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Has Casball killed off England’s Ashes hopes?
That’s the view of champion Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath, who coined the term to describe England’s relaxed attitude this series – suggesting they weren’t fully switched on.
Down 2-0 in the series, England are batting to save their Ashes hope early on day two of the Headingley Test after Mitchell Marsh inspired Australia on Thursday.
Follow all the action in our live blog below!
7.30PM: WHAT ROLE WILL MURPHY PLAY?
Australia bowled 19 overs yesterday, and split them all between their four fast bowlers (including three for all-rounder Mitchell Marsh).
The notable absentee from Australia’s bowling cartel was young off-spinner Todd Murphy, who has be drafted in to replace the injured Nathan Lyon.
Australia had called on Lyon early in every innings where he was fit to bowl, and from there the GOAT shouldered a heavy workload.
It’s natural that there’s going to be less trust in a 22-year-old with just four Tests to his name, and worth pointing out that all 10 Australian wickets fell to seam bowling.
So how will Murphy be used by captain Pat Cummins today? It could be a crucial part of how the day plays out.
7.10PM: SUN SHINES ON ENGLAND
Just as it has done for, seemingly, the entire Ashes series – the sun is out, ready for England to do some damage with the bat.
Australian great Ricky Ponting was left near speechless during the Lord’s Test as whenever Australia came out to bat, the clouds rolled in over London while the England batsmen were treated to clear skies and considerably friendlier batting conditions.
And so it is today, with stunning conditions presented to the overnight batsmen Joe Root (19) and Jonny Bairstow (1).
Trailing Australia’s first innings by 195 runs, it goes without saying that the first hour shapes as series-defining for England.
To keep this series alive, England needs to win this third Test. It’s that simple, and to do that they cannot afford to lose Root or Bairstow before lunch.
6.45PM: HAS ‘CAS-BALL’ COST ENGLAND THE ASHES?
By Robert Craddock and Ben Horne
England’s Bazball brigade has brightened up cricket, but may yet have to face the haunting question that can sentence a professional sportsman to a lifetime of regret.
Did you work hard enough?
Tiger Woods used to train for 13 hours a day in his prime; Michael Jordan six hours.
Behind the superstardom there was hour of hour of glamourless grunt to sharpen their muscle memory to the point where their instincts were like a touch typist during their most pressurised moments.
Sublimely talented though they were, Woods and Jordan may have finished off their rivals by overwhelming them with natural talent. But it started with hard work.
England, by contrast, is trying a different foot-off-the-pedal approach.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has consistently questioned whether England’s players, who mainly played golf in Scotland the week before the Ashes rather than have a warm-up game, were drilling down on the basics enough to shine in this series.
The stats are now damning with another shoddy day in the field in the third Test taking England’s dropped catches tally in the series to 14 plus a missed stumping and two “wickets” off no-balls.
In the first two Tests, England bowled 40 no-balls to Australia’s 15.
Butter-fingered ’keeper Jonny Bairstow is responsible for six of the misses and on current form would be lucky to catch a train on the London subway.
Unimpressed Australian great Glenn McGrath has coined the term Casball (casual ball), noting how England was late on the field during the second Test and said the hosts’ relaxed attitude meant they were not fully switched on.
Former England quick Steve Harmison has noted that under new coach Brendon McCullum the English players are required to net for however long or little they so desire and said he was taken aback doing a pre-day pitch report in New Zealand this year when there were no English players on the ground.
He said there would be a time when the casual approach to training would rebound on them … and here we are.
5.00PM: MARSH FAMILY’S WILD BALY CELEBRATIONS
Geoff Marsh missed being in Leeds for his son Mitch’s first Test century in five and ½ years after departing the UK earlier this week to join family in Bali for a celebration to mark his other son Shaun’s 40th birthday.
Marsh snr, the former Australian opener and coach, had been in England as part of an Australian tour group but departed before he learnt of Mitch’s likely inclusion in the Australian XI for the third Test.
Mitch found out on Tuesday that the Aussies’ primary all-rounder was in doubt for the match, receiving confirmation on Wednesday that Green was out after scans revealed a minor hamstring injury.
Needed to bat before lunch after Australia slumped to 4-85 after being inserted by England, Marsh capitalised on being dropped by Joe Root at first slip on 12 to smack a run-a-ball 118, proving the foundation of Australia’s first innings 263.
England was 3-68 in response at stumps, with Mitch having picked up the wicket of Zak Crawley.
Shaun, himself a former Australian player, posted a video on Instagram of he and Geoff dancing jubilantly after watching Mitch reach triple-figures from their holiday.
Having seen the video, Mitch joked that he was concerned for his brother’s welfare.
“Shaun’s 40th in a couple of days’ time so all the family is in Bali so let’s hope he gets to 40,” Mitch said.
Mitch, who has a reputation as an extremely popular teammate, said his father would have picked Bali over the UK even if he had known of Mitch’s call-up.
“Dad had just flown back that day. So he was mid-air when I found out that I was playing, but to be honest, I don’t think he was missing the 40th, that’s much more exciting. And obviously yeah all my family and all of our close friends are celebrating there with Shaun,” Mitch said.
Mitch, who last played a Test on the 2019 Ashes tour, said he had retained hope of a return despite his long hiatus and an ankle injury that ruled him out for much of the summer.
“(It’s) always a bit of a surprise (to be called-up) and very unfortunate for Greeny with a very, very minor hamstring injury but I feel like I’ve been his understudy for a few years, now on a lot of tours,” Mitch said.
“My previous experience on long Test tours is you always get a chance at some stage so I just wanted to stay ready and become the first man to score a Test 100 on a UK holiday.”
Originally published as Ashes cricket 2023: Follow the latest news ahead of day two of the third test between Australia and England
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