The Ashes Daily: A 'gruesome' day for England as hosts close in on victory

0:00Nas:Oh, that's that. That is from Crawley. Chris Wokes nails it for four. The Ashes alive and Test cricket alive.

0:08Ath:Ice in his veins. Pat Cummins has led his team to a famous victory. Yeah, go! Down, he gets his goal. It's our landing. England's captain, Ben Stokes. While he is there, England have hope.

0:21Nas:Put the beer away. Put the champagne on ice. 24 years of pain in Australia. Finally they're beaten at home by England.

0:32Ath:Well, the end of a very gruesome day for England here at the Gabba. The crowd are streaming out here down Vulture Street. We're getting plenty of abuse tonight, I can tell you. One bloke's just shouted, have a bowl, Nasser. Another one said, tell them to pitch it up, Ather. So there were a few unmentionable sledges as well. But it was a gruesome day, a perfect day for Australia. We'll kind of go through it chronologically, but just the overall view, that's a perfect day for Australia, and they were sniffing a three-day victory there at the end.

1:03Nas:Yeah, out-bowled, out-batted, out-caught, out-thought. I don't know where you want to start, but completely and utterly outplayed from start to finish. I mean, if I start with the bowling there, if you compare, I know they're bowling under lights with a new ball, but did you see any short and wide? Did you see any uppercuts? Did you see any cuts, any pulls? Pitch the ball up, as the gentleman just said as he walked past. Pitch the ball up, challenge, top of off. The catching, everything you nick, they catch. The thinking, the thought process. Earlier in the day, when they lost those two early wickets, the way Scott Boland batted with Mitchell Stark, they both realised which was going to be better to be bowling with the new ball, at half three or six o 'clock in the evening.

1:50Nas:six o 'clock under lights obviously with the new ball so they just batted time and occupied the crease and it made it the perfect day the perfect timing if England's bowlers lower order had been batting earlier today would they have had the thought process to say we've got to play differently we've got to just bat time because that will be beneficial to us later in the day no they would They carried on playing the same way, smashing it and been bowling by half three. But they've completely been outplayed and outthought.

2:22Ath:Let's start with Mitchell Stark because he's obviously having a wonderful Ashes. Player of the match at Perth, 16 wickets in the three innings before he went out to bat in this first innings for Australia. But he's no mug with the bat, is he? He's got a Test match 99, he's got an 80 somewhere else. I think the 99 was as long ago as 2013 in Mahali. but I think he overtook Stuart Broad today as well for the most number of runs by a number nine in test cricket. So he's got a bit of ability but as you say he showed a lot of nous today because essentially he tried to farm the strike initially from Scott Boland didn't he?

2:58Ath:They turned down a lot of singles and as you say the main aim was as much about time as runs to try and extend that innings as long as possible.

3:06Nas:Absolutely and he's generally an attacking player. When you've seen him get runs, he comes in swinging, he slog sweeps the spinners, he opens up the offside. He just left it when they bounced him, he just ducked out the way. Occasionally, when Field came on, that's when he took him on and took the boundary option. But that's what I mean about the smartness of this Australian side, the way they think. And it wasn't like real deep, meaningful thinking. It was the most obvious. We said it last night here. England are going to have to be good tomorrow because for the first time in the series, they may be batting against the new ball under lights.

3:41Nas:So I just think they are so smart at those given situations, those moments. You mentioned it on the first day, Harry Brook. Harry Brook, you know, Steve Smith had saved Mitchell Stark for so long for that moment to Harry Brook to come on under lights. And Harry Brook didn't have that thought process of going, now is the time I leave the ball and make sure that Stark doesn't get me at this crucial phase. I know you want to go through it chronologically but again

4:09Ath:we'll come to Pope

4:12Nas:you thought my process there we'll come to those two

4:15Ath:but we were very critical of England's bowling on the second day particularly in the first session when they were consistently short and wide and the ship runs at more than six and over how about their bowling today was there any sign of improvement or not?

4:31Nas:I thought up front again they set the tone as in they'd realised like after tea yesterday, we've got to make sure we just try and bowl a little bit fuller. And they did that for a little while. And I don't think you can fault their effort and their heart. There's some things that have been said today that I disagree with. There's some things that have been said today, oh, you look at their body language and they're not running between the overs and they've given up and their heads have dropped. I didn't see that from England. There was one that went up in the air and Joffre was a bit on his heels, Joffre Archer and he didn't get there.

