School's Out For Summer

PL on the last day of the Ashes series

Before lunch, Brydon Carse had had enough, and who could blame him? Bowlers shouldn’t have to be dragged away from an argument with an umpire by their captain, and probably shouldn’t be involved in heated exchanges with batters who’ve survived what they shouldn’t, but fast bowling is hard and hot work, and when you’re doing it on the fifth day of the fifth Test of a singularly disappointing series, well, you’re entitled to a meltdown. Or two.

England’s most successful bowler, and the only one still standing after five Tests (Ben Stokes almost got there, but not quite), had every right to be upset after a DRS review showed a flutter as the ball passed Jake Weatherald’s bat, but not enough, apparently, to overturn the original decision.

England got the wrong end of the stick with the Alex Carey decision in Adelaide, too, and will feel that everything that could go wrong this summer has. A few umpiring decisions have not, however, made the difference in this series as much as what has gone wrong for England is their own doing.

There were emotions of another sort on display when Usman Khawaja made his final walk onto the SCG as a Test player. Two days before, they’d painted "THANKS UZZY onto the grass where the players emerge from the race. As the Pakistan-born Australian walked onto the field, the crowd rose to its feet, somebody held up a home made sign farewelling the “People’s Champ” and an “Uzzy, Uzzy …” chant started somewhere near the scoreboard on the opposite side.

On the way off, Khawaja stopped in front of the members and paused to pray in the traditional Muslim manner, presumably to thank the God whose planned this extraordinary cricket career for him. In the stands, his wife Rachel, children climbing over her lap, could not stop crying. It had been a trying last few months.

Later, his NSW captain, Simon Katich, made a presentation to Khawaja in the dressing rooms where it had all begun.

At its best, cricket is a heart-warming and inclusive game. It helps, of course, that Australia has one team to support, but as I mentioned on Et Al podcast the other day, I can’t help but think of the indignities Adam Goodes was subject to by AFL fans when he dared challenge the narrative.