The Ashes: Root’s resolve, Smith’s shocker & England’s bowling Headache

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Root drives and gets it past the boulder. It's going up towards long off. It won't be four but it will be Joe Root's 100, the second of the series.

Smith steps away then flogs this into the offside. No, no, he's caught at deep extra cover off a Marlonus Labochain deliberate longh.

So close to the second day of the fifth and final Test match at the SCG. England 384, Australia replying strongly with 166 for 2. A shower of rain caused the players to go off shortly before the scheduled close after Michael Nisa was hit on the arm by a ball from Ben Stoke. Nisa out there after the dismissal of Labasheen not long before the close. Caught by Bethel off Stokes at Gully for 48. Stokes getting the other wicket as well earlier. Root made 160 his 41st Test hundred, his second in this series against Australia. He was the ninth man out. Ben Stokes out for naught after Harry Brook went early for 84. Jamie Smith and we'll talk about this innings and his dismissal out for 46. So many sketchy shots and an incredible dismissal really in the context of the match. Will Jax making 27 useful partnership with route towards the end but England losing their last four wickets for nine runs. Who had the advantage after that first innings? It was hard to tell but perhaps not quite as hard to tell now with Australia moving towards 166 for 2 by the close of play. Glenn McGrath is here, toughers is here. Jonathan Agnew is here. Well, plenty to talk about, Jonathan. Let's just talk about the overall state of the game and we've seen a few balls behave oddly today. We thought it was a, a very good batting pitch yesterday. Harry Brooks said it's the best batting pitch of the series and the score suggests that it's absolutely fine for batting about one or two balls of have misbehaved.

Definitely. I mean, it'd be interesting to see how if that's just, I don't know, something has happened today or whether it is a deterioration of the pitch and going to go out there and have a look tomorrow and see if any these cracks have opened up. Because that last one there, the NISA got, I mean, it, it didn't rear horribly. I mean, the way he played it made it look as if it did. But it did bounce a bit more and there's definitely been deliveries bouncing and they were all day. That Joe Root from the very start of the day was getting balls that surprised him and hitting high up on the bat gloves and that, that sort of thing. And we didn't see any of that yesterday. So whether that's just, I don't know, a vagary of today, the bowlers are a bit more fired up or something, or whether the cracks are starting to open up. What do you think would be interesting?

I think maybe the. The pitch is starting to play, you know, a few funny things. Just the odd ball was really bouncing. We saw one, maybe one or two, keep a little bit lower, but not a bit big, big issue. It's just that extra bounce, you know. I think we'll see what happens tomorrow. Yes, it's not bad at the moment, I reckon. I reckon day four and five is when it's really going to come into play. Tomorrow's a, a big day. If Australia can bat all day, you know, they probably score 300. So all of a sudden they've got a lead. But if England can bowl, well, knock them over, have a lead and then build on that. Going into day four and five, they're right on top in this game, so tomorrow's pretty, pretty important.

Kept bouncing right onto the middle of.

The Travis Head's bat, didn't it?

Another. Another scintillating knock from Travis Head. Really, you can't take your eyes off him. Is there anything, you know, siding shots through point and cover and then also he started unfurling a few cover drives as well. England have really struggled to come up with any sort of plan of A, how to get him out and B, if they don't get him out with that new ball, how to then contain him. So that's going to be a real worry for them in the morning.

Three maidens they bowled in 35 overs. Pots has gone for well over. Eight and over. I mean he hasn't played. It's terribly hard to come in, just bowling in the nets, going, playing a test match in front of 50,000. So I'm not surprised. He's, I mean he's rusty, isn't he?

He's not. Well, he's not just played on this tour much. I mean he did play in some of the warm up games but of course he hasn't played that much test cricket either. It's 11th Test match in three and a half years.

