England were last night fired an Ashes warning as Australia dangermen Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne undertook extra batting sessions at Lord’s to recover from their first Test no-shows.
The pair, who were the top-ranked batsmen in the world ahead of the first Test, combined for just 35 runs at Edgbaston as Australia squeaked through to win by just two wickets. Labuschagne’s 13 runs from two innings included a golden duck after he was dismissed twice by Stuart Broad.
But England’s hopes of getting back into Ashes were given a major boost with the MCC working on getting more pace into the Lord’s pitch.
Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson were critical of the “characterless” Edgbaston pitch, as England lost a stunning match by two wickets. Broad described it as “soulless” while Jimmy Anderson said in his Telegraph Sport column it was “kryptonite” and that he was “done” in the Ashes if other pitches were similar.
“How can I be polite [about the pitch]?” Broad said on day two at Edgbaston. “It is a very slow,low surface that saps the energy out of the ball.
“It is pretty characterless so far, pretty soulless, but you can only judge a surface towards the end of the match and see how it develops.”
Anderson wrote in his Telegraph Sport column on Thursday: “That pitch was like kryptonite for me. There was not much swing, no reverse swing, no seam movement, no bounce and no pace. I’ve tried over the years to hone my skills so I can bowl in any conditions but everything I tried made no difference. I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle.”
But the veteran bowlers should find a Lord’s surface more to their liking in the second Ashes Test, according to MCC. Jamie Cox, the former Tasmania and Somerset batsman who is now MCC’s assistant secretary for cricket and operations, says the Lord’s groundsman Karl McDermott was looking for a surface with more pace.
Over the winter, McDermott performed what Cox called a “pretty significant renovation”, removing 10mm of topsoil and relaying new grass, in a bid to speed the pitches up. The pitch against Ireland was, in England’s view, an improvement on what they had played on at the home of cricket in recent years.
“It’ll be a similar pitch to the Ireland Test match,” Cox told Code Sports. “It just got through. It wasn’t fast, but it was easy to score on. It was a good batting pitch when the sun was out. Here, they always say ‘look up, not down.’ So if the clouds are out, the game will accelerate. If it’s nice sunny days batting will look fun.”
Asked if it would be quicker than Edgbaston, he said: “A little bit I think. Well, that’s what we want. We want a little bit more pace and carry. Our biggest battle here is always getting pace and carry. It’s just not a fast, bouncing surface.
“There’s always something there for the bowlers with the overheads and the slope and everything else. It doesn’t spin much historically. But it will do if you get four or five hot days.”
Australia coach Andrew McDonald this week said it was an “appetising thought” his team had won despite his key men floundering, and warned England the pair are eager to hit back.
Keen to put things right after their no-shows at Edgbaston, Smith and Labuschagne were among nine players put through their paces at an optional training session at Lord’s on Saturday. They are expected to do the same at another optional session on Sunday, before both teams ramp up their preparation on Monday.
“I think there’s always a curiosity to get better, so we’re not going to stall that in any way. They’ll come up with different plans, different movements,” McDonald said of Smith and Labuschagne this week.
“They’ve seen what England are going to do and how they’re going to attack them. They’re probably two of the greatest problem-solvers we’ve had over a period of time so you would expect them to go back to the drawing board.”
The concerns are more acute for Labuschagne because Smith scored a fabulous hundred in the World Test Championship final at the Oval this month. Former coach Justin Langer describes the pair as “master and apprentice” and concurs with McDonald’s view that they are brilliant problem solvers, treating the game like a “mathematical equation”.
Smith and Labuschagne are returning to the site of an extraordinary moment in both their careers. At Lord’s four years ago, it took a Jofra Archer thunderbolt to stop Smith in his tracks when nearing a third century in three innings. Smith was hit on the neck and, while he passed an initial concussion test and returned to the crease (he was dismissed by Chris Woakes for 92), he was subsequently ruled out of that Test and the one that followed at Headingley.
Australia also appear increasingly likely to bring Mitchell Starc into their XI in place of Josh Hazlewood or, perhaps more likely, Scott Boland, who took two wickets at Edgbaston but cost more than five runs an over.
England’s players have spent a couple of days at home, but will join up in London on Sunday. They will mull the right attack for the surface, with Mark Wood an option to come in, while Rehan Ahmed has joined the squad as cover for Moeen Ali.
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