Come in Number Two

GH watches Nathan Lyon step up

Today at Adelaide Oval, the hottest of these Ashes, was not a day for ‘weak men’. The sun beat down on the expanse, and Australia beat down on England, until Bazball had been rolled flat into the 6mm of Santa Anna cooch.

There were replays aplenty, and records too, affirmations that cricket takes all sorts - for proof, look no further than numbers one and two on Australia’s all-time Test wicket list. Nathan Lyon, born old, fell in behind Shane Warne, forever young, in his first over equalling and passing Glenn McGrath. McGrath’s consolation may be the outline of a five-nil Ashes shut out, on which he holds the patent - more than England have shown these last eight days will be required to stop it.

It all began so hopefully, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley launching the pursuit of Australia’s 371 breezily, almost nonchalantly. Then, in the fourth over of Pat Cummins’s comeback spell, Crawley drove hard to cover, and thwacked to mid-wicket, each time picking out a fielder. Good looking shots; as tends to be the case with Crawley, no finesse. That left him on strike for what might be the best delivery of the Test - a ball from Australia’s captain that seamed away almost like a leg cutter. That also exposed Ollie Pope at number three, and the word is used advisedly.