Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 44

Magic of the final-over finish in Sydney is why we love Test cricket | Geoff Lemon

The format can feel like an unreasonable drain on time but that makes thrilling moments like the finale at the SGC even sweeter

This was the payoff. There can be times watching Test cricket when you wonder about the sense of investing the equivalent of a full‑time working week into a single sporting match. There can be times when a non‑contest is over in half that time and you still wonder if it was worth the expense. But then there are these times, the 15th session, the final hour of a fifth day, when the result is still on the line. The less good makes the great greater.

This, too, is the glory of the draw, when one team can be miles away from the chance of a win but can still stop the other from achieving one. In the frantic final moments at Sydney, as fielders clustered around the bat as closely as the dark clouds overhead, with Australia’s spinners having to bowl in light too bad for the quicks, England’s final pair of bowlers had to do the job with the bat while Australia’s best batter did the job with the ball. It produced a thrill that transcended the series.

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It’s always Jimmy Anderson at the end – The Final Word podcast

Emma John rounds up a dramatic final day in Sydney as England held on for a draw to avoid an Ashes whitewash

Emma John comes out from behind the sofa to describe a nerve-jangling final day at the SCG, as England’s Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson survived a tense final two overs to secure a much-needed draw in the fourth Test … with one wicket to spare.

Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon were in Sydney to witness a classic of the genre and to announce that good old-fashioned Test cricket is back, even if Australia can feel aggrieved that they do not take a 4-0 lead into the final Test in Hobart.

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Khawaja’s twin Ashes hundreds give Australia selection dilemma | Geoff Lemon

Centuries at the SCG showcased both sides of Khawaja’s game and could re-establish him as a Test regular beyond this series

If you’re going to make a statement, you might as well make it emphatic. That has been the attitude reflected in Usman Khawaja’s feats in Sydney at the fourth Ashes Test as he followed his first-innings 137 with an unbeaten 101. He joined the very rare club to have made twin centuries in a Test, alongside 16 other Australians, and in scoring his 10th Test ton he drew level with Lindsay Hassett, Bob Simpson and Simon Katich.

The first century was the work of an opener, even if in this match he was required to bat at No 5. Khawaja left the ball with dedication, waited out good spells and was restrained in his shot selection before gradually expanding it. He faced 260 balls at a strike rate of just over 50. His only close call was a fast edge from the left-arm spinner, Jack Leach, that hit the wicketkeeper’s leg and bounced clear.

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Usman Khawaja makes the fourth Ashes Test his own – The Final Word podcast

Emma John offers her thoughts on day four of the fourth Test before Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon share their views from Sydney

How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

Emma opens up by recalling another wonderful day for Usman Khawaja, who scored his second century of the fourth Test as Australia built a big lead for England to chase on the final day. There was a positive for England in that their openers survived unscathed before heading in for the night.

Geoff and Adam then discuss whether this is a breakthrough moment for Khawaja and why does he always seem to shine brightest at the SCG.

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Boland finally loses grip on perfection as Australia belatedly return to earth | Geoff Lemon

Combined with his MCG outing, at one point Scott Boland had taken eight wickets for seven runs in nine overs. But, eventually, perfection has to pass

After Scott Boland’s dream run at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it seemed self-evident that things would never be that easy again. In his second bowling innings on debut, the Victorian seamer rolled in for four overs and picked up six wickets. Catches streamed into the cordon, he hit the stumps, he hit the pads, and he took a return catch himself. Another catch was dropped at gully. The longest he went without a wicket was five balls, and when it was done the whole enterprise had cost him seven runs.

When he came on to bowl in his second match in Sydney, though, the dream continued. His first over was a maiden, and nearly had Zak Crawley playing on to his stumps. His second over kept Crawley guessing, hitting the seam with a perfect position that sometimes ducked away and sometimes in. The final ball of the over was a little fuller, carving back off the seam to hit the very top of off-stump. Perfection.

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Jonny Bairstow lifts England in the Ashes at last – The Final Word podcast

Emma John offers her thoughts on day three of the fourth Test before Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon share their views from Sydney

For once on this Ashes tour, Emma is left smiling after England’s display, even if Australia won’t be short of sleep. A century, an actual century, thanks to a punchy innings from Jonny Bairstow, along with Ben Stokes’s brave knock.

Adam and Geoff also hail Bairstow’s knock which saved the follow-on, along with Scott Boland’s latest ripping display before being forced off.

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Usman Khawaja’s day to remember at the Ashes – The Final Word podcast

Emma John offers her thoughts on day two of the fourth Test before Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon share their views from Sydney

Emma opens up with the solitary high point for England: they didn’t lose any wickets on the day. Although that was only because the hosts dominated with the bat and a no-ball saved Zak Crawley.

Geoff and Adam then discuss the stand-out performance from Usman Khawaja as he made a defining century, and the grind of a day for Joe Root’s team.

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Khawaja’s stand-in century a triumph for Australia’s old problem solver | Geoff Lemon

Injury and illness left Australia with a job that needed to be done at No 5 – Usman Khawaja did it immaculately

There was a moment early in the second day at the Sydney Cricket Ground when Steve Smith looked nailed on for a hundred. Sure, it was a dot ball, and sure, he was on seven at the time. But there was something about the way he stepped into a straight drive back at Stuart Broad, the feet moving perfectly, the timing crisp with no attempt at power, the line so straight that the bowler bent to scoop up the ball. At the ground where Smith made three international centuries in the previous Australian summer, he looked like Smith looks when he is most switched on.

Yet a few hours later, it was Usman Khawaja raising his bat to the cheers of a home crowd. Broad had got the better of Smith for 67, to an uncharacteristic push at a ball that didn’t require one. Khawaja had left the bowling impeccably, defended it resolutely, and taken it on when given the opportunity, in an innings that showed all of the best parts of his game built over the course of his lengthening career.

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Broad’s Ashes dismissal of Warner reminds fans what might have been | Geoff Lemon

Dramatic rivalry should have been rekindled in Brisbane though England’s batting is so bad it would not have changed the result

When Stuart Broad took David Warner’s edge on the first day of the Sydney Test, into the slip cordon to be safely clasped, it felt like something clicked into place. This was the scent of a familiar dish, or YouTubing a favourite scene from a movie. The reassurance of the familiar, and the rightness of something that should be just so.

At the same time, there was the unmistakable sense that thousands of people across the world were shouting at their television sets that they had told you so, or told someone so, and why had nobody listened?

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New year, new Ashes goals – The Final Word podcast

Emma John offers her thoughts on day one of the fourth Test before Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon share their views from Sydney

Emma opens up by wondering whether the tourists can take one Test from this lost series or even just prevent a whitewash.

And despite the rain at the SCG, Adam and Geoff look over what play there was and why it was still impactful in its own way.

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