The Ashes Diary Read online

  Jonathan Trott looked in fine touch from the first ball. The floodlights were on it was so dark, but he seemed untroubled by the swing. I brought Ash Agar into the game in the 16th over, wanting to get him involved early to help his nerves. I set a pretty defensive field for him. His first ball to Trott was a loose full toss, and I was hoping that the batsmen would try to go after him and destroy his confidence before he got started, and play a false shot. To Ash’s credit, he was the first bowler to throw Trott out of sync. There was a leading edge and a few misses, which sent Trott back into his shell a bit.

  Peter Siddle had been short on wickets in the lead-up games, but he’s the fifth-ranked Test bowler in the world and I know what he can do. His first spell, from the Pavilion end, was a bit inconsistent and I took him off after four overs. I switched him to the Radcliffe Road end, hoping it might suit him better. I’d like to say it was a stroke of captaincy genius, but my true feeling was just that any change might help. His first ball from that end tailed away from Root and yorked him. Sidds can be unstoppable once he gets a head of steam, and we were all around him, revving him up.

  I took Sidds off after a short spell to give Starcy a bowl. We felt that he could frustrate Kevin Pietersen by bowling a fourth or fifth stump line. But Starcy wasn’t at his best in that spell, and Pietersen and Trott got through to lunch.

  If it had been a hot and sunny day, we’d have been happy with 2/94. But with the amount of movement our bowlers were getting under the heavy cloud, I felt we could have got more wickets. The young bowlers, playing their first Ashes Test, were understandably excited, and maybe nerves had affected them. In any case, we wanted a bit more consistency now, just plugging away in the right areas and letting the ball do the work.

  Watto is the ideal bowler for that job, and he brought in a measure of control. He tightened things up, and then Sidds, coming back at the Radcliffe Road end, went wide on the crease and bowled Trott – the big breakthrough, as we felt he was seeing the ball better than any of the others.

  Sidds doesn’t think he bowled his best today, and says he got lucky, but he really led the attack from that point. He took five wickets in the space of eight or nine overs and got us a very pleasing result in the end. Starcy and Patto chipped in with some late wickets, and we got England out for 215, which at the start of the day we would definitely have been happy to take.

  There was still a fair bit going on with the ball, though, in the air and off the track. On the upside for us, Stuart Broad had taken a knock on the right shoulder or upper arm while he was batting, and the new ball was taken by Anderson and Finn. Nobody wants to see someone injured, but if England is going to be down a bowler, we’ll look to exploit that. I remember how Patto’s injury in Adelaide changed the course of our Test match against South Africa, and we’d like to grind England down here the way the Proteas did to us.

  Watto and Chris Rogers started out with great intent. Watto cracked three boundaries in no time, and looked very happy at the top of the order, as he has all tour. Chris was compact and safe. I was hoping to settle in and watch some good batting for the rest of the afternoon when Watto went for another big drive and nicked Finn to slip.

  A ball later, I was walking out there, wearing a vest in the cool weather. Ed Cowan had caught some sort of stomach bug from his young daughter Romy, and had spent a lot of the day off the field. He said he was fine to bat, but he played an out-of-character shot on the first ball and edged Finn.

  The crowd was singing as I walked out, but not for me. I love how English crowds get involved, and they’d been fairly quiet through the day. Not now.

  Finn’s hat-trick ball was a good one, and I was lucky to miss it. Anderson was on at the other end, and looked full of energy, but his first ball I hit right out of the middle in front of square leg. Unfortunately for me, it went nowhere, hitting the close-in fieldsman instead. I felt good having got one in the sweet spot, but as usual, nervy about getting off the mark.

  I felt okay for the next ten minutes or so, until Anderson bowled a very good ball that moved away late and just clipped the outside half of my off stump. Bowlers are drilled in aiming at the top of off stump, and if they can do it with some away movement, they’ll get most batsmen. I suppose someone might have cover-driven that ball for four. I should have taken a bigger stride forward in defence, and then I’d have had it covered. One thing I do know, though, is that the way things are going, I’ll get a second chance in this Test match.

