Following a summer filled with cricketing miracles, England abandoned themselves needing one too many at Old Trafford. And if we are being brutally honest, Australia will take the Ashes home after this last Test at The Oval.
Using a couple thrilling sessions at Lord’s, England were clinging on to the show ever since Steve Smith’s first, match-winning century at Edgbaston, and also the deep-lying, basic issues with this England negative –from top to bottom–are no more being papered over.
Together with Rory Burns and Ben Stokes, the English batting was desperately weak; a line-up that’s disjointed, devoid of identity and packed full of white ball pros who can’t adjust to the rigours of Test cricket was never very likely to succeed against a superb Australian bowling attack.
As for the bowling that is English, the drop-off later Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad has been alarming, and the range of Craig Overton for your last Test encapsulated how thin the bowling reserves really are.
Excited about The Oval, and this is no rubber. Yes, the Aussies have the Ashes, but England coming back to procure some (pretty undeserved) 2-2 draw will require a specific amount of glow off this Ashes victory, in addition to ensuring England’s 2010/11 success Down Under isn’t eclipsed.
Because Australia will win that will not happen. The squad choice for The Oval Exam was …predictable, and also why Ed Smith believes trying exactly the same thing for a fifth consecutive match will yield various outcomes is baffling.
Make no mistake, England could be 4-0 down in this point. If Steve Smith hadn’t been smacked in the mind at Lord’s, and both games when Ben Stokes had not turned in Headingley to Superman could certainly have been lost. At this phase, 2-1 flatters England a bit.
Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are simply too great for the likes of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler (I’m leaving Joe Denly from the dialog for now, as he has shown some admirable bottle in the last few matches), also with The Oval pitch often a batter’s paradise, it’s hard to see Smith specifically not badly cashing in.
This show can anybody argue with that — and is ending 3-1 to Australia?
Here is a stat which will no-doubt cheer up several England fans: in his three innings at The Oval, Steve Smith has scored 288 runs, made two centuries along with averages 144.
Contemplating Smith has excelled to bat on pitches far more tricky on than The Oval this show, the thought of the damage he will do to England in South London is a one.
Smith is on another world to everybody else, and he will score a big hundred (or two) — aided by the fact that England have zero idea how to out him.
Backing him to be Man of the Match is a inviting 9/2, although 5/4 to get Smith to be seem a little skinny, nevertheless.
If Australia win, as I anticipate, Smith is going to be the person who scores the bulk of the runs, and together with the seamers fairly consistently sharing the wickets about, I would expect him to web his next MOTM award (with Ben Stokes holding the other two).
1 place where the two sides have been poor is at the peak of the purchase. Either side this series’ highest opening partnership is that the 22 placed by Rory Burns and Jason Roy at Edgbaston, which is pitiful.
However, with Burns laps on his home floor and Denly finding a form, I am backing England’s openers to possess a greater stand than their hapless Aussie counterparts.
The highest Australian first-wicket venture this series is 13, and with David Warner averaging under 10 and Marcus Harris maybe not a lot more–either of whom together with absolutely no response to Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer–I am fairly confident England will stun them in this respect.

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