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Adelaide may be 1,300km to the west of Bondi but the sense of pain in the city has been no less for the distance. People are in shock here trying to make sense of the horrors that unfolded on Sunday evening – a day that was supposed to be one of celebration for Sydney’s Jewish community.
As the first national public event being staged in Australia since, the third Ashes Test that starts here on Wednesday will play out to a sombre backdrop. The flags at Adelaide Oval will fly at half-mast, a minute’s silence will be observed before the toss, while players are likely to wear black armbands throughout. Inevitably, security for the match has been increased.
It will doubtless be an emotional week for Australia’s players and not least given the number of links to New South Wales within their squad. Nathan Lyon summed up the helplessness many were feeling on Monday, offering thoughts and prayers to those affected before admitting: “Nothing I’m going to say right now is going to make anyone feel any better.”
Needless to say, the cricket itself feels pretty trivial right now. But if nothing else, it can play a role in bringing people together at a time of such overwhelming sadness: a reminder of shared values and kinship. The Ashes rivalry has been running hot all series but ultimately this does not reflect the real world, where the two countries stand shoulder to shoulder.
For England, the situation in the series itself is acute, 2-0 down after two self-inflicted defeats. Ben Stokes has followed his head coach, Brendon McCullum, here, insisting now is not the time to think about jobs being on the line. “We both give everything that we possibly can towards the team,” he said. “It will always be like that as long as we are both in these roles.”
According to the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians, only three teams in the last 100 years of Ashes cricket have won the third Test after going 2-0 down. The good news for England, at least, is that this current side – changed in places, admittedly – sits among them: the fightback at Headingley in 2023, when incensed by Jonny Bairstow’s stumping at Lord’s.
Stokes, though, has been drawing on a more recent Test match to gee up his players, reminding them of the summer just gone and the blow-up with India at Lord’s that spurred them on to a battling victory. The question here is why it has taken them so long to find this sense of urgency; why players have failed to capitalise on the notable absentees from Australia’s attack.
Two of those absentees now return this week, bringing a combined 871 Test wickets of experience. Pat Cummins will lead his side for the first time in the series after allowing the potential start of a lower back stress fracture to settle down. And after just two overs in Perth, and the bench in Brisbane, Lyon is back at the ground that launched his career. This week saw him added to its “Avenue of Honour” for his 12 wickets against India here in 2014.
Third Test teams
ShowEngland (confirmed): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Jofra Archer
Australia (possible): Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon
England by comparison have swapped out Gus Atkinson, 66 Test wickets, for Josh Tongue, 31, but have otherwise backed the incumbents. It means no place for Shoaib Bashir – Will Jacks still preferred – and with it perhaps the first acknowledgement that two years of hot-housing a stripling with this tour in mind has simply not worked out. Add it to an ever-lengthening list.
Either way, and for all the talk of poor preparation before the series, England have no excuse not to be hardened to the task of playing in Australia by now. Nor can they claim to feel anything but fully refreshed following the break in Noosa. On Monday Harry Brook happily described it as “a belting time” during which apparently next to no cricket was really discussed.
And England should be optimistic: the pitch at Adelaide Oval should feel more familiar than the bounce at the previous two venues, while the square boundaries are 13m tighter on either side compared to that monstrous outfield in Perth. The bigger question is how they take 20 wickets, not least given a heatwave that is forecast to span the first two days. In that respect, playing a spin-bowling all-rounder at number eight feels instinctively defensive.
Tongue’s awkward angle and ability to move the ball late should ask fresh questions of Australia’s batters, at least, even if he can at times be wild and expensive. Although the same can be said for Brydon Carse so far, nine wickets yet going at five an over. His retention, ahead of the less demonstrative Atkinson, may well reflect the inner “dog” that Stokes now deems a non-negotiable.
