Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 20
July 20, 2023
Australia’s bowlers come undone with no answers to relentless England | Geoff Lemon
This is Australia’s blue-chip pace attack but, for the first day in this Ashes series, their approach failed to pay off
There must be a few other people who misremember Zak Crawley making a hundred at the SCG in 2022. The scorebook says 77, but it felt like a ton, the way he ended what must have been a miserable 12 months averaging 10 in Test cricket. Taking on Australia’s bowlers in the fourth innings, lacing drives either side of the wicket along the grass. In current England parlance, it had century vibes, and it did help them avoid a loss for the only time on that tour of Australia.
Pat Cummins and his team wouldn’t have been too worried about a repeat in Manchester this week. Initially everything was on track. Ben Duckett was again out early, showing a compulsive inability to leave the ball alone. Crawley and Moeen Ali were swishing and missing with regularity. More wickets were surely in train.
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The Ashes 2023: England v Australia, fourth Test, day two – as it happened
Zak Crawley blitzed a remarkable 189 as England raced to 384-4, a lead of 67, at a delirious Old Trafford
Jimmy Anderson gets in the book! With a wicket first ball of the day, no less. Regulation sort of delivery, Cummins doesn’t have his timing sorted yet, pushes at it too early and hits it low to cover for a comfortable catch.
On the players come…
Continue reading...The Ashes 2023: England v Australia, fourth Test, day two – live
Jimmy Anderson gets in the book! With a wicket first ball of the day, no less. Regulation sort of delivery, Cummins doesn’t have his timing sorted yet, pushes at it too early and hits it low to cover for a comfortable catch.
On the players come…
Continue reading...July 19, 2023
Steve Smith endures a day when his hands make their own decisions | Geoff Lemon
Bizarro version of the Australia batter is contradictory to the rest but emerges often enough to be part of the whole
There are times when Steve Smith is surprised by a shot he has just played. Not surprised that it has worked so well, or badly, but that it has happened at all. He stares down at his hands, his bat, as though his body has betrayed him, like a rider might look down at a backfiring motorbike or an ill-tempered horse. There is Smith the vessel and Smith the occupant, acting out the concept of dualism for a live studio audience.
That was Smith in Manchester yesterday. His first ball of the fourth Ashes Test was unremarkable: short without menace, one to watch sail by. Instead Smith heaved at it, a circular dragging movement like he was halfway down the Amazon and trying to sling a large python over the side of a small boat.
Continue reading...The Ashes 2023: England v Australia, fourth Test, day one – as it happened
Stuart Broad took his 600th Test wicket as Australia ended a seesaw first day on 299 for eight after being put in by Ben Stokes
And there’s Megan Maurice on the broader significance of this remarkable series.
Meanwhile, in Taunton last night, it was another stunner for England’s women, putting some serious holes in the Australian juggernaut.
Continue reading...The Ashes 2023: England v Australia, fourth Test, day one – live
And there’s Megan Maurice on the broader significance of this remarkable series.
Meanwhile, in Taunton last night, it was another stunner for England’s women, putting some serious holes in the Australian juggernaut.
Continue reading...July 18, 2023
Women’s Ashes: England beat Australia to seal ODI series – as it happened
England clinched the ODI series 2-1 in a rain-affected match and drew the Ashes overall but Australia retained the urn
2nd over: England 6-0 (Dunkley 2, Beaumont 0) Megan Schutt to partner Gardner with the new ball, so often a menace with huge inswing. Dunkley tries to get creative from the second ball of the over, misses the paddle but the ball hits her pad and goes away for four leg byes. The shot doesn’t work but it’s a win on the scoreboard.
1st over: England 1-0 (Dunkley 1, Beaumont 0) Ash Gardner opening the bowling. Off spin to start, as Australia did in Southampton, with usual opening pace bowler Darcie Brown left out. Dunkley starts in sketchy fashion, chipping a shot close to the bowler, and takes five balls to scurry a single to midwicket.
Continue reading...Women’s Ashes: England v Australia, third one-day international – live
2nd over: England 6-0 (Dunkley 2, Beaumont 0) Megan Schutt to partner Gardner with the new ball, so often a menace with huge inswing. Dunkley tries to get creative from the second ball of the over, misses the paddle but the ball hits her pad and goes away for four leg byes. The shot doesn’t work but it’s a win on the scoreboard.
1st over: England 1-0 (Dunkley 1, Beaumont 0) Ash Gardner opening the bowling. Off spin to start, as Australia did in Southampton, with usual opening pace bowler Darcie Brown left out. Dunkley starts in sketchy fashion, chipping a shot close to the bowler, and takes five balls to scurry a single to midwicket.
Continue reading...July 16, 2023
Australia’s use of extra spin rewarded with retention of women’s Ashes
The tourists played three specialist slow bowlers to beat England, learning a lesson from their male counterparts in 2005
With one ball to come in the 100th over of the match, it was Natalie Sciver-Brunt on her haunches holding the handle of her bat, puffing for air. She needed six to win, four to tie and force a super over. After her final swing of the match, one that didn’t connect cleanly enough to find either variety of boundary, it was the whole ground that was short of air, one long exhale from the England-supporting crowd. Taking back the trophy had still been a chance, then it was gone.
As the men’s and women’s Ashes series have unspooled side by side across the past few weeks, the comparisons to 2005 have not stopped. That year is still the emotional lodestone of cricket in England, for locals and Australians alike. Both English teams wrestled a series win from Australian opponents who at the time were so dominant as to seem unapproachable.
Continue reading...Australia retain Ashes as England fall three runs short in second ODI – as it happened
Australia have retained the Women’s Ashes after beating England by three runs in a dramatic second ODI
Early blow for England! Lauren Bell bowls a wide, a leg-stump pie for Healy to flick for one, then a wide floaty delivery that Litchfield drives for four. But with those out of her system, she bowls one that comes the other way, back into the left-hander. Hits her in front!
1st over: Australia 1-0 (Healy 1, Litchfield 0) More accurate start for Kate Cross than when she opened the bowling in Bristol. Healy dabs a run behind point but Litchfield isn’t game to play shots against the next five balls, all in the channel across the left-hander.
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