Yeah, exactly. Cast nearly five and over again. And once again it's Tongue and Stokes who are the standouts. And we were debating about who would take the new ball before it started and both Alex and I here on said, oh, we want Tongue and Stokes to take it. And of course they didn't. It was cars and pots, you know. Well those, you know, Tongue and Stokes are head and shoulders above the others. I'd much rather seen them take, take the new ball. The bowling was erratic as we know. Head disk likes to climb into everything. Wetherall played a rather strange innings. He was dropped of course. Another drop catch going down. Duck it again there unfortunately. But yeah, I mean Heads is such a dangerous player. You both short and wide to him. Bang. It's four runs, hooks and pulls, cuts, drives, he's got, he's got all the shots.

How would you bowl at him, Glenn?

Yeah, no, he's a interesting player. Once he gets on, you know, gets going, he doesn't mind playing shots. It doesn't phase him. If he plays a plays and misses or gets away with the lucky one, he just sort of shakes his head and goes on. So you've just got to try to keep it tight, bowl enough balls in the same area. You know, early on they used to attack him there in that sort of have a third and a guy square. And he got out a few times there early on but you just have to keep it through that.

But he's trying to get the ball.

Back at him a bit all the time. It's always angle across angle and he stands there and, and, and plays it so, so effectively. But we haven't seen yet the sort of the classic right arm over to a left hander which is kind of pitching it and just, just making it straighten up a little bit and hitting him, hitting him on the pad. I mean, I know it's not easy to do, but just swing the ball into that. I mean that's why I thought Stokes might have been a good bet with a new ball.

Yeah, just keep it there round. Yeah, just tied on off stuff those ones he plays and misses. You know, you've just got to, just got to be patient. But you know, it's hard to find, you know, two or three deliveries just consistently in that right area before you get a short wide one or a full one on the, on the, on the pad. So I think consistently the. Well, the bowlers haven't been consistently in the right area.

Yeah.

And that's great start. Wasn't there one every seven balls this inning has gone for four. But I think in the series, I think it's one every 14.

In the whole series.

In the whole series, that one. Four every four.

There's no pressure, is there?

There's no pressure at all. I've been talking to a few of the guys I was speaking to, Dizzy actually about Trav Said, he said Jason Gillespie. Yes, sorry, yes, Jason Gillespie. And he said it. What they don't like actually when he bowls over the wicket. Over the wicket. Cuz he hasn't got, he's always been, he's a little bit sort of flicky and pokey, isn't he?

I like simple over the wicket.

Yeah. On that leg style only with your sort of swing back and classic stuff. And even when it goes flat and the ball's not swinging or nipping around, you know, sort of that leg stump line, they keep trying to do it from round the wicket and crampinging him there. Well, he's, he's cutting them away all day long. Keep him sort of cramped up here, you know, perhaps with one back there for that flick. He got out of Perth, didn't he? Playing a funny little sort of flicky shot. So they haven't certainly come up with a plan for Travis.

So on a scale of 0 to 10 and naught being not very good, what. How well or otherwise did England bowl today?

Yeah, two.

Two.

Yeah, simple as that. Fingertips, fingertip control for me. You know, it's just that, you know, professional bowlers, you know, you've, you've, you've done your apprenticeship, you've, you've played for your counties and then you've been selected to play for England, well, you should be able to go an older line and a length and you're going to get flashed away by good players occasionally. But they just haven't been any consistency with this bowling attack since they've set foot on this shore and they came.

Out with a decent first inning score. I mean how did you assess the 384 that England scored?

Yeah, no, it wasn't bad. You look at Joe Root and Harry Brook and the innings that they put on it really sort of set them up, you know, take out Joe Root's innings that they might struggle. But. But yeah, it was. I think looking at that pitch it was probably par. You know, it was a good score, there's no doubt about it. But if they could have turned that into say 450, then they're really in the box seat the way they came out in bold.

And you.

They've already.

Yeah.

Amount of runs that, that Australia's got already. Yeah. 166 runs at 384 doesn't look quite as. Quite as big anymore.

