Warner,so eager to get forward and outside off stump to Broad,was kept quiet for half an hour and then dragged on as he overbalanced in his enthusiasm to crash a wider delivery through the covers:the antithesis of Zak Crawley’s effort to ball one of day one.
Loading
Next ball,after Broad exhorted the crowd to raise their voices,Marnus Labuschagne was faked out by the positioning of a straight field that suggested targeting his stumps. Instead,Broad curled down the away swinger he had flagged all summer as a new weapon against Labuschagne in particular. Jonny Bairstow’s catch was sabre-sharp.
It was a moment that underlined the challenge of this England. Broad had been very transparent in discussing his work on the ball and the plan,and Labuschagne is meticulous in looking for such clues. But it still had to be played,and Labuschagne’s hands were lured,as Richie Benaud liked to say,like a moth to the flame.
Stokes greeted Steve Smith with two leg slips and Broad speared the hat-trick ball towards his pads,causing Australia’s best since Bradman to leave it in comically ungainly manner. It was an apt exemplar of how off-balance the early going had been.
At length,Smith was prevented from scoring freely,repeatedly finding well-set fielders in the ring on the off side. Stokes,his knee a source of so much mystery,came on in late morning and found a modicum of variable bounce to pin Smith in front of the stumps,lbw on a low surface and another moment to add to the captain’s legend.
Much as when they bowled,the Australians clearly took some getting used to the all-action tempo of England’s cricket. In the field they saved something in the vicinity of 30 runs by chasing down balls that often reach the rope,or hustling to turn three into two.
“There’s definitely a hint of Baz McCullum in there,” Khawaja said after. “I played against Baz when he was captaining New Zealand and it was a very similar thing. At one stage he put everyone on the off side then next ball everyone on the leg side. I think Stokesy has taken a little bit of that,but I like he does it his own way. He challenges the game and challenges people in different ways.”
Head,then Green,found better balance in the vicinity of their chosen methods,forming a pair of unions with Khawaja that advanced Australia at a healthy rate. Each would fall,however,to the sharp turn of Moeen Ali,who was used by Stokes with the same alacrity he had utilised Jack Leach.
Against most captains,Head and then Green would have forced a bowling change with their straight hitting. But Stokes persisted,drawing a Head miscue to midwicket and then the splayed stumps of Green when Moeen produced a souvenir edition off-break.
Loading
Moeen should have had Green after two balls,when a similar offering reached Bairstow with the allrounder stranded. But the stumping chance hit hard gloves and rebounded away. Bairstow had to that point kept up a relentless patter on the stump microphone like a Yorkshire version of Matt Wade;he was quieter thereafter.
Alex Carey,who did so well against India at the Oval,played with good sense in the final session. He was reprieved by another Bairstow error when Joe Root found a bit of purchase,but earned some luck with the assurance of his shotmaking.
Khawaja glided Stokes to the boundary for three figures,yelling jubilantly the moment he found the gap and then hurling his bat to the ground in a celebration of unashamed emotion. Unleashed were the frustrations of those past England tours,the years lost to other players,and the time it took for Khawajato feel fully loved and accepted by Australian cricket. Next to those hurdles,Bazball is a minor distraction.
Today was the birthday of Khawaja’s wife,Rachel. After the century,a second present arrived in the final hour when Broad overstepped in scything the second new ball into the top of Khawaja’s off stump. Trailing by 82 on a pitch getting dustier by the ball,Australia need Khawaja to make this an innings worthy of its own tribute song.
Sports news,results and expert commentary.Sign up for our Sport newsletter.