Ashes 2019 | Oval Day 3 Talking Points: Nathan Lyon’s forgettable Ashes and Joe Denly’s fight for self-worth

09/14/2019

England have the complete strangle over The Oval Test now, with an effective lead of 382 runs in the second innings, leaving Australia a mountain to climb. The day, however, would remember two Englishmen for contrasting reasons - Joe Denly for good, and Jonny Bairstow for worse.

Nathan Lyon salvages some pride after constant decline

What is the first picture that comes to your mind when you think of Nathan Lyon in the ongoing Ashes? That of a guy with a cheeky smile, playing mental games on the field and running through the English batting order at Edgbaston or that of a mentally-tired spinner searching for his soul at Headingley. It is pure contrasts that have been in play in the Ashes so far as the off-spinner ended up having a squirt without any visible amount of success. To put things into perspective, after that nine-wicket game, he could pick a total of seven wickets in the next three, and this Test invariably gave him an opportunity to ensure that it was not a below-20 series for him.

He bowled well at Headingley but Ben Stokes used his feet to come down the track to negotiate the turn and the occasional chances that he created were also nullified. Subsequently, a kind of frailty that actually appeared in his game was that he was landing the ball too full too often. Side-spin doesn’t allow the ball to turn sharply and half-volleys are the worst length to bowl in any flat conditions. A player of Lyon’s calibre and experience was making mistakes that he normally doesn’t do.

That said, was he fully fit to play the Test? After splitting his spinning finger in the fourth Test, which eventually hindered him for much of England’s second innings, there was only a period of four days before the start of the fifth Test, giving Lyon little chance to recover from the injury. That might have been a possibility as Tim Paine used him for only four overs in England’s first innings.

The Sydneysider, however, put up a show in the first few overs by sending both Joe Root and Rory Burns back to the hut. But once the stroke of luck ran out, he was constantly picked up - as were others - and was offering harmless half-volleys to feed the Ben Stokes-Joe Denly partnership. The urn has, of course, been ensured of coming back but Lyon’s performance would take the happiness away before Australia take on Pakistan at the Gabba in November.

Joe Denly’s statement for his own self-worth and a bigger cause

When England decided to test Jason Roy in the middle-order, and swapped places with Joe Denly, no one needed to tell you how big a blunder that was - in every sense, from all conceivable logic, especially when the latter had hit a laudable 50 to save the plot for Ben Stokes to play that one incredible innings in Headingley. That they wanted Roy to be a successful Test player based on his spectacular ODI form was no secret, no matter what price they had to pay.

However, Denly hasn’t let that expectation - if there ever was one - die down with two classic second innings scores that were just not seen by any English opener apart from Rory Burns this summer. His innings of 71 in Manchester was pleasing to the eye and moreover, it helped them grind out despite no one giving them a fighting chance. To prove that his innings was no fluke, Denly played another solid innings of 94, falling prey to Peter Siddle, just six runs shy of his maiden Test century.

In the past, the problem of not sticking with the players had caused a lot of problems for English cricket, as all of Zafar Ansari, Michael Carberry, and Mark Stoneman coming out to say that they weren’t given enough chances to prove themselves, but Denly could pride himself for the fact that he was rock solid in a big tournament like Ashes, and has a genuine case for himself to open against New Zealand. Whether that is good for the team, or a mirage waiting to destroy them, is very premature to comment upon. Because, ever since Andrew Strauss retired, did they have anyone who can make a genuine claim to burst forth? This is a punt that is working and what is the problem in carrying it further.

Can the real Jonny Bairstow please stand up?

In the Sri Lanka series in late 2018, Jonny Bairstow suffered an ankle injury and for which, he had to relinquish the keeping gloves for Ben Foakes, who turned out to be the flavour of the season, and was equally fluent behind the stumps as he was in front of it. Getting back into the Test side was Bairstow’s primary aim then, and he was not willing to settle for making up the numbers as he worked on to get the middle-order spot and the gloves - the second of which he loves more than anything in his life, well, apart from some Yorkshire beer maybe.

He made a comeback as a proper batsman and scored perhaps the most physically demanding Test century of his career in his comeback game in Colombo. That one innings talked a lot about Bairstow’s character, an individual who likes to be challenged to keep his juices flowing. The lone century helped him get the position back in the side but the bigger question is on the fore now - does he need a relinquish of hand to end the barren run of form. Ever since he got the gloves back, he has scores of 2, 0, 0, 8, 6, 52, 30, 4, 36, 17, 25, 22, 14 - which amounts to a total of 216 runs for 12 times out at an average of 18 runs. Simply not good enough.

The thing is he is not a Jos Buttler or a Jason Roy here, who was forced to don the whites and play a ball whose colour had never been suitable to their wardrobe. He is a batsman with a water-tight technique to suit the rigours of Test cricket, and after a few initial years of failed promise, he had a year of insane success in Test cricket in 2015, when he averaged a cool 58.80. However, ever since, he has averaged in the mid 30s - and in an English team, whose batting order is as faulty as Murali Vijay leading a T20 team. Today’s failure might become the last nail in the coffin, especially with Foakes waiting in the wings, and Bairstow needs to go back to the grind of county cricket before making his way back. It is for the best interest of both the keeper and the team.