Yeah, they've really eaten into it. Australia with England's. Well, according to Thomas, 2 out of 10 bowling performance. I mean but it was like that wasn't there? There was so many short balls. I mean they played well. Australia. Travis Head plays well. I mean he takes the game to you. But short and wide two full as well. It's so many. Four balls on offer and England struggled. Matt Potts with. With little cricket coming back into the side. He was dealt with.

Yeah. Stokes anyway for three and over. Yeah, it's. It's the other two, isn't it really, if we're honest. Yeah.

Brighton Cars. What are his figures? What did he go for?

He was nine overs of 43.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's necessarily five and over.

Is one of the problems here that actually England. I mean is there a skill to being an opening bowler as opposed to just part of a four man attack? So England haven't really got that many what you call opening bowlers.

No, I think we've had that discussion before. Me, I think Glenn. Glenn's the ones talk about that. Yes, you, you do. You do have people who are very skilled at taking the new ball because they're the ones who swing the ball or, or move the ball. Yeah. The others tend to have a bit. I don't know, but maybe like Castle, you'd use maybe as a change bowler to come in and bang the ball in halfway down.

But.

But taking a new ball. A skillful business.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you've got to get, get the ball in the right area. You've got to make them play, there's no doubt about that. I'd rather see them on the, er, on the side of being fuller rather than shorter. And if you've got a guy that swings, well, look at Mitchell Stark. He, when the ball swinging, he's a dangerous bowler, he's a wicket taker and yeah, he, he starts for Australia and he's done incredibly well. And then you've got a Nissa or Boland who just bowls really good areas. So, yeah, you know, looking at that lineup, the way Carson Pot started, you would have definitely preferred Tongue.

And it was a very risky, very risky partnership, wasn't it? I mean, the odds, I mean, no cars is expensive and a fellow who hasn't bowled properly for weeks. So, you know, it's kind of, you know, it's almost inevitable, I think, that, that, that Australia got away to a flying start.

I don't know, it's, you know, Ben Stokes, he must, you know, Brighton Car, he must think quite highly of him because he's given him the new ball all the time and you know, he has taken wickets, but he has been quite expensive as well.

Yeah. Car is still England's leading wicket taker in the series with 19. Stokes up to 15 with the two he took this evening. There was a bit of needle out there as well before Lane was out, sort of coming together between Stokes and, and Labashane. What, what did we make of that?

I quite like to see that. I mean, as long as it's not, you know, ridiculous. I mean, the series actually hasn't had any, any sort of needle at all, has it? It's like they all know each other. There's that lovely moment today where I think a ball was bowled. It went to Travis Head at short leg, who rolled the ball up to Joe Root, who is another non striker. Then he picked it up, he tossed it onto, onto the bowler. You think, hang on a minute, this is, you know, I mean, it has been a strange. I think the atmosphere today has been very strange. It's been at times it was like a benefit match, frankly. You're watching Labashan bowling that stuff. You know, it's a very, very odd cricket that's been played today, but I, I like seeing a bit of that. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't anything bad. Ben Stokes put his arm around him. I don't think he's actually saying anything nice to him. When he had his arm around his shoulder. I think he was trying to convince the umpire that he was asking Marlon out for dinner tonight and I suspect he probably wasn't. But, I mean, Stokes is frustrated, isn't he? Yeah, he's had a hard tour and he's watched the, watched the ball go around the park again tonight. He's got no control out there. It's going offside, leg, side, driven, cut. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's. I, I, I, I have not got any problem with Ben Stokes getting a bit fired up out there at all.

