The Ashes Diary (17 page)

Worse was to follow when we lost the second of our remaining senior batsmen. Chris Rogers played forward to Swann. The ball popped up off his thigh, and Matt Prior ran around from behind the stumps, dived towards short leg, and caught the ball in his outstretched glove. The English appealed, but Tony Hill gave Chris not out. Prior was adamant and they quickly referred it. Hot Spot showed a very fine mark on Chris’ left glove, and the replays revealed a small deviation in flight. So England got their reward, and the second rock in the foundation of our batting plan for the morning was gone.

Yet again, we needed runs from our tail-enders. Surprisingly, Cook took the new ball when Swann was bowling so well. But it has been a new-ball wicket, and at first the move paid off, when Sidds nicked Anderson. We were eight down, with barely a lead to show for it, and were losing wickets in clumps again.

Fortunately, Ryan Harris, who has been such a champion for us on this tour in every way, connected with the new ball and hit 28 runs off 33 balls. Those were incredibly valuable runs, and may become more so as the match goes on. I was really impressed with how freely he played, the sign of a clear mind and a bloke who would do anything for his team.

He was out in somewhat comical fashion. Broad had him absolutely plumb LBW, but it was given not out by the onfield umpire. The English referred it to the DRS. While they were waiting, the English blokes asked Ryan if he’d hit it. He said he hadn’t, and couldn’t understand why it hadn’t been given out, though there were two noises – it was the ball hitting his front pad and his back pad. Anyway, as soon as they saw the replay on the big screen, the players, English and Australian, walked off. They were halfway to the pavilion when umpire Tony Hill received the information and raised his finger – on an empty pitch.

Ryan and Jackson Bird were straight back out there with the new ball. We had to make this period count. Our lead was 32 – less than I’d hoped for, but more than looked possible before the partnership between Bucky and Watto.

Immediately, there was variable bounce. Birdy got one to shoot on Cook, and Root nicked him just short of me at second slip. Unlike two days ago, the boys were really attacking the stumps with the first new ball and were forcing the English openers to play. Eventually Rhino bowled an absolute pearler to Root, the perfect example of ‘top of off’. His strength as a bowler is sometimes no more complicated than that: he puts more balls in that area, so he’s giving himself a chance to create danger with the natural variation provided by the wicket. It’s simple to plan, but requires great concentration, skill and preparation to pull it off consistently.

He was bowling a brilliant spell. When Jonathan Trott came in, I placed Usman Khawaja at a widish leg slip – probably the equivalent to about second or third slip. Immediately, Trott turned one at catchable height down the leg side, but it went between Usman and Hadds. I went over to Usman to size up the angle, thought about it for a minute, and moved him finer.

After lunch, Rhino adapted his plan to Cook, bowling that tempting full length outside off stump. Soon enough, Cook went for the drive and nicked it. Both openers gone, and England still behind us.

From the Finchale end, Jackson Bird was getting a few to shoot low. Watto came on and he was also getting the variable bounce, which was more pronounced from that end. It was Rhino, though, from the Lumley end who was doing the damage. He saved up his bouncer against Trott for just the right moment, and caught him out of position, fending and gloving the ball through. It looked like it was going over Hadds. I felt myself go up onto my toes as I watched. Almost in slow motion, Hadds leaped up and took a brilliant overhead wicketkeeper’s catch, one-handed.

This brought out Bell to join Pietersen. We’ve had England three wickets down for not many on plenty of occasions in this series, and haven’t been able to drive the advantage home. That’s often been due to Bell, who has batted as well this summer as I’ve ever seen him. There’s nothing that I can detect that’s different about his game. He’s always been technically very orthodox. It’s probably been mentally where he’s matured and just become a more calm, confident individual.

The wicket was slowing down again, after gaining a bit of zip through yesterday’s play. We were testing Pietersen and Bell with a mix of tactics. Sidds dropped short a few times to Pietersen, but the batsman got the better of that battle. Soon I had to worry about the runs accumulating. This is one of the trickier challenges for a captain: when you know you need wickets, when wickets are the best way of stemming the flow or runs, but when you also can’t afford to let the runs get away from you. I dropped a third man into place for Bell; I don’t usually like a third man, as it’s such a defensive position, but he’s scored so many runs through that region with his late cut that I had to try to turn his fours into ones.

