Calf concern for Lyon with Lord's Test delicately poised

A potentially series-ending injury to Nathan Lyon triggered an hour of mayhem in the final session of the second Ashes Test at Lord's, as a hobbled Australia attack fought an unrelenting short-pitched battle to rein in England's marauding batters.

By stumps on another crazily compelling day, England are 4-278 and 138 runs behind Australia's first innings with Harry Brook 45no and skipper Ben Stokes unbeaten on 17, although they might have been in a position of greater strength had they kept their heads after Australia lost their spinner to a calf problem.

Instead of seizing their tactical advantage with Australia suddenly missing a vital component of their bowling attack, England went full kamikaze and lost 3-34 from seven overs in near-identical manner – caught behind square leg, slogging at short-pitched bowling.

It would have been four had Marnus Labuschagne hung on to a head-high catch that Brook (on 25, with England 4-243) drilled to him at square leg in the final hour as, in keeping with their new ethos, they frantically kept trying to land punches rather than soak up their opponents' best shots.

Until such time as Australia went to plan B (for bouncer) after tea, they had given no indication they might take multiple wickets such was the ease with which England's top-order was coping on a pitch that had quickened up slightly and flattened out appreciably since day one.

The switch reflected a change in weather with much of today's drama taking place amid bursts of sunshine with Australia's bowlers unable to find any assistance in the track before they started banging the ball into it.

It also underscored the significance of Australia's lower-order collapse from 3-316 to 416 all out, as England began their pursuit at the breezy rate of five an over with only the occasional whiff of unnecessary risk.

That all changed half an hour after tea, when England were flying at 1-181 and Australia's ploy to target set pair Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope with a bouncer barrage yielded a succession of victims, the first of which fell to friendly fire.

In charging in from the deep backward square boundary to try and catch a fly ball that Duckett had miscued from a Cameron Green short ball, Lyon pulled up short and immediately grabbed at his right calf.

It then became apparent the 35-year-old spinner was suffering more than a twinge, as he hobbled towards the boundary rope in extreme pain and had to be helped towards the dressing room by team physiotherapist Nick Jones.

If, as initially feared, it is a torn calf, it would ensure Lyon is sidelined for a couple of months, a cruel irony given this was the Test in which he became the first specialist bowler in the game's history to string together 100 consecutive Tests, a testament to his fitness and durability.

The injury not only robbed Australia of their most economical and enduring bowler, his absence came as England threatened to snatch away a Test they had seemingly squandered with a lacklustre first day.

The bouncer ploy was a last-ditch bid to quell their opponents' free-scoring and, as Lyon limped to the rear of the Lord's pavilion, it bore fruit when Pope's bravado cost him his wicket when he tried to launch over the head of Smith at deep square leg and failed.

Three balls later, it appeared an act of genius – or, by the same measure, a collective England brain fade – when Joe Root's attempted hook took his glove and ballooned into the mitts of exultant 'keeper Alex Carey.

But no sooner had the Australia players formed into a celebratory huddle, euphoric at removing their foes' best batter with just a single to his name, than it was revealed Green had overstepped, sending the Lord's crowd into delirium.

By that stage, it would have seemed sensible for England's batters to put away the pull given the tactic was as transparent as it had proved successful against the run of the game.

However, with a philosophy that suggests they would rather experience defeat than admit it, they kept going and it cost Duckett an Ashes century at Lord's that was there for the taking when he tugged a Josh Hazlewood bouncer to a jubilant David Warner at fine leg.

In terms of attrition, the half-hour period had cost England two to Australis's one, albeit with the visitors potentially suffering greater long-term damage.

The count became three-one when Root was the fourth England batter to self-destruct trying to take on the short stuff, top edging Starc to backward square where Smith claimed an acrobatic catch tumbling forward.

Despite his earlier reprieve, the former England skipper believed he was due another one and resolutely stood his ground pending an umpire review of the low catch even though it was demonstrably more 'out' than the effort Root himself had claimed in the corresponding Test four years earlier.

While Smith's couple of catches proved pivotal, it was his capacity to turn a meaningful score into a Test hundred that has most markedly set him apart in this game.

His 110 was his 32nd Test ton, but the scope of his achievement – a bulk of those runs coming on day one when batting was fraught in dull, humid conditions – was diminished slightly once England began their reply 20 minutes before lunch.

 

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That four-over stint contained no fireworks and as many chances, with Australia's lead trimmed by 13, but the tempo changed considerably after the break when Lord's basked in bright sunshine.

Players might have been able to choose from chicken leg tagine or pan-seared fillet of stone bass in the lunch room, but England openers Zak Crawley and Duckett also tucked into Pat Cummins and Starc immediately upon resumption.

A couple of sumptuous Crawley drives off Australia's captain were followed by an imperious flick through mid-wicket and a crunching cover drive off Starc that brought back-to-back boundaries as the right-hander played dominant partner.

