Michael Neser claimed six wickets in his comeback Test as he recorded figures worth 5/42 and 1/43. The veteran Michael Neser now owns 13 wickets from three Tests at an average of 15.53. The one in Brisbane was his maiden fifer. Overall, this was his 13th five-wicket haul in FC cricket. The tally also includes 20 four-fers. Michael Neser has raced to 419 wickets across 117 games in the format at 23.60.
Michael Neser is the perfect antidote to whatever it is that England call their current approach and attitude to Test cricket. This is not to say one is better than the other. Nor that one is right and the other completely wrong. But the fact remains that it’s Michael Neser’s way that is working even as England continue to flounder and perish in their own narrative. It’s Australia who are winning even as England stare at a gaping 0-2 deficit after what’s just been five days of Test cricket in this series.
Michael Neser’s cricket is all about hard graft and calculated thrift after all. It’s about valuing every opportunity. It’s about making every moment count. It’s about risk mitigation. It’s about amplifying your strengths. It’s about finding ways around your limitations. It’s about bloody hard yakka.
It’s about playing every day of Test cricket like your life depends on it. Especially for the 35-year-old Michael Neser’s from Queensland for whom every day of Test cricket has had had the potential of being his last. Not to forget the days and months he’s spent toiling away at Sheffield Shield level to even get close to this level.
Heading into Day 4, England were 134 for 6, 43 runs adrift of putting Australia in to bat again. A mad phase of batting saw them collapse from 90 for 1 to 128 for 6 late on Day 3. However, better sense prevailed on Day 4 through Stokes and Jacks who attempted to pull off a herculean effort to give England a glimmer of hope of saving the Test.
The two English batters were resolute in their approach and showed immense resolve to fight out a hungry Australian bowling attack. Scott Boland hit the right lengths, getting the ball to nip back and also move away from the outside edge. The Australians also deployed a short-ball tactic against Jacks but the English duo remained unfazed.
England brought up the lead to massive cheers by the Barmy Army as the partnership moved to 50 towards the first break. The patience applied by the two ensured that they ended the first session without losing a wicket – the first time in this Ashes so far. After the break, the two carried on with their approach, putting away only the loose balls to the fence.
After a determined stand of 96 lasting 220 balls, Jacks (41) finally nicked off Michael Neser to Steve Smith – who took a stunning one-handed grab with his left hand – to begin yet another England collapse. Stokes, who reached fifty, fell soon after, edging Michael Neser to the ‘keeper trying to defend one off the back foot to leave England at 227 for 8. England could add only 14 more as Brendan Doggett and Neser picked up the last two wickets, leaving Australia with a paltry target.
Travis Head began in a positive fashion in the chase, scoring regular boundaries and also a six of Gus Atkinson. Jake Weatherald gave good support as the openers added 37 in quick time before Atkinson struck twice, getting Head bowled off an inside edge and Marnus Labuschagne caught behind.
Steve Smith then decided to finish it off quickly, hitting two fours and a six off Jofra Archer in the ninth over. Weatherald hit a four off Atkinson in the 10th over before Smith ended the game in an emphatic fashion, pulling a short ball for a six to hand England their 14th loss at the Gabba.
This marked the first instance of a team losing a Day-Night Test after scoring 300-plus batting first. England’s first innings revolved around Joe Root, who struck 138 not out – his first Test hundred in Australia – to help his side finish with 334 after they were 5 for 2. Mitchell Starc was the wrecker in chief in the first essay, pocketing 6 for 75 as he went past Wasim Akram for most wickets as a left-arm pacer.
Starc then top-scored for Australia with 77 to add to half-centuries from Weatherald, Labuschagne, Smith and Alex Carey as a collective batting effort from Australia took them to 511. England began in a solid fashion in their second innings, before suffering a collapse that eventually paved the way for Australia to extend their lead in the series.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Steven Smith the winning Australian skipper said : Pretty chilled now, it was fun out there for a bit. Was a great day of cricket, the guys toiled really hard early on. Obviously a really good partnership with Stokesy and Jacksy there and once we broke that, we were able to go through and get them out and chase 60. Yeah, great day. I think the first two days were pretty even in terms of the conditions that we both faced.
No one got a new ball at night in that first little bit and then I think the game turned for us when we were able to, you know, extend, everyone get into double digits. Unfortunately no one went on to make a big one, but particularly the tail batting for 50 overs and extending that time so we could get the new ball under lights and obviously do some damage last night was crucial for us. It was just a really good performance.
