Ashes 2019: 'Superman' Steve Smith returns, GOAT Nathan Lyon conquers; how Australia finally breached England's Edgbaston fortress

For the last eleven years, no team had won a Test against England at Edgbaston. It extended to 18 years in the Ashes. It was intimidating. It was hostile. As the Ashes got underway, the first question that naturally popped up was, if Australia can finally breach the fortress? Ahead of the match, captain Tim Paine was unflustered. “England haven’t lost here in how long?” asked Paine in the pre-match conference. “I don’t even know, I haven’t looked at it and it doesn’t concern us. [caption id=“attachment_7109401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Australia’s Steve Smith hit two tons in his comeback Test at Edgbaston. Reuters[/caption] “We think our best cricket is good enough and the Edgbaston pitch and Edgbaston crowd and grandstand, or whatever it is, won’t play a part in deciding this Test match.” He also went on to say that he could name 15 more grounds that are more intimidating than Edgbaston right now. Well, as it transpired, at the end of an intriguing five days, Australia’s best cricket was indeed enough to breach the Edgbaston fortress. Australia were reeling at 122/8 in the first innings after opting to bat and it seemed as if the struggles would continue. But the comeback man Steve Smith laid a wonderful road to redemption. Two high-quality centuries in two innings, under tremendous pressure, scripted the great turnaround. Australia’s ‘Superman’ was back and he was the difference. Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes swung and seamed it around in the first session to reduce Australia to 35/3 despite James Anderson hobbling off after just four overs. He wouldn’t bowl in the entire match after that. Walking in at 17/2 Smith defied the bowlers even as the ball kept moving in the air and off the pitch. He added 64-runs with Travis Head to bring in some sense of stability but then Head departed for 35 and then Matthew Wade, Tim Paine, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins followed soon. Smith watched the procession from the other end, unflustered. There was a desperate need for support though and it finally came in the form of Peter Siddle (44 off 85) who stood solid at the crease while Smith went on the attack. Smith added 88 with the pacer and 74 with Nathan Lyon (12 off 26) for the last two wickets to propel Australia to a respectable 284. This was his first first-class match in 16 months and he batted as if he never went away. 144 from 219 was a brilliant calculative innings balanced with caution and aggression. Broad finished with a five-for but not before being frustrated and tonked around by Smith. While Smith was treading the road to redemption, there was another batsman under the spotlight, fighting his own battle. Rory Burns was under pressure to perform after twin failures (6,6) in the one-off Test against Ireland. The Southpaw led the rearguard action for England with a doughty 133 as he held the innings together. The rest of the English batsmen couldn’t convert starts. Jason Roy failed, Jos Buttler faltered. Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali’s nightmare continued. Joe Root and Ben Stokes got fifties but couldn’t convert. As has been the norm, the famous English collapse had to take place. And it did as they plummeted to 300/8 from 282/4. Guess who was taking an active part setting the fields? That man, Steve Smith. The tail stepped up. Woakes and Broad took on the conservative Australian bowling to achieve a lead. The match had taken a turn. England had taken a crucial 89-run lead. It was a decent lead. Australia needed a strong start, unlike the first innings. However, the story repeated. David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were back in the hut in the first ten overs on 27/2. It was down to that man again, Smith. How do you get him out? That’s the question England would have been pondering for the last 24 hours or maybe for the last few years. His last few scores against England read: 143,141,6,40,23,102*,76,83,142. No one had the answer. Just like the first innings, the resurrection began with Smith leading the way. This time he found support, in Usman Khawaja (40), Head (51) and Matthew Wade (110). He was the pivot around which the batting revolved. He slowly started taking the game away from England, one shuffle across the crease after another. “Smudge is officially having a net… Bad news for England, cause he’s never out in the nets and he bats forever! #gun #genius,” Tweeted Glenn Maxwell.

Smudge is officially having a net... Bad news for England, cause he’s never out in the nets and he bats forever! #gun #genius

— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) August 4, 2019

A second century followed. Just the fifth instance of an Australian batsman hitting two in one Test and just the third instance of an Australian achieving the feat in England. When he finally got out for 142, he had taken the game out of England’s hands. Wade scripted his own redemption story as he piled on the agony along with the lower-order to set England a 398-run target. They batted and batted and batted. Some thought that they batted for too long and should have declared earlier. But Australia had got the measure of the pitch, conditions, and calculation. It had started turning. The pitch had started crumbling. They had the GOAT in their armoury — Nathan Lyon. So why worry? Only three times out of 14 had a team chased down a 150-plus target at Edgbaston. No team had chased down more than 300. The highest successful chase was 283/5, 11 years ago by South Africa, when Smith hit an imperious 154. The table had turned. The target was daunting and Australia’s attack was intimidating, just like the Edgbaston fortress. The win was out of question. Can they survive the last day to eke out a draw was the real question. Burns and Roy survived a tricky seven overs at the fag end of the fourth day. It needed someone phlegmatic like Burns to stay at the crease and buy out time on Day 5. He played 33 deliveries for his 11 but then faced a brutal lifter from Australia’s unsung hero Pat Cummins which he couldn’t avoid. It smacked his gloves and popped to gully. Roy stuck around. And then something suddenly struck him. He decided that the chase was on and came charging down the track, only to miss it completely and find his stumps shattered. Lyon had got started. You can’t keep him out of action for long on a Day 5 pitch. He wove a web of uncertainty as he zipped the ball through and spun it viciously. England had no answers. And unsurprisingly, the great England collapse unfurled again. Cummins (4/32) played Robin to Batman Lyon (6/49), who himself had earlier played Robin in the first innings,  with four wickets as the hosts capitulated to 146 all out from 52.3 overs. Australia had managed what no team could in the last 11 years. From being 122/8 in the first innings to winning by 251 runs, it was a scintillating turnaround. Australia haven’t won an Ashes series on English soil for 18 years now and the Edgbaston win could just be the spark they desperately need for a full-fledged ignition.