  After getting out, I watched from the balcony. Batting was tough going. Chris Rogers really impressed me, and was very unlucky to be given out LBW to a ball that you’d have to say could have missed the leg stump. In this series, Hawk-Eye only has to show part of the ball hitting the stump and, if the onfield umpire has given it out, the third umpire will confirm that decision. That’s a big weight to place on an imprecise tool, but that’s the way it is, and it’s the same for both teams. I felt sorry for Chris though, as he was batting with great assurance, which was fantastic to see after his five years out of the team.

  England bowled well in the conditions, wasting far fewer balls than we had. But Steve Smith and Phillip Hughes looked good and got us through to stumps – a small victory, but not meaningless. I’m hoping the sun comes out tomorrow, and am confident Steve and Phillip and the other guys can grind out some runs and bat for most of the day.

  Thursday 11 July. Nottingham.

  What an unbelievable day. I’ve never seen anything like it in over 90 Test matches, or in any other cricket. People who saw this will never forget it. Our job is to come here and win back the Ashes, but sometimes you have to step back and recognise that whatever the result, you can offer people memories that will have them falling in love with cricket for life. Today was one of those days.

  The best news, when I woke up, was that the sun was out. I was very excited at the thought of the batting getting much easier on a flat wicket. Before the start of play, I talked to the boys and said this was a great opportunity to bat all day and build a big lead.

  It looked so good for the first hour. Hughesy was playing the ball right under his nose. Knowing how much he loves some width outside his off stump, the English bowlers tried to cramp him by bowling at his body, but Hughesy is a better player than when they last saw him, and he handled it pretty comfortably. Steve Smith was in great nick. He’d taken on Graeme Swann yesterday, hitting him straight for six, and he used his quick footwork to get down and attack him. I thought he clearly won that battle. He came down and cover-drove a beautiful four to bring up his 50, and I thought we were on our way to a strong position.

  Unfortunately, Smithy was the big wicket. He edged a drive, and it was about that time that Anderson started to get the ball reversing, so the new batsmen were exposed to that. Hadds got a big spinning ball from Swann – not the type you want to get early in your innings – and our three pace bowlers, who are all good lower-order batsmen, nicked balls from Anderson that they could just as easily have played and missed.

  From 4/108, we were 9/117. So in walked the 19-year-old. He just went out with no fear, backed himself and played his shots. It was a joy to watch, and the dressing room became a euphoric place. A last-wicket stand always frustrates the fielding team and gives extra joy to those in the dressing room, but this was a stand with a difference. We all knew Ash could bat, having seen him in the nets and the lead-up games, and he’d played some handy innings at number eight for Western Australia. I left him down at number eleven for two reasons. One, the three guys above him are all accomplished lower-order batsmen in their own right. Sidds scored a pair of 50s in our last Test in India, top-scoring, and made a first-class century on the Australia A tour. Starcy made 99 in India. Patto’s Test average is in the 30s, and he has always impressed with his technique and application. So it’s not like we have a genuine number eleven. The second reason was that I knew how nervous Ash would be and didn’t want to put him under too much pressure.

  Well, he was under press
ure now, and yet he seemed the least nervous person in Trent Bridge. He got away with a stumping appeal early on, but the replay showed that his toe was making a shadow on the crease, and you couldn’t be certain if he was on the crease or behind it. The third umpire correctly gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt.

  Ash then swung and kept on swinging away, particularly on the pull shot. But he wasn’t slogging either. He was playing every ball on its merits and showed good defensive skills among the flashing boundaries, dropping the dangerous balls at his feet.

  That’s not to forget Hughesy, who played an outstanding knock. He rotated the strike and hung in there with Ash. He deserves a lot of credit for a partnership that surpassed 151 – the world record in Test cricket for the last pair. The English obviously didn’t know how good Ash was, and they looked confused for a while. At a certain point, it wasn’t clear whether they were trying to keep Hughesy or Ash off strike.

  At lunch, we were excited. I didn’t say much to Ash, other than that I was so pleased with the way he was playing. I went to Hughesy and said, ‘Back Ashton, he’s a good player, you don’t have to protect him from the strike.’

  After the break, Ash and Hughesy batted even better. Ash played a whippy on drive off Anderson, and a clip off his toes off Broad. It was sensational batting, and Ash kept on smiling throughout it all like he was having a hit with his little brothers on the beach.

  We got very nervous when Ash was in the 90s. We’ve had the running joke all week about a number eleven never making a century before. The boys were all sitting in the same seat they’d been in, not daring to move. Broad came on, after not doing much bowling at all, and decided to bowl bouncer after bouncer. This used to be not allowed against tail-enders, but to be fair, Ash had by now proved he was no typical tail-ender. Broad got one up and hit him on the arm, but Ash didn’t seem bothered. The tactic was to prey on his nerves, if he had any, and try to get him playing an awkward shot against a ball rising above his head.

  Then we had our hearts broken. Broad took forever to do up his shoelaces and arrange his field. Then Kevin Pietersen ambled over to have a chat. It was obvious gamesmanship – something we’ve all either done, or had done to us. Eventually Broad got around to bowling the ball, another short one. Ash absolutely creamed his pull shot – hit it too well, in fact, and was caught by Swann diving in at deep mid-wicket. I was watching from the doorway, and when I saw Swann jump up with the ball I had to pull back, about to explode. We were all shattered for Ash. He’d worked so hard and deserved a hundred. But as we know, it’s never easy to make a Test century. I’m pretty sure Ashton Agar will get to 98 a few more times in his career, and he’ll learn from this.

  He came into the dressing room shrugging his shoulders, and you couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. I can remember my First Test match, and in that situation you’re stoked that you’ve made one run in Test cricket. So he was definitely seeing it as 98 runs scored, not two runs missed out on.

  Riding the wave of those 163 runs from Ash and Hughesy, we took plenty of energy into the field. Dharmasena and I had a chuckle about my pre-match comment that Ash was a batsman worth watching.

  Taking two early wickets was great. Mitchell Starc swung the ball beautifully and Patto put it in the right areas. Starcy was a bit lucky to get Root caught down the leg side, and there was some dispute over whether Trott hit the ball before or after it went into his pads, but we accepted both, thank you! With a first-innings lead of 65 and two wickets down, we were full of confidence.

  Cook and Pietersen were obviously big wickets now – the biggest. We realised that with the sun out and the wicket so dry, there wasn’t a lot of assistance, so we tried from there to bowl very patiently and build up pressure. Ash got them both into a spot of bother, when Pietersen edged one that hit Brad Haddin on the leg, and Cook had another tangled up in his glove and hip. Pietersen chipped Ash in the air to mid-wicket, as we’d hoped, and I gnashed my teeth when it flew just clear of the fielder. So close!

  In the field, the boys kept themselves amused by laying ‘chewy bombs’ for each other. A chewy bomb is when you leave some used chewing gum on the grass, and it ‘goes off’ when someone else walks up unsuspecting and steps in it. When it happens, everyone gets a big laugh, especially the bloke who has set the bomb. Anything that gets you through a long hot day, I suppose.

  When stumps were drawn, we all came together and congratulated each other on a good day. Our spirit is strong. In about 50 overs, England got to the end of the day having scored only 78 runs, which I thought reflected a great effort by our bowlers. England is effectively 2/15. To me, the match feels even.

  Tomorrow’s a crucial day, not just in this Test match, but in the whole series. If we bowl England out tomorrow, we give ourselves a great opportunity to win this Test. That will surprise a few people and put us in a good position. It’ll be hard to take another eight wickets on a flat track against class players. But if we keep bowling as we did today, we’ll get the rewards for our hard work.

  Friday 12 July. Nottingham.

  This was the key day, a controversial day without doubt, and at the end of it I feel that we’ve shared the honours.

  The light was smokier than yesterday, and it was a few degrees warmer. All day it felt like the crowd was getting sun-baked, and was quite sedate compared to what I’m used to in England. To us, having been in the subcontinent recently, it was almost like we were playing an Indian Test match. This was the test of how well we’d learnt our lessons from that series.

  Chris Rogers took the field with a black armband, after the death of a friend.

