsman out
we will use it. Otherwise, we’ll
stick to the plan.’
N
Ot that Langer wasn’t
impressed by archer,
who changed the whole
momentum of this series
with his searing bowling that
has given england realistic hopes
of now being able to overcome
australia’s 1-0 lead.
‘We were expecting James ander-
son to swing and seam the ball in
this series and we would have to
be really tight in our defence,’ said
Langer — one of australia’s great
opening batsmen. ‘instead, Jofra
has brought a different dimension
to the game.
‘We saw how quick he bowled
but his economy rate was incredi-
ble. it was unbelievable, skilful
bowling and he bowled some fast
bouncers in between.
‘that’s test cricket, that’s what
gets you, that’s what we love
about it. You know you’re awake
and you know you’re alive when
you’re facing fast bowling. it’s
bloody brilliant.’
For the sake of the ashes as a
spectacle, it is a great shame
smith will not be able to continue
his absorbing duel with archer,
but common sense prevailed when
the australia medical staff decided
yesterday the former captain
should be withdrawn.
‘it was pretty simple,’ said
Langer. ‘When we followed the
protocols he was a couple of days
away from being fit for selection. a
lot of work has gone into concus-
sion protocols over a number of
years and the fact we now have a
substitute shows how far we have
come. at the end of the day it was
a no-brainer.’
Langer has no regrets about the
controversial decision to allow
smith to resume his innings
around 45 minutes after being
struck by archer — even though
he looked worryingly out-of-sorts
on his return.
‘He passed all the testing and
had a smile on his face,’ said the
coach. ‘He was confident he could
play and tests backed that up.’
australia expect smith to face
Derbyshire next week with a view
to returning in the fourth test at
Old trafford and in his absence
Marnus Labuschagne, who did so
much to save the second test for
the aussies, will come in.
Labuschagne, the concussion
substitute who almost needed a
substitute himself when he was
also struck by archer at Lord’s,
was hit on the head by Mitchell
starc in the nets yesterday but
appeared unhurt.
australia, of course, have an
impressive array of fast bowlers
themselves and James Pattinson
is expected to return tomorrow at
Leeds in place of Peter siddle.
there still appears to be no
place for the World Cup’s leading
wicket-taker starc, who may be
forced to wait for what should be
the quickest pitch of this ashes at
Old trafford next month. it was
spin bowler nathan Lyon who was
seen at Headingley yesterday look-
ing with approval at what appears
to be a slow, dry third test pitch.
it sounds like a wicket, then,
that should not really suit archer.
But as he showed at Lord’s, he can
find pace on the most sluggish
of surfaces.
M
Mark rOBinsOn has paid
the price for a disastrous ashes
by being sacked as england
women’s coach. the former sussex
chief led england to World Cup
glory two years ago but his side
have stagnated. assistant coach
ali Maiden takes charge.
M
WOrLD CuP winner Liam
Plunkett has decided against
retiring from internationals. the
surrey paceman will be 37 at the
next World Cup in 2023, but
believes he still has a future in
limited-overs internationals.
I FEARED ANOTHER TRAGEDY, SAYS BAYLISS
TREVOR BAYLISS was scared another Phil
Hughes tragedy was unfolding when Steve
Smith was struck on the back of the neck by a
Jofra Archer ball during the Lord’s Test.
Bayliss was the New South Wales coach in
2014 and was at Sydney Cricket Ground
when Hughes was struck on a similar
part of his neck by a short ball.
Hughes later died in hospital as a
result of his injuries.
Smith has been ruled out of the third
Ashes Test with concussion as a
result of being hit. Bayliss (right)
said: ‘It certainly brought flashbacks from that
game when Hughesy got hit. I went to check on
Steve in their medical room when he came off.
‘It’s something you never like to see and I was
just glad to see him get to his feet. We all hope
he will be fit to play in the next match.
‘When he fell to the ground just for that
split second, it was fairly similar to what
happened with Phil. You look at the
reaction of those around him. You could
see there was a different reaction to
that day a few years ago.’
PAUL NEWMAN
Sitting it
out: Smith
with an
Aussie
rules ball
at training
yesterday
PA
Australia will not try to
match pace ace Archer
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