Yeah, I don't mind a bit when it fires up in the middle. Whether Ben Stokes should have put his arm around him at that moment, I'm not sure. But you know, to be honest, when I see bowler, batsman in between overs walking down, armin arm, you know, armed around them, having a joke and a laugh, they should be reprimanded for that. You should be suspended, you should be fine because there's no place in test cricket for that rubbish. So, yeah, you like a bit of aggression and just show the feeling and how much it means to these guys to represent their country. And you know, you don't want to come in, you know, fisticuffs out there obviously, and, but you want to see a bit of passion and yeah, it's, I think that at time sometimes they're too friendly on the field, but off the field it's like they don't even. I said, oh, do you have a drink together after each test match? And we may have one together at the end of the series. I'm just wondering, you know, how well the team's getting up really off the field. They seem to get on better on the field, which normally it should be the other way around.

Well, of course, at the end of the last series there was that thing where the two teams didn't end up having a drink, did they?

That's really sad. I mean, we're at in the right spirit.

Well, we're at Kiribili House the other day and two teams were going to have a photo with this and that and in the end, no, they decline. Teams declined the photo. So I.

It's all together, you mean?

Yeah, and it's just weird. I don't know, it's whether it's just modern day cricket is the way it is.

The two teams that the Prime Minister's place photographed together, quite bizarre.

Okay, well, let's move on because there were other talking points today. We'll get on to Jamie Smith in just a moment. But we should celebrate Joe Root. Another hundred for him. 106.

Let's start with Brooke in a way, because it just seemed to me today you've got two bats when really ready, both in the 70s, played really well yesterday on what appeared to be a flat pitch yesterday. Okay. I think we agreed it might have done a little bit more today. It just felt to me in instinctively that Joe root would score 100 today and Brook wouldn't, because the odds are that Brook would do something stupid and get out, which is. I mean, I wouldn't put that in the stupid category. We've seen. We. You know, that would be unfair on the ones that were stupid. But it was a poor shot. It really poor little fiddly, nibbly thing aiming to one day style run the ball down to third, man. A nice catch from Smith with the keeper standing up. But it was a, you know, poor shot. And I just really hope that at the end of this tour, which has been a big disappointment for Harry Brook, who's come here with a great reputation, I just hope he's learned. I really hope that he sat there in the dressing room and he watched J. Root get his hundred. He watched J. Root get his 150. And I just hope he thought, I should be there as well. I should be doing that. What can I do to make sure that actually I'm scoring those sort of runs and not. Not just giving my wicket away all the time, because that's basically what it does. I mean, he rarely is got out. It's nearly always an unforced error. And if he were to rule that, if it's to just rein himself in, just.

Just.

Just reduce those risks that he takes, he would score. He would score a million runs. It's just so frustrating watching, isn't it?

Yeah, well, it is. I wonder what he would have thought, actually. Just walking off and you could see. I think you could sense his frustration. He knew that was the opportunity for him to.

Yeah, and I say you just kind of knew it's going to. You knew it was going to happen?

Well, it's. Yeah, you see Joe root get that 160, and you knew it wasn't going to happen. And I think that's experience, you know, two different styles of games. You know, Joe Root, he's, you know, he's one of the greats of the game. He knows his game so well, especially when he gets in that situation. And. And recently he's been converting 50s into 100 more than he ever has, so. And that's what it Comes down to that experience and that's what, you know, Brook doesn't have, he doesn't have that experience yet. Doesn't know how to convert, you know, when things are going well and he's, he's an attacking player, you know, he's. I think this too has been a big learning experience for him. Hopefully he's learned and can take away. Okay. I can't just play the way I want all the time. I have to adapt to the conditions. If I play just a little bit smarter, I'm going to score a truckload of runs. So you've got to learn from your mistakes.

On being greedy, don't you? You know, you get in you're greed, you get big scores. Brook isn't greedy. He isn't greedy and he needs to, he needs to become greedy and hungry and want those runs and he doesn't, he doesn't seem to be driven like that.

Well, look at someone who is greedy. That's Joe Root. Since the start of 2021, he scored 24 test match hundreds in 66 tests.

Yes.

Starting post Covid that Sri Lanka series that we commentated on.