5:05Nas:But I didn't see a side that gave up, which you sometimes get in Australia. We both know that. I saw a side, Brydon Kars, he ran in every ball and gave it everything. I will criticise them for their skills and how they bowled yesterday. You can't criticise them for their heart and effort. Stokes, every time he has a ball in the hand, he keeps coming. Searing heat and humidity, four seamers, maybe tactically um maybe a bit of jacks against the left-hander of stark and not putting the field

5:37Ath:he spun one or two quite sharply and at that point you thought well this is making look that a mission of nathan lion even worse actually although it didn't it's not turned out to be so

5:47Nas:no and maybe not spreading the field so much to start try and get stark out keep the field up and then maybe stark would play the big shot so maybe some tactical things but i didn't see him giving up. I didn't see the lack of heart or effort. I thought Brian Kars kept going. It just wasn't coming out well for either him or some of the other bowlers.

6:08Ath:So that lead was stretched to 177 in the end, Australia making more than 500. And it meant that they came out to bowl for 28 minutes before that second break, just about the perfect time. And certainly as a kind of former opening batsman, I slightly feared for Duckett and Crawley in that 28 minutes I wondered where the start would get it hooping but actually there wasn't that much there and I don't know whether you you what I was watching Mitchell start quite carefully and he was kind of feeling his side and stretching and England got through that period nicely and you thought well there's a there's a chance here after tea but it didn't

6:45Nas:turn out like no I thought they got their tempo spot on and it didn't do much but obviously everything was so perfect for Australia today because they made it perfect because how they've played throughout the test match you know as a captain you want to give your bowlers two bites of the new cherry so that's what they get so if they don't do it right before tea or dinner or whatever you want to call it they get it again later and that's what they did and I thought Smith I think Smith is an excellent captain by the way I think he realized well it's not swinging and everyone's talking about swinging and Starks hooping it.

7:17Nas:It doesn't. So I'll go to my hit the deck, seam bowl, as Scott Boland does that very well. And there are a few cracks on this pitch. So they went to Scott Boland, who hit the deck, and he got one to grub against Duckett. And then...

7:31Ath:Duckett was a bit unlucky, wasn't it? I mean, to get one to go under Duckett, that's got to keep pretty low. I noticed that the local feed here have a kind of wicket on spool, if you like. You know your wicket from the West Indies. Carl Hooper. Carl Hooper got you. They have one for Blewett, I think, here, that they roll out every time there's a grubber. Anyway, he was a bit unlucky, Ben Duckett. Ollie Pope wasn't. No. You could see that wicket coming a mile off. I mean, just to explain how he got out, he chipped one back to Michael Neeser. But two balls before, he edged one, dog it over the slips.

8:06Ath:And two balls before that, he drove on the rise, over cover, and was nearly caught by Josh English. You could kind of see it was inevitable.

8:14Nas:Bizarre. Utterly bizarre. And before that, Duckett was nearly caught and bowled early on. He was put down. He was put down. So there's something in your brain that, however positive we're going to be, driving on the up on this surface now is not easy. We've seen that. He spoke to me on interview the other day about how from the last game he's had to learn that there are certain shots that you have to put away. on there the drive on the up is not the shot to be playing you're absolutely spot on he nearly got caught on ball first or second ball he hit it over inglis at cover diving nearly injured his shoulder he nicked one on the up over slip and i was sitting in the press box and i thought to myself what is going through his head now when he nicked it over slip i thought are you thinking i've got away with that put it away now put it away i've got away with that i didn't get away with it in Perth.

9:08Nas:I got out to that and it started to collapse. Put it away. That's what I would have been thinking. And what does he do? Goes down the other end, drives on the up, closed bat face, caught and bowled one for 90, becomes two for 90, and same as Perth, Crawley does the same and the collapse comes.

