Was it really Harry Brook’s miscued flick that won England the Boxing Day Test? Maybe the decisive blow arrived 90 minutes earlier when Zak Crawley drop-kicked Michael Neser back over his head and straight into the adverts. Fourth over of a 175-run chase, still a brand-new Kookaburra, fielders chirping. One swing, six runs, a noticeably softer seam.
Crawley and Ben Duckett’s opening pair had felt more problem than solution this tour. Crawley began in Perth with a pair, Duckett has nicked and nudged without much luck, and until today their best stand was 26. They put on 51 here – hardly epic, yet in a match where the highest alliance was 52 (Cameron Green with Neser), they were gold. “That opening partnership between Zak and Ducky was a huge, huge reason as to why we chased that total down,” Ben Stokes said.
The shot itself looked clean rather than brutal. Alex Carey had walked up to the stumps, so Crawley stayed deep, turned a good-length ball into a half-volley and punched it straight. Helpful Melbourne wind, yes, but it still took some timing. The ball bounced off the turf, clattered the LED boards square of long-on and, according to Steven Smith, lost its bite there and then.
“I thought the way they started with the bat was good,” Smith noted. “They were really aggressive, tried to break the back of a reasonably small chase on a tricky wicket and they got off to a bit of a flyer. A couple of their heavy blows softened our seam quite a bit and probably didn’t offer quite as much as it had for the rest of the game after that, so credit to them.”
Later he added: “They obviously played some shots where they hit the ball pretty hard and then I think Zak hit one into the LED boards, and that definitely softened the seam, no doubt about it. But credit to them for doing that.”
England have spoken before about using those pitch-side screens to their advantage, especially in white-ball cricket. If the lacquer goes, the ball stops zipping. Last summer they benefitted at Edgbaston when West Indies’ Mikyle Louis cannoned one into the same boards and reverse swing appeared two overs later.
The ball still seamed after Crawley’s blow, just less spitefully. Smith reckoned that was the pivot. “I think [the ball] did a fair amount for the whole game – [it was] just probably when the ball got softened from a few lusty blows from their top order today, where it started to go a little bit less, potentially,” he said at the presentation. “Without that, it [the pitch] was still going to offer plenty.”
Duckett kept the tempo, scooping and clipping; Crawley nicked off for 38, yet the tone was set. Brook, slightly frenetic all innings, survived long enough for an inside-edge and four leg-byes to finish things.
Small moments decide short chases. Two months from now nobody will remember Brook’s pad and the misfield. They might, though, recall a tall opener leaning back, sending a brand-new rock into a flashing advert – and watching Australia’s grip on the match loosen with the seam.