Yeah. What I think is remarkable about Root and we have mentioned this before, is that when he lost the captaincy four years ago in the West Indies and the new regime came in and I mean, it was a car crash there in Cada, it was awful. It was a real nadir and he, he resigned. He wasn't sacked, but he did, he did resign. Absolutely right. They needed fresh ideas and all of that. It was, it was the right, it was the right thing to have done. But it can't be easy for a recently resigned captain to go back into the team. But he did that. And more than that, he accepted this complete change of culture which it was the McCollum Stokes, the start of all of that. It was immensely exciting, very, very fresh. It got the same players smiles on their faces and actually enjoying playing cricket again. And all Joe would have heard would have been people saying, God, isn't it better now? Isn't this marvellous? Which is a direct reflection, of course, on the time that he was captain. So he had to deal with all of that as well while being back in the back benches of the dressing room. And he just, all he's done is just focus on his batting. He's just cut everything else out and just played for his batting because he, he is greedy and he just, he just loves batting. But so professional to cut out all of that stuff and not be resentful and not say, well, hang on a minute, we did all right, you know, none of that. He just packed all that away. Caps is gone and he's just scored all those runs. It's remarkable.

Well, let's hear from him now. He's been speaking to Henri Moran.

Well played, Joe.

How do you reflect on the day?

Strange day, really. I thought we got a reasonably good score, to be honest, and we just couldn't quite get it right with the ball for long enough periods. It seems like there's a little bit in the wicket and if we can build pressure for long enough periods of time, then I think we'll get our rewards. But I think that's the challenge that's ahead of us tomorrow, but felt like a reasonably good score on that surface. So, yeah, it's hard when you're not. I mean, obviously not been out there for last little period, so it's hard to really give you honest insight when you're not really out there on the field. And how is your back? It's fine, it's just cramped, but obviously once it goes, it makes it quite difficult. So just more of a precaution to stay off towards the back end there. But, yeah, things have calmed down a little bit. It was a little bit spicy at one point, but, yeah, all good now.

Talk us through that innings, Joe, because two hundreds now in Australia, where does.

That rank in terms of the 41.

Test hundreds you've now got?

I don't really look at it like that. I think you reflect more on the end of the game once the. Hopefully it can have a positive reflection on the outcome of the game and then we'll see. But ultimately we found ourselves in a position where we felt like I could make the most of that first innings. It could change quite drastically over the course of the next few days, especially if the weather warms up and you get a traditional kind of SCG pitch where it can crack and start to go up and down and maybe spin as well. Try and maximise those first innings runs was a priority for us and to get somewhere near 400 is obviously a reasonably good effort. So, like I said, if we can back things up tomorrow and we can build good pressure with the ball for sustained periods of time and utilise those dents that have sort of acquired over the last couple of days, then I think things could change quite quickly.

Jamie Smith's dismissal is not going to.

Be one he looks back on terribly fondness.

What was your reading of it?

And facing Manas Lapache, there's been a Fair bit of criticism for the way he got out.

I'd say look at that phase in the game. You look at the second new ball and you look at that surface there and you want to maximise that lead into the new ball. You saw how differently it reacted once that came. So you can sit there and you can sort of just soak up pressure and go into the new ball and sort of almost give him too much respect, or you can try and put a bit of pressure back on them and maximise the opportunity with those, you know, a 76, 77 overall ball and try and, you know, get a few overs where you go at eights, nines and tens and life's a lot easier than when, you know, when you're ahead of things, when that new ball comes around. So it depends how you look at it. I think the most important thing is you're trying to do things to better the team and you're trying to drive the game forward in the right direction, which is exactly what he was trying to do. So, you know, that's how I viewed it out there in the middle. And like I say, when you're trying to move the game forward in the direction you want to go, then sometimes you're going to make the odd mistake and you have to live with it.

In terms of how the pitch is.

Behaving, there have been a few that have done funny things off the surface.

How did you read it as the.

Day went on and your innings went on?

