2 December 19, 2021The Sunday TimesCricket The Ashes: Second Test
MALAN c SMITH b STARC 157-4
T
his was another chastening
day for the England team
and their supporters. In
batting terms, they began
with their best session of the
series, Dawid Malan and Joe
Root playing serenely and
adding 123 with few alarms.
But what followed was their worst in
terms of runs scored, as first Root and
then Malan departed and all momen-
tum dried up.
The speed with which the initiative
can switch hands when this England
side are batting is something to
behold. Where would they be without
Root or, since his return to the side
four matches ago, Malan? England’s
best total in their past 11 matches (432)
came against India at Headingley,
when Malan and Root put on 139. In
Brisbane they added 162 and here
their alliance raised the score by 138.
But at the Gabba the team still man-
aged only 297 and here it was a mea-
gre 236. What happens when these
two fail to get set together?
In a sense we already know the
answer to that. Since scoring 578 in
the first innings in Chennai in Febru-
ary — a total built on a massive contri-
bution from Root — England have
been dismissed ten times for under
200 and their collective batting aver-
age for 2021 stands at 23.65, the fourth
lowest in any calendar year since 1910.
Strip out Root’s 1,606 runs and that
figure would be much lower still.
The failures of Ollie Pope and Jos
Buttler, who fell in quick succession
after Root and Malan departed, were
perhaps the cause of most concern as
they have long been regarded —
despite the often paltry statistical evi-
dence to back the argument — as
among the most gifted strokemakers
in the country. Do they have the nec-
essary Test-match temperament?
That question hangs in the air.
Australia must be delighted with
the way the match-ups are falling into
place. Cameron Green is having suc-ENGLAND’S PITIFUL RETURNS
Minimum three Tests per year. *As of yesterday.AverageLowest team average for England
in a calendar year since 1910Hundreds1950
6 Tests 21.35^41999
8 Tests 22.33^21972
7 Tests 23.21^02021*
14 Tests
23.65 71998
16 Tests 23.88^111988
10 Tests 24.36^42019
12 Tests 24.33^6SIMON
WILDECricket Correspondentcess against Root, Nathan Lyon
against Pope, and Mitchell Starc is all
over Rory Burns and Buttler. Buttler’s
aggressive counterattack in the first
innings in Brisbane is a distant mem-
ory, his errors behind the stumps
doubtless having eroded his confi-
dence. Starc did for him as he had in
the first Test, angling a ball across him
after giving nothing away for 14 balls.
During a remarkable spell in the
middle session, Lyon accounted for
Pope, who again resembled a cat on
the hottest of roofs when dealing with
spin, against which he averages 15.6
this year. Given out at short leg off
what transpired to be his elbow —
Pope’s review was instantaneous — he
was sharply caught by Marnus Labus-
chagne in the same position two balls
later as he skipped down the pitch.
Root must look upon the chaos
around him like a parent supervising
errant toddlers. He cannot be blamed
for the shortcomings of his col-
leagues, who have managed one cen-
tury among them to his six, but there
continues to be a gap in his career CV.
A first Test hundred on Australian soil
has eluded him in three tours and
here, where the circumstances could
hardly have been more auspicious, he
let the opportunity slip for the second
time in the series. It cost his side dear. ROOT c SMITH b GREEN 150-3Stokes sums up
the touring team’s
frustrations as his
2½-hour stay at the
crease is brought to
an end by fellow
all-rounder GreenLAMBS
LY O N
AGAINST
Spinner and Starc prey
on old shortcomings as
eight wickets fall for 86
Remarkably, given that he had
never taken a Test wicket before this
series, Green was again the source of
Root’s downfall, as he had been in
Brisbane when Root scored 89.
Green’s height means he can extract
bounce, even with an old ball, and he
has the knack of shaping it away.
When, three overs into the second
session, Green produced a jaffa that
bounced and left him, Root was
clearly disconcerted. Sure enough in
Green’s next over, Root on 62 hung
back slightly, opened the face and
steered a catch to second slip. It
seemed an extraordinary aberration
but it was created by the passage of
play that preceded it.
Root banged his bat into his pad in
fury and trudged off, no doubt fearing
— correctly as it turned out — that he
had let Australia back in, while ruing
his failure to convert. He stands level
with two other top-order England
batsmen, Tom Hayward and Nasser
Hussain, with no hundreds and eight
unconverted fifties down under.STOKES b GREEN 220-9