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For three hours Ben Stokes was hinting at a repeat of the innings that inked his name into Ashes folklore. Headingley 2019 is remembered for its explosion of runs at the end but less spoken about since has been the foundation of stone-cold obduracy on which it was built.
England’s situation going into the fourth day of this second Ashes Test at the Gabba was similarly dire, 43 runs away from making Australia bat again, six wickets down. As Ricky Ponting put it while Stokes was chewing his gum waiting to enter the field: “These are the moments he lives for.”
But at 5.50pm, floodlights on and with England having ground to a slender 50-run lead, Stokes was halted in his tracks. Bustling in to a field usually seen in the County Championship, Michael Neser found his edge and Alex Carey, stood up to the stumps, held on. It capped a sublime display of glovework from the wicketkeeper and settled any lingering Australian concerns.
Stokes flipped his bat skywards before trudging down the tunnel to the dressing room with his head in his hands. Across 152 balls of defiance he had chiselled out 50 runs, worn a nasty blow to the box, and at least offered a pushback of sorts. Come 7.30pm he was shaking hands with Steve Smith, a paltry target of 65 wiped out by Australia in 10 overs to seal an eight-wicket win and an ominous 2-0 lead with three to play.
Allied by a similarly determined 41 from Will Jacks at No 8, Stokes’s attempt at atonement was impressive on one level. Australia gave them next to nothing, their lines close to impeccable, while the marbled pitch was throwing up the odd bit of inconsistent bounce. But it also came far too late in the piece, unable to mask the errors witnessed the evening before or across the first five days of the series overall.
Among these has been the catching, with five chances going to grass as the hosts amassed the 511 all out that broke England. Australia were far superior in this department alone, summed up by a low one-handed reflex take from Smith at slip that removed Jacks moments before the wicket of Stokes and triggered wild celebrations inside the Gabba.
England were also out-thought by their hosts, whose manipulation of the day-night conditions was masterful. And before eventually being bowled out for 241 runs – Neser walking off with his maiden Test five-wicket haul on his home ground – there was still time for one last English brain fade.
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Gus Atkinson can bat. He has a Test century to his name. And at in effect 54 for eight, but with another decent stick at the far end in Brydon Carse, it was not impossible to set Australia a three-figure exam under lights. Yet the pull shot that picked out Smith was down there with the most gormless of England’s on tour – a short-ball trap almost wilfully fallen into.
This may seem harsh to pick out the No 9 given some of the efforts of those higher up the night before. But as Atkinson knocked over Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne during the run chase, undone by balls that shot through and reared up, his own dismissal simply grew worse.
And so as the two sides take a nine-day break before the third Test in Adelaide, England once again find themselves needing to reflect. Australia, with Pat Cummins likely to return and Nathan Lyon already assured to be re-entering the fray, will only be asking more questions.
Ali Martin’s full report to follow...