Yeah, it certainly was very different just from the outset today, really. It felt like it quickened up a touch and maybe out of those dints, it seemed to do it a little bit quicker and sharper and maybe a little bit more variable bounce. So hopefully that can be a trend throughout the game and we can stay ahead of it in terms of the first innings score. But like I say, it felt like if you held a good area for long periods of time, you're going to ask good questions, then you could get rewards. And you saw that, you know, when you got in the right spots with the new balls.

I know you weren't out there, but just.

Finally, there seems to be a little bit of chat between some of those.

In the middle to where's the back.

End of the day? Any insight into that? Not yet. I'm hoping to find out myself soon. So. Yeah, we'll see.

Joe Root, speaking to Henry Moran, very diplomatic on the.

He was doing so well.

Yeah. Jamie Smith, he was saying, There's 10.

Minutes to go till lunch, four overs go to the new ball. I'm thinking, I think he's going to say, you've obviously played for. Play for that. And then he kind of said, so therefore go for it. I mean, he's not, he doesn't mean that. He didn't do it, did he? No. So it was, it was a good.

Just, just trying to support their teammates and yeah, sometimes I'd rather they just came out and told the truth, but. And even, and I know the Australian cricketers do it and the English and it annoys me, they get asked, oh, you're bat, you know, you scored 100 today, you must have felt good. He goes, yeah, well you, I don't look at it that way. It's. I won't know till the, the impact it has on the game but you know, and then team, team, team, team. And that, that annoys me how both teams do, whether it's a modern day cricket or again, how about just come out. Actually I hit him well, you know, I, I'm seeing the ball well. I was timing it well. It just felt really good. I was happy with it. It's got the team in a great position, you know, hopefully we can push so you can do both and sorry, joking off there. But Mitchell Stark does the same thing like he's bolt, sensationally picks up seven. Oh, you must felt. Oh yeah, you know the team, team, team. No, I'd come out well, I was swinging. I'm really happy that I, I bow well. Picked up FIFA, my best bowling figures. I wanted, I want these guys to be confident that they can come out and say, you know, I was really happy with the way I played and it's going to have a positive impact on the team. So you can do both. So that's my little issue with.

You've got a big day tomorrow, you need to go and suck some stressors then you've got to do a lot. You've got a lot going on.

I don't know what's happening.

Let's just talk a little bit more about the, the Jamie Smith because it's kind of like. It's funny actually, isn't it, how you know, overall it's just, it's one instant in a, in a day, but it just felt so deflating if you were an England supporter, because it was just the, it was the wrong thing to do.

If you want to see everything encapsulated in what is wrong with the mentality of the team, that shot said it all. You need to say no more about it. It was utterly brainless Totally unnecessary. It was irresponsible. It was just everything. I mean, you came out with a charge sheet 10 minutes before lunch. Four O's for a new ball. Man on 100 odd. The other end, Labochain, bowling, bouncers, everybody.

Lachene deliberately to get you to play that shot. So you. I mean, it's a bit like having a trap, you know, in the ground, isn't it? Down there is, you know, some snakes or whatever, just walk this way and you go, no, I'm not going to. Oh, I have.

I've just walked into it, if anyone really wants to. And there is. Okay. There is sense of frustration, obviously, because we've been watching this for a while, and not just on this tour, by the way, but other times as well. And I keep referring to that Test match at the oval that England should have won against India and they threw that away, that incident there. And not to necessarily blame one person for it. It's just like opening the door on the culture in there. It's irresponsible and you cannot play test cricket like that. You're not going to win.

To look at that by itself. Fair enough. It could be just a mistake. It was just one of those things. But you look at Smith's whole innings, the shots he played leading up to it. Got away with edges and driving on the up, got lucky. Green went over by a couple of mil, no ball. Otherwise he would have been up, out.

Early, caught a cover.

You look at Adelaide, how he got out there after hitting two boundaries. So this is not just a one off incident happening on a regular basis. And, you know, so that's more the issue.