9:26Ath:I was listening to Simon Cattich on local radio actually, works for SCN Radio he's a pretty good analyst I think Simon. He was talking before the dismissal actually about Pope's bat plane he calls it the one that went over cover he said the bat is often turning in his hand and he doesn't seem to have a consistent bat swing and we've often talked about him being slightly kind of frenetic and jerky at the ball is that a consequence do you think of pressure and tightening up yeah under pressure skittish he looks skittish again today he looks

10:02Nas:like he had hard hands today but you can have all of that i read jeffrey boycott in the week about and he used i used the tiger woods analogy the other week and he used one about jack nicholas about when asked what is the what is your most important club in the bag and he said the head and that's what i question ollie pope when you've seen that half hour as you say if me and you up in the press box can see a wicket coming how can ollie pope himself not say if i carry on batting like this i'm gonna get out put that shot away for a little while you know the great players do that steve smith does it joe root does it put it away for a little while he doesn't he believes that if you keep doing it he'll get away with it if you keep doing the same things you'll get the

10:49Ath:same result and more wickets fell obviously big ones Joe Root and Harry Brook on whom kind of last hopes rested but it was that it was that passage of play for 20 minutes the dismissals of Pope and Crawley that then opened the door for everything that followed yeah but you know the game long

11:07Nas:enough actually what happened today is a consequence of what's happened from the very first day we We rightly applauded brilliant innings from Joe Root on the first day and we mentioned Zach Crawley. But the Harry Brook dismissal opens the door for wickets. Wide wafting outside the off stump, Ollie Pope first innings, angle back, drag on to the stumps. So they end up slightly below par on first innings. They should have maybe got 400. So they're below par. Then they go out and bowl the way they do. So they're now way behind the game. Then they drop five catches. First time round the Gabba, getting 10 wickets is hard.

11:46Nas:Getting 15 is seriously hard. So they're right behind the game then. Then they're batting under lights. And you know, each mistake you make is a small one. But by the time you progress through the test match, it catches up with you. And it's caught up with this England side in this test match.

12:03Ath:Any way out of this?

12:04Nas:Well, it has to be another Stokes genius. They play the extra batter who bowls a bit of spin in Will Jacks. And they all bat a little bit. But this pitch is now doing a bit. It would have to be, yet again, Stokes doing something utterly remarkable. If not, England are 2-0 down. And to add to their woes, Pat Cummings says on TV today, he's going to be fine for Adelaide.

12:29Ath:I don't know whether you've been following events at Allen Border Field as well. The Lions are getting an absolute shellacking by Australia. Nathan McSweeney got a double hundred today. Now, there were no runs for Jacob Bethel. he's obviously the man that they would consider to bring in for Pope if they made a change but the mismanagement of Bethel from April last year means that he'd be coming into a test match with precious little test match experience and precious little game time and batting time in the last eight months really so and Shoaib Bashir went for a gallon in 20 overs and they've said they're thinking of him for Adelaide and he's gone around the park at Allen Borderfield yeah well if

13:09Nas:I start with the first one I've talked about consequences of your actions in the last three days catches up with you consequences of your actions and how you manage Bethel from months ago you said it everyone will be watching this going oh you're being wise after the event not at all this man said at the time get Bethel back get him playing and they are now the consequences of that they put a lot of faith they put all their eggs in the Bashir basket all this you know over the top and getting dropped getting bounced we both think he can bowl but at the moment as you go with a young spinner he's finding it very difficult and if he does come in Adelaide they will they will target him so England have massive massive problems the other problem they're going to face is after this I think they're off to Noosa for a week and you saw they've not lost this test yet by the way something remarkable could happen tomorrow but you saw what happened before this test match and not going and playing Canberra.

14:04Nas:They're going to go away again and not have any cricket before an Adelaide test match, which is now quite a long time away, and the pressure is going to build, and that they will now know a nation, you watch all these people walk past us now, everywhere they go, they're going to have that sort of reaction from media, from fans, from England fans, it's a very, I said last night, crucial day three, that's just gone Australia, completely and utterly gone to Australia.

14:32Ath:Perfect day for Australia today. It was a kind of grisly, gruesome end, really, to the day. A ferocious crowd here at the Gabba, roaring Australia on Australia, sniffing a three-day victory at one stage. And up on the big screen, I don't know whether you saw that image, there was a poor lad in the Barmy army who was in tears and very disconsolate and distressed. And, you know, the crowd were giving him loads. It had that kind of horrible feeling, really, that we've experienced many times here in Australia, but this current England team are on the end of it today at the Gather.

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