Flashes.

Over twenty years ago I was keeping wicket in a local league cup final (Yes it’s fair to say I was one of the less talented team members…) and I stumped a batsmen (actually a former professional with Essex) in almost identical circumstances to the “Bairstow incident”.  The decision was given not out, I was fuming and that batsmen went on to score a match winning half century.  So I can’t find any sympathy, the umpires got it right, Bairstow was out.  Likewise Duckett was not out, Starc clearly grounded the ball, I don’t know what all the fuss was about.  Glenn McGrath must have been really worried at that stage because he lost the plot on air. 

Some would argue Bairstow’s stumping changed the course of the match but the blame lies with the batsman being too casual and going for a wander.  Johnny is a weird character, I love watching him bat but he’s a bit of a nutter, the manic stare and all that; let’s face it you wouldn’t want him living next door.  Last year he was brilliant but this followed a long period when his test match form was barely good enough to hold a place in the team.  Last summer he made all those runs batting at five, knowing he had Stokes and Foakes to follow.  I can’t believe he can be that effective batting at seven with a long tail to come after him.  Talking of Foakes I can’t help thinking that had he had played and had made the same contributions as JB then the media would be dissecting his selection.

While Stokes was at the crease we still believed and he played another one of those innings that only he can.  He didn’t get us over the line this time but we’ll remember this knock forever.  Another cricketer I love to watch but it can be infuriating when he just comes out swinging.  The same applies to his captaincy or more to the point his declarations, if he can learn from his mistakes he could go down as one of the great skippers.  But with the sight of him limping and grimacing I wonder how long can he continue?  Maybe it’s time to drop the bowling and move up the order…

Australia now have a significant lead but this has come after two exciting test matches and it could easily have been England in the ascendancy had we kept our heads.  But Australia deserve their leads because they’ve won the crucial moments.  It looks like this Aussie team have a quality that even the great sides that dominated for fifteen years didn’t have; they’ve learned how to win tight test matches.  But they are beatable if England can get it right.