  Part of the plan against Cook and Pietersen was to dry them up. Cook is known for his patience, and Pietersen not so much, but we felt we could get the breakthrough if we frustrated both of them. We thought we could tie them down until the ball started reversing, and then attack a bit more. With Pietersen, it was a matter of taking the ball away from him, and with Cook it was to frustrate him until he came to us, reaching for balls he didn’t normally want to hit.

  As it turned out, they spent most of the morning trapped up each end. Sidds bowled around the wicket to Cook, and Starcy around the wicket to Pietersen. Cook was becalmed, but Pietersen took the bait. He hit four fours in the first half-hour, but we didn’t mind him playing his shots and taking a risk or two.

  I rotated the bowlers fairly quickly. Patto came on and beat Pietersen first up. Sidds thought Pietersen was vulnerable to the yorker, and speared in quite a few with great accuracy. We felt that we did frustrate them, and ultimately Pietersen went a bit too hard at a short one from Patto, and chopped it on.

  Ashton Agar was bowling very well to Cook, using the rough outside the off stump, and I had the pleasure of helping Ash take his first wicket in Test cricket. What a wicket to get – Cook, closing the face, getting a leading edge and popping the catch to slip. If one day someone asks if I can remember where I was when Ashton Agar took his First Test wicket, I can say, ‘Yes, I was at slip taking the catch!’

  With Bell and Bairstow in, our bowlers were starting to get the ball to reverse. Both Jimmy Pattinson and Shane Watson extracted some big movement in the air and were unlucky not to take a bunch of wickets. We lost referrals in the Decision Review System when I made a couple of errors. Patto appealed for LBW against Bairstow and our referral was turned down. Then Watto got the umpire’s finger when he hit Bell in front, but England’s referral overturned the decision. Both times, the ball had been veering off down the leg side, according to Hawk-Eye.

  As far as our process is concerned, it’s pretty straightforward. I talk to the people who have the best view, who are generally the wicketkeeper and first slip. If needed, we then go to the bowler, who’s more emotionally involved and obviously thinks every ball that hits the pad is out. Within the few seconds we’re allowed, we make a judgment call. Today we got two of those wrong, and lost our referrals. I take responsibility for making the final calls, but the replays showed that while w
e made mistakes, they were very, very close.

  We got Bairstow and Prior, and took the second new ball. I thought that even though the old one was reversing, a new one might charge up the bowlers and give them some conventional swing. I’m not sure if it was the right decision, because the ball also began to come off the bat a lot harder.

  We were holding up well through a hot day. The ball was beginning to shoot, Patto unsettled Broad with some short ones, Agar very nearly had Broad caught in close by Cowan and out in the deep by Hughes, and we were very confident we could have them out by stumps.

  Then, on 6/297, the temperature in the game went up.

  Ashton had bowled with great control all day, and was now a constant threat to Broad, who was verging on losing his patience nearly every ball. He went back to one, and cut at it. He got a big outside edge, which deflected off Brad Haddin’s thigh and ballooned to me at slip. We were excited, of course, but it wasn’t an appeal, it was just a celebration. A regulation wicket.

  The surprise, as we gathered around Ash, was that Broad hadn’t left. When we looked to the umpire, to our absolute astonishment Aleem Dar was saying not out. We looked back at Broad.

  We kept appealing to Aleem, but he was saying nothing. I was that close to having the top of my head blow off, it was everything I could do to walk to first slip for the next over and take a few deep breaths. It’s a crucial moment in Test cricket when these things happen, and a captain’s job is to keep control of himself and of his team. We were at absolute boiling point. But the game wasn’t going to stop, and we weren’t allowed to refer the decision. The next ball had to be bowled.

  I didn’t hold it against Broad. It was ironic that his father, Chris, was the match referee who had recently banned the West Indian wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin for cheating by claiming a catch he’d dropped. But I’ve played cricket for long enough to have seen this many times before, and it’s not the batsman’s job to walk – it’s the umpire’s job to give him out. That’s what frustrated us: that it was a bad decision by the guy whose job it was. But to their credit, our boys held in their frustration. I said, ‘Come on, let’s get on with it,’ but that’s pretty much all I had to say.