The Ashes Daily: Smith & Head make England toil in Sydney

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

0:09Ath:Pat Cummins has led his team to a famous victory. Yeah, go! Down, he gets his goal. And 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 well day three Sydney has just finished and the crowd are piling out all decked in pink we've got our pinks hats on before we get on to the cricket we will talk about the pink day it is some scene isn't it every time we arrive here for this test match seeing everyone arrive in pink and when we look down from the press box it's a great sight the McGrath Foundation has done some fine things

0:55Ath:Yeah, they do it very well. It's the pink test now, isn't it? But it's the third day in particular where everybody makes an effort to come decked in pink. A brilliant sight. It was a beautiful day today on a magnificent cricket ground. So, yeah, they do it very well. Very similar to the Ruth Strauss day at Lord's when we turn out in red.

1:13Nas:What did you make of the England performance today? What did they get? Five wickets in all, one of which was the night watchman. Nisa, it looked like, as I say, a really tough day at the office.

1:23Ath:It was a really tough day because two sessions are extended, the morning session and the evening session, one because of the slow overrate, one because we're making up time. So they look very foot weary by the end of the day. In the morning session, I kind of feared, you know, we've seen those kind of sessions in Australia before when nothing goes right. You bowl poorly, you drop catches, you burn your reviews against the night watch when you've got none left. Everything's going wrong. and I kind of feared a complete collapse or implosion. Actually, they just about held it together. Only just.

1:57Ath:They're not in a good position at all. Australia, a very strong position, leading by 1.30-odd with excellent hundreds from Travis Head and Steve Smith and still two days left. So they're right bang in the box seat to make this 4-1. But I thought England just about held it together in the last two sessions and showed a bit of character.

2:14Nas:Let's go through each of those. You said England bowled poorly. how did they bowl this morning compared to first up yesterday and Potts in particular he really seems short of form not only recently but over some time now he's not quite the bowler that we

2:30Ath:saw maybe a year ago yeah well he had to wait a bit today didn't he because Stokes went to himself and Josh Tong because Potts and Carst had bowled so poorly at the start yesterday with a new ball so that was the right decision Potts had to wait a little bit then he bowled seven and three and five spells in all and it was a chastening day for him what were his figures in the end none for 141 I think of 25 overs and in a way you know it's kind of symptomatic or emblematic of England's tour and maybe the Baswell project because as you say he was there right at the start wasn't he of Stokes his captaincy in 2022 and he bowled excellently against New Zealand got big wickets got Kane Williamson out a couple of times and had his best to the right hand as he looked really consistent line bowler but he's looked a shadow of that today and I have some sympathy for him because you know in it as I say it's emblematic of the whole thing he's being asked to do a job he is ill prepared to do he hasn't bowled for five weeks he just bowled I think 16 overs in that two-day game at Canberra so he's coming into a test match very undercooked and short of any kind of form or rhythm and as you say last summer at Durham I looked at his figures and I think he got his wickets 20 odd wickets at 42 so he's a long way short of his best last summer he's probably not getting into the team if Overton had made himself available and if there hadn't been an injury to Woke so some sympathy there for him in that regard but my it was a difficult day for him today and at

4:00Nas:the last spell just about summed it up and Travis Head just waits for him I know Travis Head goes after most but it was noticeable the moment they went away from that opening combination who let's be honest have been England's best bowlers in the latter part of this Ashes tongue and Stokes the moment they went to Potts Travis said just went I'm coming after you he's some player isn't he

4:22Ath:he's a fantastic player in England you've got very fine margins to him England haven't bowled you have to be right on your game to him you've got to be basically over middle and off and whenever England have gone a little bit wider of that. He flays them if they're too straight. He clips them. And, you know, brilliant player. And as you say, he waited and waited. And as soon as Potts came on, he flayed the first two through the offside for four and then he nailed him through the leg side. And after that, Potts ball better to the right handers. I think he's first maiden. You know, he got a go at the right hander and then bowled a maiden.

4:55Ath:But to Travis, he was really, you could sense he didn't know where to bowl it. So a brilliant hundred from him. And I'd have put my mortgage on Steve Smith getting 100 today I mean he's had a quiet series he missed out on the decent batting pitch at Adelaide because he wasn't well in that game and he loves batting here this was his fifth hundred here home ground you know I thought that was odds on today some player isn't

5:19Nas:he the hunger for the game continues I think he sits now between Hobbs and Bradman as leading

5:25Ath:run getters he's actually got one more than Hobbs yeah hundreds yeah yeah and in terms of run getting

5:30Nas:as well he sits between those two I didn't see our names on that list by the way well brilliant

5:35Ath:ashes player as you say he's played a lot of ashes cricket but he's hurt England so often so frequently in the past maybe he's not quite at the level he was around 2019 when he had that unbelievable series but that was his 13th ashes 100 today and there's only Bradman ahead of him with 19.