By the time Lyon was summoned to the attack, the ball was but 11 overs old and England had already scooted past 50, with Crawley looking to further pile on the pressure by aiming the day's first reverse sweep at Australia's off-spinner.

The fact that stroke was anticipated by Smith who ran to his right at slip and nearly held a freakish catch didn't dissuade either batter, but as was the case at Edgbaston in the first Test Crawley coughed up his wicket when a deserved half-century beckoned.

The 25-year-old had hardly played a false stroke in his run-a-ball 48 until he charged at Lyon to be beaten behind his legs, the ball brushing the batter's pad to add an extra element of difficulty to an already challenging stumping for Carey.

Crawley was clearly furious with himself for throwing away his innings in the best bating conditions the game has seen, although the breakthrough didn't so much slow England's charge as exhort them to go harder.

Duckett took over as chief enforcer, reaching 50 (from 84 balls) with his fifth boundary, a thumping shot through mid-wicket off Starc who was leaking runs at the rate of almost eight an over.

Not that he was the only Australia bowler being targeted.

Brought into the XI partly because of the onslaught launched at Scott Boland in Birmingham, Hazlewood's first five overs yielded 37 runs which represented the third-most expensive spell (of three or more overs) of his 61-Test career to date.

Tellingly, the more profligate pair both came during the 2016 match against New Zealand at Christchurch where current England coach Brendon McCullum clubbed 145 from 79 balls with Hazlewood returning 2-98 from 18 overs.

Between lunch and tea, England rattled on 132 from 26 overs at a rate above five and for the loss of Crawley, prompting Australia to alter their plan of attack at the start of the final session.

Green spent much of the adjournment in the middle of Lord's, sending down a series of bouncers with Australia bowling coach Daniel Vettori, and took the ball upon resumption doing precisely that.

However, Duckett and Pope took up the challenge with the former swinging at everything, copping a blow to his right hand and miscuing a pull that soared over Carey only to land safely inside the boundary rope.

But it was the mishit in Green's next over – with three leg-side fielders on the rope, including Lyon – that might yet prove the most decisive blow of the series with the full extent of the spinner's injury expected to be known Friday morning.

The escalating chaos of day two provided an emphatic counterpoint to the considered orthodoxy of Australia's batting in equally contrasting conditions on day one.

Not only had the persistent overnight rain abated to allow play's start more or less on time, the opening overs were accompanied by glimpses of the sun that had been hitherto hidden in this Test.

If England thought the shift in weather might herald a similar change in yesterday's lacklustre effort they initially seemed destined for disappointment when Carey glanced Stuart Broad's first two deliveries of the day for consecutive boundaries.

But when the same fate had befallen England's second-most successful Test bowler on day one, he had responded by having Smith given out caught behind only for the decision to be overturned on review.

Today, it was two balls after coughing up a couple of fours that Broad roared back with a wicket and this time the review process worked in his favour.

Carey was beaten by one that jagged back into him up the slope and struck him on the back pad, convincing umpire Ahsan Raza it would have bounced over the stumps but on closer examination was shown to be clipping the top of leg stump.

It was the fillip England so sorely needed, and set the tone for the remainder of the day.

Starc came and went for a breezy six, caught behind from a speculative drive that gave James Anderson his first wicket of the Test, with Smith still anxiously waiting at the non-striker's end having added only a couple of runs to his overnight 85.

He found a capable ally in Cummins – whose batting average for this series currently stands at 104 – who stood steadfast as Smith accelerated to his hundred before he ran out of partners.

A whip through mid-wicket for four off Broad was followed by a couple of less authoritative boundaries off Anderson – a yorker-length ball squeezed on the bounce over second slip, then a genuine edge past gully as he searched outside off stump – took him to 99.

There was another flutter when he played and missed at Broad, but the milestone arrived in suitable style with a flowing cover drive for four off Anderson, upon which he celebrated by tucking the next delivery sweetly through the on side for four more.

But just as Smith looked set to push on and lift his team beyond 450, he chased an outswinger from Josh Tongue and sliced a catch plucked smartly at gully by Duckett tumbling to his left.

Despite his achievement, Smith cut a disconsolate figure as he trudged back to warm applause from the sun-soaked crowd, a demonstrable contrast to Wednesday when he was welcomed to a ground he habitually dominates with resonating jeers.

No sooner had Smith removed his pads in the sanctuary of the dressing room than he was joined by tailenders Lyon (7) and Hazlewood (4) who wafted away their wickets to ensure Ollie Robinson finished with figures that belied his influence (3-100 from 24.4 overs).

From the time Travis Head had succumbed to a rush of blood against Root the previous evening, Australia surrendered their final wickets for 100 runs off 108 balls.

Under regular circumstances, that might be assessed as a squandered opportunity.

But as has been discussed ad infinitum since before this series began, the manner in which England play is highly irregular.

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood