Ben Stokes lightning doesn’t strike twice for Australia… Seven things we learned from second Test

If the first Test at Edgbaston kick-started the Ashes fire, then the second saw both sides pour petrol on the flames as Lord’s played host to one of the great battles between the old enemies. 

After winning the toss, England captain Ben Stokes put the Australians in to bat, and they responded by racking up 416 in an innings where many pointed fingers at the hosts’ poor bowling. 

England’s response drew further criticism as they looked to implement the positive, attacking approach intrinsic to Bazball, with Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Ben Duckett called out for comparatively soft dismissals as they chased a win to prevent Australia from going 2-0 up. 

With the visitors then setting Stokes and Co 371 to win, England quickly crumbled to 45 for four before a monumental knock from Stokes – amid one of the biggest moments of controversy in Ashes history – seemed destined to end in a victory, only for Australia to win in truly contentious circumstances.

After a dramatic second Test at Lord’s, here are seven things we learned as Australia strengthened their grip on this year’s Ashes series.

Australia took the second Test to go 2-0 up as they chase a first overseas Ashes win since 2001

England fell 43 runs short of a memorable comeback despite the heroics of captain Ben Stokes

Jonny Bairstow’s contentious dismissal on the day has sparked outrage in the English camp

Lyon’s century stand comes to a close 

Amidst all the drama of the second Test at Lord’s, there was heartbreak for Nathan Lyon. 

After hobbling off the field in the first innings with a calf strain and casting doubt over his availability for the rest of the Test, Lyon bravely came out to bat at 11 in the second. 

It was gutsy, courageous and worthy of the ovation he received when returning to the Long Room after being caught by Stokes off Stuart Broad for four, but ultimately saw him ruled out of the rest of the series after aggravating the injury by attempting to run between the wickets. 

As a result his run of 100 consecutive Test matches – the sixth-highest in history and longest of any active player – comes to an end at what could be a crucial point in the series for his team, who are just one victory away from winning the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001. 

He will likely be replaced by 22-year-old Todd Murphy, the Victorian off-spinner who has some enormous shoes to step into to fill the 496-wicket sized gap left behind by Lyon. 

Nathan Lyon cut a heroic figure as he took to the field with a visible calf injury to bat last

Lyon has been ruled out of the rest of the series, which brings an end to his run of 100 consecutive Tests

Lightning doesn’t strike twice for Australia

With Stokes at the crease when stumps were called on Saturday night, not out on 29, there was still hope for England supporters – and dread for Australians – as cricket fans collectively cast their minds back to Headingley four years ago. 

With England in a similar position to the one they found themselves in at the start of the second innings at Lord’s, the talismanic all-rounder played one of the greatest knocks of all time, hammering his side to victory from the jaws of bitter defeat in a two-paced, composed and utterly dramatic innings, ending the day on 135 not out with England back level in the series. 

Amazon’s The Test documentary followed the visitors in that Ashes series, and viewers watched on as then-coach Justin Langer forced his side to relive the innings the day after the defeat, but Pat Cummins’ side needed no such reminding of their nightmare of four years ago, as they eventually got their man and prevented lightning from striking twice. 

But it was a close-run thing. Having batted within himself for much of the morning, the wickets of Ben Duckett and Jonny Bairstow saw Stokes showcase his impressive ability to suddenly go up through the gears, as he exploded into action. 

Nine fours, nine sixes and a mammoth 286 minutes after his first ball Stokes finally fell for 155, having taken England from the realms of ‘completely impossible’ to ‘they might actually do it, you know!’

Stokes made the second-highest fourth innings total for England in the Ashes after Mark Butcher’s famous 173* knock at Headingley in 2001. He became just the first player batting at six or lower to score over 150 in the fourth innings of a Test match, surpassing Aussie great Adam Gilchrist’s 24-year record. 

Yet here was to be no repeat from Headingley in 2019, although it was an equally impressive feat, well worth the congratulations of on-pitch rivals Cummins, Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja. 

Stokes was unable to drag his side over the line despite a sublime knock in the run chase, finally being caught on 155

The England captain hit nine sixes in his mammoth innings – all of them through the leg side

After finally being caught out he was congratulated by the likes of Steve Smith (pictured), Usman Khawaja and Pat Cummins

Neither side can resist the short ball

Both with the ball in hand and at the crease, neither team could seemingly resist the call of the short ball in the second Test.  

The short ball dominated proceedings, with England in particular bowling a staggering 98 per cent of their balls short in the middle session on Saturday, although many argued it was a well-implemented tactic that helped stem the flood of runs. 

Australia, too, resorted to similar measures on a number of occasions in a bid to slow Stokes’ drive down on Sunday, as well as using it to pepper tailenders Stuart Broad – who was sent to hospital for an X-ray on his jaw on Friday after catching one in the face – and Jimmy Anderson. It had already proven an irresistible lure for England’s aggressive lower order.

At times it produced great drama, with batters ducking and weaving to get bat and gloves out of the way, but it also resulted in a number of drab stalemates in the absence of pitching the ball up and trying to beat the edge of the bat.

With the bat it was a similar story, as batter after batter seemed to lose their patience while bobbing and evading the ball and falling into the trap of hooking into the grateful grasp of a fielder waiting expectantly in the deep. 

The hosts bore the brunt of the criticism on this front, with Duckett, Pope and Root accused of throwing away their wickets to predictable balls, but Australia were also guilty of falling afoul to short-pitch deliveries, with Usman Khawaja, Smith, Travis Head and Cameron Green all doing so in their second innings. 

Neither side dealt particularly well with the barrage and 18 wickets out of a possible 40 – the joint-highest ever number – from both sides evidences this. The 504 bowled in the match are the highest recorded since 2015, and both sets of bowlers will surely be feeling the strain after back-breaking efforts hammering the ball in again, and again, and again, and again, and again…

England’s short-pitched bowling dominated their attack and many Australians fell victim 

Ollie Pope was one of several England batters tempted into a hook shot off the bouncer

Many Australians were dismissed after similar shots, with Smith out after attempting the pull

Stokes joined in on the bowling barrage but he may have put his knee under heavy stress

England crying out for 90mph Wood

After Moeen Ali sustained a painful-looking abrasion to his finger on his return to the side at Edgbaston, many speculated that England would go with a four-pronged pace attack, plus Stokes’ occasional spells, and bring in some extra pace. 

The inclusion of Josh Tongue ticked that box, but the Worcester bowler’s high speeds still do not quite match the express pace that Mark Wood is capable of, and England clearly struggled without it. 

Broad, Anderson and Ollie Robinson continued to send down nibblers at around 80mph – slower still on a number of occasions – to little effect before the short ball ploy was called upon, which saw Anderson in particular struggle to have much impact. 

That’s not to say that Tongue was ineffective. He looked the most dangerous England bowler throughout, picking up the key wickets of openers Khawaja and David Warner (twice) in the first innings, as well as Smith (twice) with his extra pace the difference, which highlighted the need for more speed from the England attack. 

With the pitches so far in the series proving flat, and seemingly having the ‘kryptonite’ impact that Anderson suggested to England’s traditional swing tactics, it is perhaps time for a more bullish approach with ball in hand. 

Wood – who has had numerous fitness issues – is in the frame for a recall at Headingley, and could also serve the double purpose of preserving Stokes’ creaky knee, around which England’s Ashes future seem more and more likely to hinge.

England have been missing Mark Wood (pictured) and his express bowling in excess of 90mph

Josh Tongue has been dazzling in his Ashes debut and he could have a big future ahead of him

Duckett loves Lord’s 

As the ancestral home of cricket, the vast majority of players present and past will admit that Lord’s is their favourite venue to play at, and that is proving to ring true for England’s Duckett. 

With 98 and 83 in the second Test – as well as a big 182 against Ireland earlier in June – Lord’s has so far proven a happy hunting ground for the Notts opener in his two visits with England. 

The 28-year-old had been used solely overseas prior to his recall by Brendon McCullum and Stokes, and has now passed 50 nine times in his 12 Test matches while averaging 55 at the top of the order. 

That’s the seventh-highest figure in Test history for those opening the batting in at least 20 innings – the highest, ominously, is Aussie stalwart Khawaja (65), who has 300 runs already in the series. 

Ben Duckett has now scored more than 360 runs across his two Test appearances at Lord’s

Carey not-so-quietly having a fine series

Alex Carey of course made the headlines for his dismissal of Bairstow – more on that later – but he is not-so-quietly going about having a fine series, both in front of and behind the stumps for Australia.

At Edgbaston the 31-year-old was a measured and sharp presence with the gloves, and it is perhaps his impressive display that saw questions raised over Bairstow’s one performance. 

He is winning the head-to-head with Bairstow with the gloves, although that is probably not what the Yorkshireman is thinking about at the moment. 

Across both innings in Birmingham he took five catches and made three stumpings, as well as adding 86 runs with the bat in a tense opener, before making another four catches and two stumpings at Lord’s, contributing a further 43 runs. 

By comparison, England’s No 7 has only the seven catches and one stumping, and has made just 124 runs to the Aussie’s 129, meaning that Carey currently has his number in every category. 

Carey’s has been a relatively short career in the Australian side, with just 22 matches to his name, but he has shown himself well at home in the crucible of Test cricket and has wasted little time asserting himself in his first Ashes tour.

Alex Carey has taken nine catches and made five stumpings so far, while scoring 129 runs

A controversial Test to say the least 

Ashes series are built almost entirely on a fierce and at times heated rivalry, and Carey has made himself public enemy No 1 in the England camp for the rest of this series and likely beyond. 

The Australian wicketkeeper grabbed the headlines and stoked the anger of a nation after stumping Bairstow, the final batter in the shed that could have provided more substantial assistance to Stokes on Sunday. 

For those who missed the moment, at the end of the 52nd over Bairstow made his way down the track after leaving the final delivery to discuss events with his captain at the non-strikers, only for Carey to throw the ball at his stumps and hand Australia an invaluable, freakish wicket. Cummins might have called him back and overturned his side’s decision to appeal, but remained unapologetic.

The reality is that by the laws of the game, it was a legal dismissal, but England seemingly saw it as an act against the notorious spirit of the game. The dominant argument is that Bairstow was not looking to gain any advantage by leaving his crease, and that the general assumption was that the over was completed. Naturally, neither camp can agree on whether it should stand or not.

What followed was a number of chirps from Broad at the crease, who claimed that the stumping will be Carey’s only legacy in the game, as well as melodramatically leaving his bat inside his crease until given the OK from Carey to carry on with the game, to the endless enjoyment of the abundantly partisan crowd.

The pantomime boos well-known to Ashes followers from years gone by rang out for the rest of the day’s play, and the malcontent even spread to the Long Room at Lord’s, as Khawaja and Warner were confronted by disgruntled MCC members on their way back to the dressing-room. Three of those members in questions have since received bans.

But it was far from the only controversial moment, and England were handed their own slice of luck by TV umpire Marais Erasmus, who decided to overturn the on-field decision of out when Mitchell Starc caught Duckett at deep fine leg late on Saturday evening. 

Replays showed that the Aussie quick had taken the catch, but was not in control of his body as he placed the ball on the floor – still in his hands – and the opener was handed a reprieve much to the chagrin of many Australian legends, including Glenn McGrath.

It was a controversial Test to say the least, with decisions going either way, but that will surely only serve to inject a little more needle into the rest of the series – not that these two great nemesis needed anything more to fight for.

At the lunch break both David Warner and Usman Khawaja clashed with MCC members 

It was a dramatic day as tempers flared after Jonny Bairstow was controversially stumped

Mitchell Starc had a catch overturned on Saturday after footage showed the ball grounded

England must be more ruthless with the bat 

In many ways Stokes’ valiant failure to drag his side over the line on Sunday might actually turn out the better result for the rest of his team-mates, as an unlikely victory would perhaps paper over some of the cracks shown in the lower order. 

England batted well at Edgbaston, but at Lord’s England’s Bazball approach that has drawn plaudits from far and wide over the last year was put under a spotlight that it had rarely been subjected to as Australia punished poor decision making. 

Of course the crumble at the start of the second innings left England with a mountain to climb, but they were subjected to a truly mesmeric display of fast bowling by Cummins and Starc to remove Pope, Root and Harry Brook in quick succession.

But in the first innings, three times batters threw away their wicket with big scores in the offing due to careless shot-making. Crawley, Pope and Brook were all set – on 48, 42 and 50 respectively – when opting for risky pull and hook shots. 

England’s first innings at the crease was punctuated by soft dismissals on a pitch where they could have scored many more runs

Joe Root ended the match with just 28 runs to his name after a brilliant century at Edgbaston

With the ball doing little to trouble the edge of the bat and all three seeing it well, there were plenty of runs to be had if they could keep their cool and pick their shots. Duckett at least was on 98 when dismissed softly.

The hosts have thrilled over the last 12 months and shown that they can win games in an aggressive manner, but that approach can become predictable and leave you vulnerable to playing into the opponent’s hands. 

The aggression that has served so well might need to be tempered to have a greater impact against a team with Australia’s quality – they need only look at their captain’s second innings for inspiration. 

Root will know he can contribute more, and there is no doubt he will do just that in the rest of the series, but the likes of Crawley and Pope will perhaps feel that there was a place on the Lord’s honours board for the taking. England will hope that thought can spur them on to bigger and better scores at Headingley.