5:53Nas:One thing I liked about him was in this series I've got so bored with seeing bowlers It happened a lot today, and I don't blame them because you get wickets like that. Banging it halfway down with nine men out. Same with Australia against England. I don't blame Australia because England batters keep happy hooking and getting out. But when they bound Steve Smith, he just went down. It didn't matter how ugly. A few times he was on his backside. He dusted himself down, came up with a big smile. As an old pro, I like seeing that. I've said all along through this Ashes, has the duck just gone out of the way?

6:24Nas:Now, he exaggerates it, and he ends up on the floor. but he got out of the way and by the end he was taking it on or just flicking it for one. He's a badger, isn't he, though?

6:32Ath:He is a badger, yeah. The number of times he saw something move in the distance, you know, half a mile away. It wasn't even in the distance.

6:38Nas:Wasn't it once Carse's sunglasses?

6:40Ath:Well, he asked Carse to take off his... His sunglasses were on his head. And he said, would you mind putting them on the back of your head because the sun's glinting? And you know how to just put the sunglasses on at that point? I'd have been completely obstinate and put my sunglasses on. But I like watching Steve Smith bat. He's full of quirks. He's very idiosyncratic. He's a fantastic player. I think he's the best test batter of his generation.

7:04Nas:Let's talk England's fielding. I mean, it's just a wonderful country to see the cricket ball. It's bright. It's sunny. I know you can lose it in the crowd a little bit, but I make it 16 catches. I don't know what your count is. I made the one on the deep by Jax, 14, and then Jax dropped to Court and Bowled, and then there was a hard one to Crawley. It happens to England teams every time in Australia. Can you in any way explain, apart from mental disintegration, 16 or so drop catches?

7:35Ath:Start with the absolute howler. That was Jax. Travis Head, 121, short ball, unlike Steve Smith that you mentioned. He goes for it. The trap is set. It's an absolute dolly. And Jax puts it down. Inexplicable. Got his hands in front of his eyes. He's maybe slightly worried about the boundary rope, but that's a chance you take 99 times out of 100. Especially the modern cricketer.

7:58Nas:If you think of the modern cricketer, they'll take much harder chances than that. You think of jacks and white ball cricket, you're right. 99 times out of 100, he's catching that.

8:09Ath:And then when you said it's 16 chances, some say 14, some say 12, it's how you then measure the others. Like the root one yesterday, I don't count that as a chance because he's an absolute full stretch. He's off the ground. and it just tips his finger. I don't see, you can't get any higher. So how do you count that chance? I don't know. And then the two others that you mentioned today, if Jax takes that caught and bowled, I think that's a, I don't know, one in 20, you take that maybe. He hit it so hard, Travis said. The Crawley one was a quarter chance that he fingertipped. Very, very tough chance.

8:42Ath:Maybe a shorter guy, maybe just got his fingers underneath the ball. So there's like chances and they're chances, aren't they? The Jax one was the complete howler and at that point you thought this is going to be a bad day for England. The other ones were much tougher.

8:56Nas:New ball, how would you have gone? Stokes bowled a really good spell again leading up to the new ball. I compare that to yesterday in Australia. They went to their part-timers. They went ahead, Webster Labashane with the bouncers that got a wicket and then saved their proper bowlers for the new ball. Could Stokes have gone the other way round and bowled a bit more spin or gone with Potts who were struggling and then saved himself and tongue for the new ball?

9:22Ath:Possibly. And I thought he turned to spin a bit late, actually. It was a bit predictable from England all the way through. And obviously, you know, it wasn't as though we were hoovering up wickets. I thought he could have just changed. He gave Jax one over before lunch when that very hard corn bowl chance was missed. I thought he could have gone to Jax or even Bethel, who did OK when he came on later. Just to slightly change things up and ask a slightly different question, maybe you know take a bit of heat out the fast bowler's legs he didn't go that way but yeah I

9:53Nas:thought he could have bowled spin a bit earlier and Bryden Kars the curious case of Bryden Kars because every time we mention Kars if you read between below the line on the YouTube and whatever there's a lot of people saying our Kars was awful again today and he has at times bowled short wide got cut got pulled I wouldn't be giving him the new ball but then you look at the stats and he's got 22 wickets at 26 which if you compare to Scott Boland who's got 18 wickets at 25 it's like well he's doing okay but it just seems really odd he doesn't seem to be bowling that well but one thing you can't doubt he came in there in that last spell he has got massive heart he's still hitting 140k

10:32Ath:at the end there and others speeds have dropped off Potts was down to mid 120s you're absolutely right you and that's why Stokes likes him he's talking about his character after the second test in Brisbane before the Adelaide test and you can't doubt that heart and commitment at all and that's absolutely essential for a fast bowler but his figures have flattered him in the way that he's bowled because you know England have leap runs at an alarming rate and you know he and Potts have gone of elite runs in this game and he's bowled inconsistently so you should always be looking to improve and what you want to see is that combination of the heart and spirit and character with his wicket-taking ability to a slightly more consistent bowler I agree with you I think he's a first change bowler ideally and you know when we were talking about Potts before against New Zealand the key difference of course is Potts was coming in behind Anderson and Broad and just Australia

11:32Nas:the rest of their batting lineup there's a repetitive nature of some of the dismissals in this series alex carey who's had a wonderful series three times in the last four innings they've had a man there and he's fended it off to that man there and again um cameron green frustrates me i said in the last game there is such a good cricketer in there if you had his bowling his catching and his batting and he looked again so good i would it's like batting after you i wouldn't want a bat after Cameron Green because you'll be constantly thinking he's going to do something clumsy in a minute and he got so frustrated with himself and he's under a bit of pressure for his

12:07Ath:place you know if Bo Webster plays well here he's not out overnight they're not always going to play two all-rounders in the same side they're going to play a spinner from time to time there's a bit of you know chat and noise about Cameron Green's place in the side and he got a start today and you know with Smith at the other end there's a chance to get a big score because Steve Smith's not going to give it away and then he slapped one into the deep so the soft dismissal from him soft dismissal from Carey who just took tickle one into the leg trap but you know they're still in a

12:36Nas:very very strong position just want to talk about the pitch because after what happened at Melbourne they could have easily gone for the other extreme here I've liked this pitch I think there's been plenty in it for the seamers there's obviously been plenty in it for the batters you've got Head, Smith and Root three world-class players that have helped themselves to hundreds but it It just started to spin there as well. It's been a good cricket pitch so far. Absolutely. And it could spin. There's no front-line spinner played in the game, but with it being getting hotter the next two days, it could spin.

13:02Ath:Yeah, and it might go up and down, which would suit the seam as if it continues to be hot and it gets a bit cracked. But I think an excellent test pitch. Groundsmen seem to be under more scrutiny here in Australia than elsewhere, don't they? The Groundsmen are always put up for interviews before the test match. Poor lad at Melbourne had to face the media after that two-day game. and obviously Cricket Australia have lost about$15 million over those two games. So a lot of pressure on the Sydney groundsman and he's produced a really good pitch. And as you say, a proper spinner, Todd Murphy's not playing, but any proper spinner would be licking their lips now with a big lead and thinking two days ahead.

13:37Nas:When you used to come into the dressing room all those years ago, you used to walk in with a racing post under your arms. So you're obviously a bit of a betting man. If I asked you on the athometer how you got the spread on this game, where are we going?

13:52Ath:70, 15, 15. 70 to Australia, by the way. Maybe more. I haven't even checked the odds, but somewhere around that. Very dominant position. England, not good at playing for the draw. And they lead by 130 with two days left. So, yeah, all in Australia's favour.

14:11Nas:England would have to get something like 350 in their second innings. And the pitch is good enough to do that. But as we know with Ash's battles, it's not the pitch, it's the mental disintegration. As you go through the series, see what's happened to Duckett and a few others. Do you think they've got in them, if I can spit that out, to dig deep for one more time as a batting unit?

14:36Ath:Well, as I said, I feared the collapse today after that first session, which was as horrible a first session as you can imagine. And yet they just somehow clung in there. So it tells you that they're not completely gone, that, you know, there's a pulse there beating somewhere. So, you know, I wouldn't completely discount them. But there are too many players who are out of form. Duckett, no runs, out of form, under a bit of pressure. Jamie Smith, the same. Obviously, you know, Root is in great form and Brook got runs in the first innings. But I sense, you know, it's running Australia's way. But we'll see.

15:16Ath:Day four. You're going to come in your pink hat? You look great.

15:18Nas:No, I might come in with pink hat. I'm going to go and drink my gin. Today we got a freebie from Cricket Australia. We've both been invited as ex-captains to the 150th anniversary game next year at Melbourne. So a freebie for me and Ath. Freebie. We paid some money for the hats. Ath's given enough to McGrath over the years. We've given some to the McGrath Foundation today. A tough day for England, a great day for Head and Smith.