England has once again been torched by its former captain Michael Vaughan, this time for losing quick wickets in what he labelled “absolute stupidity” from their top-order batters.
Day two of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s was largely controlled by England after rolling Australia for 416 before lunch.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett quickly tore into Australia’s bowlers and laid the platform for the middle order.
AS IT HAPPENED: The Ashes second Test, day two
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Crawley and Duckett both fell just short of milestones with 48 and 98 respectively. Even then, at 2-188, England were still well in control.
The key moment came when Nathan Lyon wandered from the field with a suspected calf injury, taking one of Australia’s key bowlers out of the attack.
With the ball not offering much in the way of seam or swing, Australian captain Pat Cummins opted to go for the short ball.
That tactic worked, snagging Ollie Pope for 42 before ending Duckett’s rein just short of his century. Joe Root was the last wicket to fall on day two, scoring just 10 runs.
All told, England lost three wickets for 90 runs.
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“I think we’ve got to be realistic though, we can’t mix entertainment with stupidity,” said Vaughan on BBC Sport’s Ashes Daily.
“Now, for the first 182 runs, I saw an England side that went out to bat and played with great entertainment because they played proper cricket strokes.
“They played the Australian bowlers, the quicks, with great balance, great scoring options on the front foot, the back foot.
Duckett falls into Aussie trap
“I thought Australia offered too many easy options. The ball wasn’t doing anything laterally so it was quite nice to hit through the line. The likes of Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope played beautifully. It was great to watch.
“Pat Cummins, he only had that option to go to because there was nothing happening through the air.
“There was no seam movement, so he decides to go to the short stuff and what came after that for the next hour or was absolute stupidity.
“That’s not entertainment. That is just playing Test match cricket in a fashion and in a way that just brings the opposition back into the game.”
Smith removes Root with brilliant catch
After lashing England for its apparent nonchalant attitude on day one, Vaughan was encouraged to see his 11 men with their tails up on day two.
What they lacked with the ball, they made up with the bat. Though the brain explosion late on day two has Vaughan concerned Australia have been let back into the match.
“They had that intensity, the eyes were different this morning,” he said.
“You could see it in their body language and when they came out to bat – brilliant, they get the platform set and Nathan Lyon is off the field, the tactic’s set, the carrot is dangled, England went ‘You know what? We’ll eat that. We’ll just try hit the ball’.
Marnus grasses easy chance
“Ollie Pope tried to baseball it into St John’s Wood (Lord’s neighbouring suburb). The best player in the team was out twice playing the pull shot.
“That is not entertaining, I’m sorry, that is stupid Test match cricket and Australia will be delighted with that method because when the ball is not swinging over the next few weeks, guess what they’re going to do?
“Particularly to the likes of Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, I mean, he’s got MLB on the back of his bat, Major League Baseball, it’s a sticker on the back of his bat and he started to play a bit of baseball.”
Second Test Day 2 Highlights
Duckett said he had no regrets about taking on the short ball, despite losing his wicket.
Asked what the mood was like in the England camp after three batters fell in similar circumstances, Duckett was left perplexed.
“I’m not sure how to answer that. I’m surprised about the question,” he said.
“We’ve played positive cricket for the past 12 months and we’re certainly not going to change. I’m pretty sure we went at four or five an over for that period as well.
“We’re very happy with the position we’re in. If we can eek closer to them and even get a lead then I think we’re on top in this game.”
England trails Australia by 138 runs with six wickets in hand heading into day two.
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