I've tried to make the point as well in my view, and it's only my opinion, but the mentality of the team is fine for some. It's fine actually for Stokes. He likes that get out there and take it on sort of stuff. And one or two others do. It's been bad for Pope, bad for Brooke, bad for Smith. I don't think it's been good for Atkinson. You can go down a list of players who this culture has not been good for and they're not playing it to their full, their full talent.

So what should Smith have done? Just left it, just ducked underneath it? Spider this time say really well.

Yeah, you'd rather have two set batsman at the crease with that new ball coming in. Hopefully they can navigate it a bit better than, you know, someone just coming in. You know, Jax went out there, got through that new ball. I know he got out, what was it, 12th over or something.

So.

Yeah, but that's 12 overs if you.

Are in, you don't get yourself out with a new ball just around the corner and you don't fall for the utter sucker punch. Marnus Labashane Bowling bouncers. I mean, yeah, it wasn't just that.

It was the fact that everybody.

That every field. Yeah, every ball was. Well, can you call them bouncers? You know, 80 mile hour long hops, you know every ball was delivered like that. Just stand there, just watch them really Smith, you can't have a passenger play like that for long without it's actually bringing the games disrepute.

Frankly if that happened back. Yeah when we played, you'd be tempted to walk the other side of the field going off. You don't want to go back to the dressing room because you're going to cop it's it as you walk in. But yeah, so it's just, it's. It's one of those things. I. Yeah. I don't know how to explain it.

I think it has to be a scrambled mind. It has to be a completely scrambled mind and just, just, just the wrong messages.

Right, we've heard from Joe Root. Let's get some reaction from the Australia camp now. Scott Boland who finished with 2 for 85 from 26 overs, also took that catch as well to dismiss Jamie Smith and probably couldn't believe it. He's been speaking with Corbyn Middlemass and the ABC team.

Scott, appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Night watchman required. All of a sudden you're not padded up, you're out here talking to us at close, going on, you lose the gig. I know, I know. I wasn't overly disappointed to be honest, but I think we just didn't want to have Starkey at 11, Ness at 10. I think there's too much good batting there to have them that long.

Mate, don't sell yourself short.

You did a great.

You took on it in Melbourne. Should have pushed Ness out of the way and say mate, l. Listen, I went out there and did it.

I'm doing it again now.

Bugger off.

I, I'd be happy to do it for one over but when are you doing for 20 minutes?

It's hard work to be fair. Josh Tongue was bowling with some decent pace on.

It was quite dark. Yeah, he bow bowled well today, Scott.

And you did as a unit.

It felt like yesterday and the scoring.

Patterns told us this. England scored a lot through sort of COVID and point. It looks like an Adjustment from the Australian bowling unit today. Yeah, I think that's their strengths. That's where they're trying to score all the time. So we know that we put fielders back. We don't want to go for too many boundaries through that area. So if they're hitting singles through that area, we still feel like we're in the game. If one ball bounces and you can take the outside edge. Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. Did it feel significantly different than. Than yesterday and were you. Were you disappointed with how you bowled.

As a collective on day one? No, not overly.

The wickers felt pretty flat. Yesterday felt a bit dead. Today actually felt like the wicking. I think it just quickened up a little bit. But then as a bow, it feels like the margin for error is. Is pretty small.

Like.

Feels like when you're bowing back to length, you can get a bit of C movement, but as soon as you get a bit fuller, it feels like.

It'S a nice weekend watching the. Watching the game.

You're right.

It seemed to bounce and carry through a lot better today, especially when you.

Took the new ball.

It. It seemed like the game changed completely at that point.

It did, yeah. And you can see when they took the new ball still the same thing. Like Jamie Smith's taking a lot of balls above his head. So there is some really nice carry there, which was nice for a fast bower. How's the ego going with Kez continually.

Coming up to the stumps?

