Ashes 2019 | Lord's Day 4 Talking Points - David Warner's butter fingers and Australia's wagging tail

Ashes 2019 | Lord's Day 4 Talking Points - David Warner's butter fingers and Australia's wagging tail

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Day 4 of the Lord's Test will go down as one for the ages, as from the Steve Smith - Jofra Archer battle to the Aussies' late splurge with the ball, it provided numerous moments of chills, thrills, and excitement, proving exactly why the Ashes is considered as the biggest spectacle in the sport.

England fail to breach the Aussie tail once again

They say ā€œIt ain't over till the fat lady singsā€, and frankly, no one would know the value of this saying more than England, who have been undone by the Australian tail for the third time in as many innings, after having had a sneak peak at bowling them out cheaply on every single occasion. Unsurprisingly, one man (you know who) has stood tall at one end on each of the three occasions, while at the other end, there has been a significant contribution from almost every single player - including Nathan Lyon, and the Aussie tail has turned out to be Englandā€™s Achilles heel in this series.

Post the fall of the fifth wicket, Australia have, so far, in this Ashes added 179, 156 and 148 runs respectively, with the runs coming at an average of 40.25. This has also seen contributions from Peter Siddle (44 in the first innings of Edgbaston), James Pattinson (49* in the second innings of Edgbaston) and Pat Cummins (20 in the first innings at Lordā€™s), all three of who have frustrated the English bowlers, not only supporting Smith but also accumulating runs on their own.Ā 

Maybe the leakage of runs from the lower-order was understandable in the first Test as England lost their main man James Anderson after just four overs, but today, especially with the raw pace of Jofra Archer at their disposal, it was pretty baffling to see England let the tail get away once again. The pattern of the tail wagging for the Aussies seems to be a growing and repetitive one, and England, who so often boast about the depth of their batting line-up, are being dished out a taste of their own medicine.Ā  Ā 

Butter fingers, missed reviews and missed opportunities

Having already been hard done by the umpiring and their own decision-making in the first Test, Australia walked into the second Test knowing they could ill-afford to repeat the same mistakes - especially with regards to the usage of DRS. The non-reviews with both bat and ball brought to the spotlight Australiaā€™s handling of the technology, and well, once again, they did themselves any favour with the way they went about it.

Twice in the final session of the day, Lyon rapped the batters in front of the stumps - once Rory Burns, and once Ben Stokes. Loud appeals followed soon after the initial impact, but the Kangaroos decided against the reviews on both occasions, only to hide their faces in disappointment minutes later after seeing the big screen which went on to show that both decisions would have been overturned. Coach Justin Langer was seen visibly fuming on both occasions, and rightly so, because after all, why not use technology when it is at your disposal?

To add to this, they piled more misery on themselves by dropping not one, not two, but three chances and the culprit on all three instances being the same person - Warner. On all three occasions, Warner found himself in a questionable position prior to attempting the catch, and the drop catches almost seemed inevitable.Ā While they got away with their mistakes in the first Test, it looks like they will after all pay for them at Lordā€™s, as now, thanks to the reprieves given to Stokes and all the extra runs piled on by Joe Denly and Burns, it feels like an Australian victory seems to be slowly but steadily fading away with each passing run.Ā 

The ā€œRootā€ cause of Englandā€™s batting troubles

He came, he saw, and he walked away. Joe Root collected the first golden-duck of his Test career today, and if anything, the English skipperā€™s shortcomings with the bat summarizes the troubles faced by the whole batting unit. Scarred by the delivery coming in to which he has fallen victim many a time in the past - including the first innings of this match - Root made a radical adjustment to his stance as he took guard, taking his guard almost on leg-stump, exposing the first two stumps, in order to nullify the threat. But ironically, he was undone on the very first ball by a fourth stump delivery from Cummins that moved away a touch, edging one to Tim Paine.Ā 

It is understandable why Root would go on and make such an adjustment, as according to Cricviz, since 2016, the Yorkshire man has averaged an alarming 15.28 against deliveries which would go on and hit the stumps, as compared 68.66 against the ones that go away from it. But it almost is funny in a way, that in the process of correcting a radical flaw, the English skipper committed an even bigger blunder, that of forgetting where his off-stump was, giving away a massive area to target for the worldā€™s number one bowler, to which he replied ā€œThank you very muchā€.Ā Ā 

But then again, with Jason Roy so far in this Ashes being all but a walking wicket, Root has almost acted as a virtual opener, coming in to bat within the first 15 overs on every single occasion. Of course, for a quality batsman like Root, it just takes one good knock to turn fortunes around, but then again, that very knock seems far away, and perhaps, it could be worth a shot to move the skipper back to No.4, shielding him further from the new ball in an attempt to get him back on track.

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