Australia has been criticised for their “very, very poor” showing on a rain-affected opening day of this summer’s Ashes series finale in Sydney, which now threatens to undo some of their hard work this summer.
After dropping their first Test for 15 years in Melbourne’s Boxing Day Test late last year, a long day in the field awaits the home side on day two, after England resumed on 3/211 at 10am AEDT.
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However, Scott Boland managed to break through early for the home side thanks to a thoughtless waft outside off stump from Harry Brook, which saw him depart for 84 on the third over of the second day.
Ben Stokes walked to the crease for his country at 4/224, but departed for an 11-ball duck on review as Root approaches his second-ever Test hundred down under.
A strong batting display from Brook and Joe Root (72 not out) is the main reason for the Poms’ strong position, though former England captain Michael Vaughan believes a lack of punch has cost Australia more than just this once this series.
“This Australian team are there for the taking. The Aussies have to accept that since they’ve won the Ashes and went 3-nil up … they’ve certainly switched off,” Vaughan told Fox Sports News’ Ashes Daily on the morning of day two.
“They’ve not been the same Australian side since they went 3-nil up … they look like they’ve lost their edge.”
Vaughan expanded on BBC’s Test Match Special, saying: “They switched off in Melbourne, and today, I looked down and thought: ‘Wait a minute. This attack … The pitch is good. I thought some of Australia’s bowling today, and maybe it was down to Root and Harry Brook’s brilliance. But I thought they were very, very poor with the bowling hand.
“Starc bowled a half decent spell … Neser bowled a couple of decent overs, but that attack today on that pitch was there for the taking.
“… Sometimes we’ve had it with England side on tours when you go away and by the end of it, it’s like the end of the term and you switched off and you just want to get on the plane. That looks like Australia at the minute. They look like a touring team that’s come towards the end of a hard series and they just want to get on the plane home.
“It’s been very unlike Australia. You go back through the generations. Australians generally want to hammer your 5-0. This Australian team have not given me the indication that they desperately wanted to hammer this England side 5-0.”
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Meanwhile on Sunday, SCG patrons were left up in arms after intermittent showers and bad light saw the final three hours of play scrapped on the opening day of the fifth Ashes Test.
Play was stopped just before 3pm local time due to dark clouds causing day light, covers went on and were never removed.
That was despite long periods of no rain at all, with ground staff seemingly fearful of the potential of more rain, and match officials unwilling to try and get the game going.
News Corp described it as “daylight robbery at the SCG – literally”.
“Yes, there were showers around and some lightning for a brief period, but the International Cricket Council and its archaic rules simply cannot continue to treat fans like mugs,” Ben Horne and Lachlan McKirdy wrote.
“Sunday’s crowd of 49,574 was the highest for a day of Test cricket at the SCG since 1975-76, and yet they were an afterthought for match officials who appeared to show no impetus to even try to get play back underway.”
A brief shower hit the SCG just after stumps were called at 5pm but there were sunny periods where umpires did not even check the middle of the ground, and light was available well into the early evening.
England batter Brook was on the umpires’ side, declaring: “I could hardly see the ball when I was batting at the end.
“Me and Rooty just said to them it’s so dark out here, the Aussie boys were saying, ‘Are we going off?’ So, yeah, everybody was pretty much in the same boat.”
Play will resume 30 minutes early at 10am on Tuesday due to the loss of time on Day 1.
Australia has an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
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