I brought Nathan Lyon on, and once again he bowled very tightly from around the wicket to the right-handers. Pietersen was clearly trying to make adjustments after his first-innings dismissal, and wasn’t taking Nathan on as brazenly as he did the other day here and at Old Trafford.

Meanwhile, I was suffering from a headache, and asked Alex Kountouris to come on with a drink of water and some pain relief.

After tea, we lost our way a little. It was quite cold and I was one of several players to be wearing two sweaters. This made it a danger period for the bowlers, injury-wise. Rhino got Bell to inside-edge one, but it flew just clear of Hadds’ dive. The boys kept trying, but the strain was beginning to take its toll. Watto, who has bowled so tirelessly for us throughout this series, suddenly pulled up after delivering a ball and said he was feeling a twinge in his groin. When he went off, it made it that much more important for all of our bowlers to maintain discipline. Jackson Bird finished Watto’s over, and immediately hit Pietersen in front. We appealed, were turned down, and referred – but lost the referral when we got it wrong. Eventually, Pietersen went forward to Nathan Lyon and made the crucial error. On Friday, he tried to hit Nathan through cover and nicked one with an open face. Today, he tried to play the same ball onto the leg side, closed the face, and chipped a leading edge to short cover. For Nathan, it was extremely satisfying.

After that, though, Bell continued defying us. Birdy and Nathan bowled some good balls, and Sidds kept on trying, but the game felt like it was slipping away. Bell was playing patiently, using the pace of the ball, and at times we gave him too much width. The wicket was playing well, not offering as much movement as yesterday. What we really needed was to get a couple of wickets in a row, to establish momentum, but all day we hadn’t been able to achieve this.

We kept plugging away, nobody more so than big Rhino. Jonny Bairstow put him away for a couple of fours, and Rhino had an idea that he might disrupt Bairstow’s footwork by coming around the wicket and bowling short. He sent down three perfectly targeted bouncers, all of which Bairstow had to play. Then Bell got on strike, and Rhino set him on his backside. To bowl with that amount of energy and intent, at this stage of the day and the Test match – all you can do is sit back and admire such a bowler, and be glad he’s on your side.

Nathan kept tying them down from his end, and eventually got another reward, Bairstow edging to Hadds.

Bell kept going, though. He’s been such a thorn in our side in this series. Not many people have ever scored three centuries in an Ashes series, and he’s a player who’s earned our respect over the years. It’s a game of centimetres, though, and we
nearly
had him for 97. I stationed myself at about a third-slip position, and Jackson Bird bowled a beautiful ball, a slow off-cutter that jumped a bit. Bell took the bait and cut at it. It came off the edge, at head height . . . and just out of my reach, to my left-hand side. So close.

He got his hundred, and when we came off the field we all shook his hand. It’s an impressive achievement. Then we all gathered around and congratulated each other on another hard-fought day.

We’re disappointed to lose Watto from the bowling attack for this match, and we’ll have to wait and see how he shapes up for The Oval Test match. The important thing right now is to bowl well in the morning to keep England’s lead to a minimum, and then bat extremely well to chase whatever’s required to win this Test match.

Monday 12 August.
Durham.

I am struggling to come up with the words to explain the disappointment I’m feeling now. The Test match is over. What a day. I’m in shock, to be honest. I don’t know what else to say. Over the coming days, I will try to find consolation and maybe inspiration from those who are closest to me, but right at this moment there is only devastation. The worst thing is that we know we’re good enough to win these matches but can’t seem to find a way to do so.

This morning, it was another typical Durham day, with all four seasons within every hour. It can be sunny one minute, then cloud over and rain the next; cold enough to wear two sweaters, and then a nice burst of sunshine that has us down to short sleeves. One thing we knew was that the wicket was not deteriorating as much as expected, so whatever we had to chase in the fourth innings, we would have plenty of opportunity.

