I hope he makes a swift recovery because we all like to see a skilful.performer at the end of the day, and Lyon has that in abundance. Should he be out, it is an opportunity for the rookie off-spinner Todd Murphy. It would seem that Australia are as berefit of high class spinners as England.
I take issue with Ben Duckett saying he should stick to his natural game. Surely as a test batsman he and others must be able to assess the situation and adapt to it. Short pitched fast bowling to a set back field begs for a tip it and run game placing the ball such that the opposition are worn down to the knees chasing it and forced to change tactics.
This is shameful. To collapse like this is just totally shameful. Not today so much, but what we did yesterday was really appalling.
It's the manner of it as well. If you get out to good deliveries in tough conditions, then fair enough. But we gave them away so, so cheaply to harmless bouncers. It was so obvious what the aussies were planning
I hope the press really hold them to account on this and accuse them of not doing their jobs properly. There is no point in repeatedly getting to landmark scores 48,49,50 and then playing stupid shots to get out. The same with 100. Good players get hundreds. Great players just score until the team has the runs they need.
Yesterday, after that great start by Duckett, Crawley, and to a lesser extent Pope, I couldn’t believe how easily the next 3 wickets were given away. One would think words would have been spoken in the dressing room to rein in the recklessness a bit, to at least get close to the Aussies’ score before letting rip again. With 6 wickets left, even with a longish tail, this should have been straightforward. But no. 6 wickets for 48 runs, 2 of them to a part time spinner, is simply unacceptable. The massive pressure of playing Australia at Lords has obviously played a part, but it seems that winning the vast majority of the tests played under the Stokes/McCullum regime has instilled an arrogance which is clearly not justified when up against the best side in the world.
I think that crazy hour yesterday was far more costly than this morning. Today, conditions are bowler friendly. They weren't yesterday and the top order should have cashed in and didn't because they all got themselves out.