Lord's Day 2

Apologies for the late posting for the rest of this test.

The plan was to watch and post each night after a day on the slopes. However, apparently Jindy doesn't receive Channel 9 (news to me) and the Siesta Villa has wifi as temperamental as an MCC member in the Long Room. Yes, it means the next few days are written quite retrospectively, but I will attempt to do it justice nonetheless.

Day 2 saw plenty of quality cricket.

Steve Smith notched his 32nd century to trail only Ricky Ponting on the Australian list. Carey and Cummins added useful runs to ensure that the Green Caps batted 100 overs and score over 400 runs. But more importantly, England actually bowled better, with Too Much (Tongue) getting his third top order set of poles, claiming Smudge for 110, then Bracelet getting 3 cheap set of poles at the end, but not before he brought up the century with his fast medium pace with slight swing. 

However, the start of the Second Test has seen an adaption of of Bazball - it's called "Travball" and it's catching on abroad. This blog's favourite Kardashian, Kourtney, is a massive fan. Some would say that Head's style of play is somewhat infectious (three thumbs up!):

Day 2 became England's opportunity to chase, something they have done extremely well over the past 16 months. The Bazball era started with England becoming the first team to successfully chase 250 or more in four consecutive Tests. No wonder Stokes bowled first the coin fell his way at Lord's yesterday. “We’ll chase” at the toss is something that would make older pundits like Chappelli roll in their grave - what, too soon.... The last time England were set a target between 250 and 400 in this period was against New Zealand at Wellington, where they lost by one run, reducing the success rate in that range to 80%. Thanks to the Guardian we can see from 1877 until the end of 2020, 549 targets between 250 and 400 were set in Test cricket and just 10.92% (60 matches) were won by the chasing team. Here is the breakdown by era of chases in this range compared to Bazball:

The Blue Caps started amazingly. A mix of brash stroke play with just a dash of luck had them hitting a run a ball. Spider was the first wicket, just short of a half ton, to none other than Gaz the Goat, with the score on 91 after just 17 overs! Sharp leg side stumping chance to AC. The Aussies were bowling reasonably well, though the predictable length provided the English batters with the confidence to use the crease and dispatch anything short or half volley length. Boniface (Pope) continued the carnage with D#$%it and it wasn't until a Giraffe pie with the score on 188 in the 39th over, that the second wicket fell. At this stage it looked as though 600 would not have been enough for the Aussies to take a first innings lead.

Enter Joshua and Mitchell, along with some sharp catches to The Pool Cleaner and Smudge. The pocket rocket, D#$%it was removed just 2 short of ton and then Dud removed cheaply to leave the English innings somewhat more on par with the Aussies. However, Day 2 looked as though the visitors would be chasing more Dukes up and down the slope (by the way, have the commentators on the picture wireless mentioned that the Lord's ground has a slope from north to south of 2.5 metres, or one Tom Moody? Just in case they haven't, now you know. The news did turn poor for the visitors, with the initial wicket taker, Gaz the Goat, injuring his calf running in from the boundary. While the Aussies have plenty of bowling depth, it was a sad sight to see Nathan helped off the field in his 100th consecutive Test Match. Though if anyone can fight their way back, it's Gaz.

Day 3 should provide plenty of highlights.

JT