It became apparent that the third day pitch had quietened down somewhat, although the up-and-down movement troubled all batsmen. It was a pitch which screamed out to anyone watching it that this was above all a day to play with a vertical bat. This is hardly rocket science, yet the white ball invasion has made this basic skill unfashionable. The Australians did just that, especially Webster. Diagonal bats will come to grief quicker that you can say Played On! Knowing that their side was one step away from disaster, Head and Webster began circumspectly, yet looking for runs at every opportunity.
The crisis arrived when Head nicked the luckless Shamarr to second slip, whereupon Greaves muffed it. It was the seventh dropped catch by the home side, and the most costly of all. The 5th wicket partnership produced 102 in a mere 28 overs before Head was trapped in front by Shamarr. The indefatigable Guyanese kept demanding the ball, and kept his team in the contest. He nipped out Webster to an unlucky leg-side strangle. He swept away Starc with a brutal in-dipper. And with the new ball he put an end to Hazelwood’s brief defiance. His five-wicket haul was no less than his due.
And yet. The other bowlers toiled away without much fortune. Australia’s batsmen lived up to their billing for once and piled on every run possible. The decisive innings was played by Carey, who swept his first two deliveries from Warrican off his stumps. He danced down the pitch to the quicks. He reached his fifty from forty balls by depositing Joseph onto the pavilion roof at long-off. He was only dismissed for a brilliant 65 when Chase belatedly brought himself on and tempted him with a looping wide ball, which the pugnacious keeper lofted to Greaves in the deep. Meanwhile numbers 8 to 11 contributed a priceless fifty runs between them, stretching the Australian lead past three hundred.
This would be a far from easy run chase. The worst fears of the home crowd were realised early when Brathwaite fell to Starc’s first over, well taken by Konstas at leg-gully. Brathwaite has had a fairly distinguished career as an opener, but his awkward sideways crouch at the crease – resembling a diffident crustacean approaching its evening meal – leaves him open to a lofted glance. Starc then induced an outside edge from Carty. Incredibly, Green muffed it: proof positive that the man is out of sorts with himself. Normally he catches everything within a bull’s roar of his giant arms. Campbell and Keacy played positively, and after ten overs the scoreline was a healthy 1/47.
Josh Hazlewood then induced a hideously inappropriate scoop from Campbell, taken by Carey with ease. This was the prelude to catastrophe. Next ball the hapless King edged to Green at gully, who retrieved his previous error with an exuberant leap skyward. In little more than an hour seven wickets fell, mostly to Hazlewood. Yes, Australia bowled superbly, and caught everything thereafter. Yet the home side played in a sweaty panic. Alzarri Joseph managed to run himself out for an ignominious duck. Only Greaves kept his head and managed to stay in. At 8/86 the redoubtable Shamarr came out to bat, steaming gently through his ears. One can see his point. Having bowled his heart out, he had been obliged to watch his batsmen lose the plot. There was nothing for it but a furious counterattack.
He has done it before, after all. Yet this was something else. In twenty-odd balls he whacked four fours and four sixes. Out of a ninth-wicket stand of 55 he contributed 44. That he fell to Lyon is no fault of his. In the extremity of his frustration nobody would, could, or should blame him. Lyon finished the game by picking off Seales, and the visitors had triumphed by 159 runs: a cavernous margin which hardly reflects the bedrock fact that for two days the home side had constantly threatened victory. Yet Dad’s Army prevailed. There is no substitute for experience after all.