No, I. I didn't like it at the start, but I like it now cuz I know exactly where they're going to be. A lot of guys in the. When I'm bowling and trying to either come at me or walk at me or Harry Brook likes to run at you and try and go offside. So if I have Kes up there, I know exactly where they're going to be, that they're not moving around too much, so I don't mind. It's still hard running in seeing him there.

Not great to the ego, is it? Occasionally if you're going to bow a short ball, is there sort of. Do you meant it'll be the third ball or the fourth ball? Is there any. Have you worked out signs like baseball yet where, you know, you grab your gear or something like that?

Kez is that good. You don't even need to tell him. Like I. I accidentally bow a bouncer at the Gabber. I've slipped and obviously wasn't planning. He just took so clean and I was like, and even a few of the balls today actually chuck one down leg, he takes it straight away. Like it's been amazing.

Just on the cares point then I don't want to happen. But to stand up to the stumps for the period of time he's done it takes a lot of courage, but you can almost not remember a ball he's misgloved and you know, you talking to the ex wicket keepers, oh, he hasn't hurt a finger. He's done. Every ball's gone in the middle of his hands.

It's unbelievable. Well, there's a couple of times I bow one today and it bounced and seamed away to Root and he played a miss and Kez took it and I was walking back ahead. He's like, how is he doing that? It's just. Yeah, it's a. I think I feel like it's been a bit of a game changer for us. Like we get them exactly where we want them. Ness is really good with when bowling like that as well, so it's nice to know exactly where they're going to stand.

That's Scott Boland. 18 wickets in this Ashes series. Talking to the ABC team. So Australia 166 for 2 in reply to 384 from England. Last but not least. Let's have a statistical look at the day with Andy Zaltzman. Let's start with Joe Root.

Yes, well, tremendous innings from him. You mentioned his 41st Test 100. That ties him third with Ricky Ponting on the all time list behind Callis and Sachin Tendulkar who had 50100 his 17th 150 score, which puts him in the top five all time most 150 plus scores in Test cricket. And his conversion rate extraordinary. Nine of his last 11 fifties. He's converted into centuries 24 of his last 41. Prior to that in his career been only around one in four. So a huge improvement. That goes back to 2021. Harry Brook on the other hand against Australia, now 10 Tests, he's had 1230 plus scores. The innings that finished today on 84 was only the third time he's got past 65 in those 1230 plus scores. Still no sent no Ashes centuries and against other teams, 10 centuries in 25 Tests. So that's. Yeah, I mean it's been a disappointing tour for Brook from that point of view. He's had six scores of 30 plus in this series. Roots only had only had three. So he sort of had a disappointing series in terms of consistency, of production but has had two outstanding centuries to counterbalance that. So yes, it's kind of curiously frustrating series for Root, but a magnificent innings.

Today of course when Harry Brooke comes back to Australia in four years time we were saying he's not scored 100 in Australia like we were saying with Joe Root. What about Travis Head?

Well, Travis Head passed 500 runs for the series. In the last six Ashes series only Steve Smith has reached 500 runs. He did so three times. And also as opener Head has now passed 500 runs. He had 21 in his first into the series batting lower down the order, but now over 500 as an opener. Only the second Australian opener with 500 plus in an Ashes series this millennium. David Warner had 523 in the 201314 Ashes. Just quickly on Ben Stokes dismissed again by Mitchell Stark who now has 28 wickets in the series. For the fifth time in this series that Stark has dismissed Stokes for just 39 runs. And the last England captain in the Ashes to be dismissed five times by the same bowler was Mike Atherton who was dismissed seven times by Glenn McGrath in the six test 1987. Also Stuart Broad dismissed Michael Clarke in 2013 five times.

Okay, thanks very much Andy. You can watch the best of the action on the BBC Sport website and app now with our main highlights on the BBC iPlayer available every day of the series from 5pm The TMS Ashes debrief is also on iplayer with Alex Hartley, Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell. Go to BBC Sounds for all our test match special podcasts. Just search Ashes for all our content and we're back on air 1045 tonight for the third day.

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