Behind the scenes of Australia’s remarkable first Test victory, including how the tourists’ tactics were hatched and – day by day, hour by hour – how their epic reckoning with England’s Bazball unfolded.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.For months at home, in the lead-up to this Ashes series, the Australian team’s thinkers worked methodically through how to counter England’s Bazball.
Each England batter was assessed in turn, with as many as six alternative fields drawn up to cater for their respective strengths and weaknesses. Pace bowlers honed white-ball skills as well as red, with the use of yorkers and slower balls emphasised in addition to manipulation of the seam, conventional and reverse swing and short balls.“You’ve got a red ball in your hand, you’ve got whites on, and you think if I bowl top of off then it should be respected,” Hazlewood said.
Granted the most accurate attack Australia could select, Cummins put in place the fields planned beforehand in the event of a slow, flat pitch. Plans called for the bowlers to target the stumps and the pads while the supply of boundaries was limited by sweepers. As for England’s aggressive day one declaration, the Australians expected their openers to be given a nasty little session before stumps, but were much the happier team to be let off the hook with Joe Root and Ollie Robinson well entrenched and scoring freely.
“I had Matt Renshaw and Josh Inglis, I just said, ‘Come and slog me, try and hit me for six every ball’ – I reckon I bowled for about an hour,” Lyon said. “It’s just a different challenge. The England side, they have some superstars in the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes who have been able to do it for a number of years now.
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