It can be tricky with the pink ball. You’re almost never in at times. Sometimes it feels a little bit easy when the ball gets a bit soft and then, you know, you get a ball change or something, the lights come on, it speeds up a bit. It just changes really quickly and you’ve got to adapt and, it’s a tricky game at times. But I thought the guys being able to extend those partnerships and have a lot of 50-run stands really helped us in the game.
He (Neser) delivered. He obviously made our batting a little bit longer as well at number eight and what he did today and in the first innings was exceptional, I think. He offered something different to the other guys. We could bring the keeper up to the stumps and change the game that way, and the way he bowled today and last night was exceptional. I’m really pleased for him to get his first five-for. He’s been on a lot of tours, he’s worked really hard, so really pleased for him.
He’s (Carey) a freak. Honestly, up to the stumps the ball just seems to end up in his hands. It hits the batter’s pad or something and it still ends up in his hands. He’s got no fear up there. He moves so well and his gloves are just sensational. That was one of the best keeping performances I think I’ve ever seen. Oh, I don’t know. It’s (Jacks’ catch) got to be up there, I reckon. It’s pretty tough when you’ve got a pink ball, the lights are on.
I’m blindsided by Alex, I’m standing quite wide because Alex covers so much room, and then, yeah, just fortunately saw it late and got down to it and it stuck. It was obviously at a crucial time to break that partnership. So yeah, I’ll remember that one. Yeah all his. No, it (leading the side) has been fun. The last couple of games the boys have put on some terrific performances and done everything I’ve said. So, give it back to Patty (Cummins) and let him take it.
Ben Stokes the losing England skipper said : Yeah, obviously very disappointing. I think a lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format. When the game is on the line in small passages we’ve been able to bring the game back into some kind of control and then we’ve let it slip away and we’ve done that again here this week.
And it’s very, very disappointing, in particular because of the ability of the players that we have in that dressing room. And, yeah, I think we need to think a bit harder and a little bit deeper about those moments and what we’re taking mentally into those and overall just show a little bit more fight when it’s needed. If I could put my finger on it (why this is happening), I would have been able to tell you.
But, as I said, it’s definitely not a skill thing because there’s some incredibly gifted players in that dressing room and when you know it’s not down to skill, you know, you’ve probably got to dig a little bit deeper and find out what the thing is that we sort of seem to keep doing in those big moments of the game. I think not being able to execute skill is something that you can live with because no one means to bowl away from the plan that we’re trying to do.
We knew exactly how we needed to bowl on that wicket and we weren’t able to do it for a long enough period to put the Australian batsmen under pressure. That was evident in the way that Australia were able to score so quickly and so easily against us. I think Jofra set the tone very nicely actually when we first took the ball but then myself and Brydon (Carse) sort of let the game get away from us quite quickly.
So, yeah, just not being able to execute what’s needed not only with bat in hand but also with ball. Yeah, we’re having some conversations that I’ll be keeping in the dressing room.
Mitchell Starc Player of the Match for his all round show said : Two wins, yeah. Can’t ask for much more. Well, I mean, it went a bit longer than the first Test, but a hard-fought one, I think, for both teams, glad to be on the right side of it. (How’s the body holding up at this age?) It takes a little bit longer in the mornings at this age, but no, it’s still going okay. So hanging in there. We’ve sort of seen on this ground before, when the wicket’s this hard, you sort of see that pink ball go soft pretty early.
As a bowling unit, bowled really well across both innings. Obviously, the batting in the first innings was key to get a lead there, and Ness (Neser) today was phenomenal. So really, really pleased for him at his home ground, in front of family. He was phenomenal today. (Preparations) I still try and do the same things, don’t I? It doesn’t take much to get ready to go. Still trying to bowl as quick as I can and hit the stumps every time. Just keep running in and see how we go.
There’s no better incentive for bowlers than to bat as long as you can and not bowl anymore. So yeah, it was nice to put a bit of a partnership there. I think that’s, you know, you speak a little bit about the tactical side of pink-ball Test cricket, and we knew it was going to be better to bowl with the pink ball, the hard new pink ball, later in the day.
To get through as long as we did with the bat, to put a partnership together with Scotty and then obviously Doggie (Doggett) for a little bit there at the end, was really key for us to push that bowling innings as far back as we could. And we saw late in the day we got those rewards. Fantastic to contribute as a lower order (batsman).
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