England’s ‘Bazball’ approach shone brightly on a day when the home side took the ascendancy and finished with 384 for 4 by stumps on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Zak Crawley starred with a brilliant 182-ball 189, as England closed 67 runs ahead.
Although the conditions seemed quite decent for batting at the start of England’s innings, Pat Cummins would have hoped to make a few early inroads. Barring the initial few overs, when Mitchell Starc removed Ben Duckett for just one, it didn’t turn out that way. Initially, Crawley and Moeen Ali (54 runs) built the platform with a stand of 121 for the second wicket. Crawley and Joe Root then shared a potentially game-breaking 206-run stand for the third wicket.
The duo of Moeen and Crawley did face a few hiccups on the way. Initially, the pitch was offering just enough seam movement, with Starc’s three-quarter-seam ball troubling both the batters. Cameron Green, who was introduced into the attack just before lunch, also won an LBW appeal against Crawley. However, Crawley took the review and the ball-tracker indicated that it would have missed the leg stump.
After the break, Crawley seemed to get himself into a good batting rhythm. At the other end, Moeen was beaten quite a few times, interspersed with some creamy drives and flicks. Moeen even had a reprieve in the 27th over, when Cummins dropped a chance off Josh Hazlewood. Thankfully for Cummins and Australia, in the very next over itself, Starc bagged Moeen’s wicket by employing the short ball.
Root, who replaced Moeen at the crease, immediately got off the mark with a pull off Starc. At that juncture, Australia tried the short-ball tactic, but this time around England seemed to be ready for it as Root, in particular, negated the threat with authoritative pulls. The England mainstay seemed to be using more of a front-on stance during his innings. The idea behind it was to perhaps go more back and across and crack the pull against the short ball.
Meanwhile, Crawley pressed the accelerator and scored his second fifty in a mere 26 deliveries. The highlight of his innings were the sumptuous drives, alongside playing across-the-line shots with a touch of swagger. Eventually, with the score reading 336 for 2, Crawley was castled by an under-edge off Green. A few runs later, Root was cleaned up by a grubber that kept very low. Hazlewood was the successful bowler.
Ben Stokes and Harry Brook then guided England to the close of play. The pair did have to navigate through a tricky half an hour of play, with variable bounce on display. The England camp would be hoping to gain a healthy lead, and for the indentations to get wider. The visitors would be sweating over Starc’s fitness, as the fast bowler hurt his shoulder while saving a boundary at the fag end of the day. It has to be remembered that Australia have picked just three frontline bowlers for the Test.
Earlier in the day, James Anderson finally took his first wicket of the innings with a half-volley; Cummins was the batter dismissed. On the opening day, Anderson had bowled far better deliveries but could only get the consolation prize of beating the bat. Chris Woakes then wrapped up the innings by dismissing Hazlewood for his fifth wicket of the innings.