We had a few overs with the old ball to start off, and I trusted Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle to bowl tightly to Bell and Bresnan, the night watchman. When the new ball came, Ryan Harris and Jackson Bird made it a new game. Almost immediately, Birdy had Bresnan padding up to one that nipped back, and it looked LBW to us. The umpire, Aleem Dar, gave it not out, so we referred. It was another case that made us scratch our heads: the ball tracker said it was hitting leg stump, but not enough of leg stump to make it definitive, so it went back to umpire’s call. Considering what happened later in the day, it feels gut-wrenching to know that Bresnan, who went on to score a few more vital runs, was able to escape when he was padding up to a ball that definitely would have hit the stumps.

Ryan Harris was a titan again, putting the ball in the places where it could be most dangerous. He’s bowled exceptionally well in three Test matches now. He got one off a good length to shoot on Bell, and bowled him. Next ball, to the new man Matt Prior, was pitched in about the same spot, but this one jumped off a length and the batsman could only parry it down into his stumps. It was great bowling, yet again.

Stuart Broad survived the hat-trick ball – a good one just outside off stump – but in his next over Ryan got him with a steeply rising bouncer that he gloved away for the catch.

We wanted to finish them off there and then, but yet again the tail-enders were able to skim off some cheap runs. Bresnan and Swann were pretty much backing away and slogging, but they got away with a few fours and put on nearly 50 runs for the ninth wicket before Rhino dismissed Bresnan. They were runs we could have done without conceding. Our bowlers got a bit frustrated and tried to bowl too short, and the batsmen were lucky to connect with a few. It was in this situation that I have become used to throwing the ball to Watto. But he wasn’t available. The good news was that he was able to field, however, so it meant he should be eligible to bat in his usual position, if needed, later in the game.

By and large we have caught very well, with Hadds leading the way. I don’t think we’ve let ourselves down with our fielding. Unfortunately Smithy grassed a boundary catch off Swann towards the end, but it didn’t cost us many runs. I was happy that Nathan Lyon, the unlucky bowler in that instance, was the one who ended up taking Bresnan’s wicket.

So we had precisely 299 runs to win – just a few less than at Trent Bridge. We would have liked to be chasing a smaller target, but I can’t take anything away from our bowlers. On our side was that this wicket was holding up better, and there was nowhere near as much reverse swing going on. We had ample time – five sessions in all – so there was no pressure in that regard. The pitch has been difficult for the batsmen all match, but we would have no excuses if we didn’t make it.

Chris Rogers and David Warner had a short session of batting before lunch, and got through it comfortably. The new ball wasn’t veering about as much as it had on Saturday, and encouragingly both of the boys were looking neat and tidy in their defensive play. Anderson had a big LBW shout against Chris, but it was given not out, and surprisingly England referred it. Bearing out the umpire’s decision, the ball was shown to have pitched several centimetres outside Chris’ leg stump. So England now had only one unsuccessful referral to the DRS left.

We were halfway into our lunch break when a heavy rain shower swept in. This didn’t concern me, as we had so much time up our sleeve. But if we did build up some momentum through the afternoon, it would be an added challenge to have to come off and break concentration for rain delays. When a bowling team is feeling the pressure, an interruption and a chance to rest up and reboot in the changing rooms can give them just what they need.

The resumption was delayed by an hour. When they went back out, Chris and David dug in and tried to keep out the good balls. Broad started with a very good over to Chris, bowling one that hit him on the pads, one that went past his outside edge, and one that popped up off a leading edge and fell just short of the diving bowler. But the good thing about an experienced batsman like Chris is that he can count that as a victory: dangerous balls have come and gone, and he’s still there. Rather than feeling that he’s being dominated, he can move on to the next ball and feel confident that he’s survived. Chris did just that, and tucked away some singles before putting Broad away with a beautiful drive through wide mid-on, one of the best shots of the match.

Davey, meanwhile, was going along extremely well. Davey was waiting for the ball to come under his nose and punching it away, particularly through the arc between cover and mid-off. We’ve seen a lot of him batting positively at the top of the order in the last couple of years, but at his best he combines that intent with a very sound defensive technique.