LONDON: Australia could have the Ashes retained and a first series win in England in 22 years wrapped up in just another week or so.
The Australians are on the brink after outlasting another epic solo assault by England captain Ben Stokes of 155 to win the second test by 43 runs with a session to spare on a spicy last day Sunday at Lord’s.
With little respite, Australia take a commanding 2-0 lead to Headingley in the third of five tests starting on Thursday.
England’s chances of retaking the urn are bleak. Only one team has ever come back from 2-0 down in the Ashes, and it had Don Bradman, in 1937.
“All we are thinking about is 3-2,” Stokes said. “We beat Pakistan and New Zealand 3-0 so that is how we have to look at it.”
England's captain Ben Stokes plays a shot during the fifth day of the second Ashes Test match between England and Australia, at Lord's cricket ground in London, on July 2, 2023. (AP)
Australia counterpart Pat Cummins said, “We couldn’t be in a better position,” while still being booed, long after the victory.
The last day at Lord’s will live long in Ashes infamy as Stokes embellished his legend and the Australians were jeered mercilessly and accused in crowd chants of cheating. Marylebone Cricket Club even apologized to the visitors for some of their members handling and verbally abusing Usman Khawaja and David Warner in the sacred Long Room at lunch.
The MCC said in a statement on Sunday evening it had “suspended three members identified from earlier today” and the trio “will not be permitted back to Lord’s whilst the investigation takes place.”
It added: “MCC condemns the behavior witnessed and once again we reiterate our apology to Cricket Australia.”
None of this was remotely anticipated in the morning when England resumed on 114-4, chasing a never-reached target at Lord’s of 371.
Stokes and opener Ben Duckett resumed the partnership that England was so badly relying on and batted serenely. They extended their partnership to 132 when Duckett edged behind on 83. Josh Hazlewood also got Duckett in the first innings on 98. Duckett was beside himself.
Jonny Bairstow added 10 and ducked a bouncer from Cameron Green and wandered from his crease to talk with Stokes. He thought the umpires called “Over,” meaning the ball was dead. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey underarmed the ball into his wickets and Bairstow was out stumped, fairly. But he couldn’t believe it and Stokes was livid, believing Cummins should have withdrawn the decision to somehow be sporting.
“Do I want to win in that manner?” Stokes posed. “The answer for me is no.”
The crowd erupted, accusing the Australians in chants. One was, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, cheat, cheat, cheat.”
As prim and proper Lord’s turned into the Colosseum, Stokes, the last recognized batter, turned into beast mode.
England still needed 178 more runs and he decided to try and get all of them.
He took out his outrage on Green, initially. Green’s next over went for 14, including three Stokes boundaries. The next Green over went for 24, including three successive Stokes sixes. The last of them brought up his 100 off 142 balls. Stokes went from 62, his score when Bairstow left, to 100 in 16 balls. It had his 13th test century.
He also had a warrior of similar ilk in the foxhole with him, Stuart Broad, who played up to the crowd by exaggerating planting his bat behind the crease. Broad walked off for lunch berating Carey and Cummins as boos rained down on the Australians. Broad took body blows from Cummins and Mitchell Starc’s deliveries, doing what was necessary to feed the strike to Stokes.
After lunch, Stokes dispatched the second ball over long on. He was dropped on 114 and 115. He flayed the Australians with nine sixes, one of them one-handed over fine leg, and nine boundaries to the crowd’s utter joy.
He had 86 runs of the 100 stand from 93 balls. Like his unforgettable century in a thrilling fourth-innings chase to win the Ashes test at Headingley in 2019, Stokes turned hope into expectation. He reduced the target to 70.
Of course, he went down swinging, top-edging a short ball from Hazlewood to Carey. A febrile Lord’s sunk into silence until the crowd rose to send Stokes off to a sustained standing ovation. The tail wagged for another hour and England was all out for 327.
Australia, on a five-match unbeaten run that has already netted the world test championship, was proud to have eked out the result without star spinner Nathan Lyon, who hasn’t missed a test in a decade. He tore his right calf in the field on Thursday but padded up on Saturday to brave 15 runs with Starc.
“I wasn’t particularly happy (Lyon batted) but he was pretty keen to get out there,” Cummins said. “He did an amazing job and those 15 runs look pretty important at the end.”
Cummins expected Todd Murphy to replace Cummins for the rest of the series.
England lost the match on the first three days when it wasted ideal conditions. Without a specialist spinner for the first time since 2001, England sent in Australia, which amassed 416. Then the batters slumped to 325 so quickly that England had to bowl for four straight days. Bazball has netted England 12 fearless wins in 12 months and coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum said they have to adapt on the fly better.
“We aren’t going to be throwing it out because we are 2-0 down,” he said. “This isn’t our ceiling.”
