Michael Vaughan criticised England’s “silly and stupid” ploy to keep attacking Australia’s short-pitched bowling after they ended the third day of the second Ashes Test with a 221-run deficit.
England optimism was rife on Friday morning when captain Ben Stokes and Harry Brook walked out with their side on 278 for four, hoping to establish a first-innings lead.
While Stokes was out to a beauty from Mitchell Starc’s second ball, Brook followed the downfall of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root on day two in getting out picking out fielders on the boundary rope under a barrage of bumpers from Australia’s attack.
After collapsing from 188 for one to 325 all out in response to Australia’s 416, Usman Khawaja set about increasing the tourists’ stranglehold on the match and the series with 58 not out to help them close on 130 for two.
Former England captain Vaughan told BBC’s Test Match Special: “When you’ve got that field Australia set, if you go at two or three an over and stay in, that is better.
“I am intrigued, not just with Harry, but with all of the batters trying to constantly take it on. It’s silly, it’s stupid, it won’t have constant success.
“I actually thought they (England) bowled well. The seamers bowled nicely and the conditions were perfect.
“They could easily have got a few more wickets, a couple of reviews didn’t quite go the way they would have liked.
“I don’t think it is the bowling you can point the finger at – it is all the batting and the Bazball way isn’t it?
“The mistakes they made with their batting is the reason why they are in the position that they are.”
Australian great Glenn McGrath was under no illusions about where England had gone wrong and warned Brook, who did make 50, to expect more bouncers.
“The second ball of the day set the tone, that was a vital early wicket,” McGrath said of Stokes’ dismissal.
“Good bowling by Mitchell Starc, it just extracted a bit more out of the pitch.
“I don’t think Mitchell Starc likes bowling short, sometimes it finishes your action. Getting that wicket and then seeing how Harry Brook played, they would have seen he wouldn’t like it.
“He’s (Brook) going to cop a fair bit more, if you look unsettled and don’t like the short ball, you’ll get it more.”
Kevin Pietersen, after he described England’s day one efforts with the ball as “shambolic”, was an ally to the home batters, having taken a similar aggressive approach to short-pitched deliveries.
“I played the way they played. I saw the best form of defence being attack,” the former England batter told Sky Sports.
“There is a lot of people that have said, ‘brainless batting, this batting’, but I was pretty brainless too! People hated it, but that’s the way I played.
“Ninety miles per hour, a delivery at your head, it rocks your foundations, it’s not comfortable and sometimes instinct takes over.
“These guys had no respite at all, so you are asking the wrong bloke because I played that way.”
IPL: Yadav century ends Mumbai's losing streak in style
Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten century to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Yadav hit a sensational 102 not out off 51 balls with six maximums as Mumbai successfully chased a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare, lifting them off the foot of the table.
Despite a slow start to the Indians' innings in which SRH took three wickets in the first five overs, Yadav’s introduction turned things around as he put on a partnership of 143 with Tilak Varma (37 not-out).
Sunrisers had started well, with Travis Head reeling off a quick 48, but Piyush Chawla (3-33) and Hardik Pandya (3-31) limited Hyderabad to 173-8, with Anshul Kamboj claiming his maiden IPL wicket by bowling out Mayank Agarwal.
Pat Cummins finished with a flurry, knocking 35 runs from 17 balls, and the Australia captain helped SRH put the Indians on the ropes when he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.
Yet Mumbai would lose only one more wicket as Yadav inspired them to victory that snapped a four-match losing run.
Data Debrief: Yadav star of the show
This was Yadav's first IPL hundred of the season, with his knock including 18 boundaries (12 fours, six sixes), taking him up to 334 runs so far this campaign.
He is 16th in the overall rankings, and some 108 runs behind leader Virat Kohli.
Matthews among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for April
West Indies Women’s Captain Hayley Matthews has been named among three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for April.
A past winner of the award and current holder of the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year, Matthews is another top-ranked performer to have grabbed headlines in April.
The 26-year-old skipper piled on the runs in her six outings for the West Indies, notching two brilliant ODI centuries followed by back-to-back half-centuries in the T20I contests against Pakistan.
Alongside her 451 runs in April, Matthews also flourished with the ball, taking 12 wickets; six in the ODI matches at an average of 14, and six more in the T20Is at 10.50.
Matthews’ competition for the award are South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.
The South African opener is looking to claim her maiden Player of the Month award in what is her fourth nomination, and is a strong contender after another historic series of displays in April.
Wolvaardt started the month with a half-century in the final T20I contest against Sri Lanka before carrying her excellent form into the ODI series.
Her innings of 41 in the first match preceded an emphatic 110 not out in the second to claim a vital win, but the 25-year-old saved her best score for the last game, blasting a national record score of 184 in 147 balls only for South Africa to be outdone by the brilliance of Athapaththu.
Athapaththu, last year’s ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, continued her dominance in the 50-over format, reclaiming the top spot in the ICC Women’s ODI Batting rankings after a stellar showing in April.
Records tumbled for the Sri Lanka skipper, thanks to a sparkling unbeaten 195 in Potchefstroom against South Africa as the tourists won in a record run chase.
258 ODI runs was complemented by 148 runs in T20Is, which included two half-centuries in South Africa, plus another against Scotland in the ongoing Women’s T20WC Qualifier in Abu Dhabi, where Sri Lanka eventually sealed their qualification thanks to semi-final success on Sunday.
Knight Riders dispatch Super Giants to move top of IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders moved to the top of the Indian Premier League courtesy of a 98-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants.
Sunil Narine hit a sensational 81 from 39 balls, and he was ably supported by Ramandeep Singh's 25 from six deliveries, as KKR reeled off a third straight win on Sunday.
Ramandeep enjoyed a great day in the field too, as he took one of the catches of the season as LSG managed just 137 in response to KKR's 235.
Phil Salt struck 32, but it was fellow opener Narine who did the damage for KKR.
Ravi Bishnoi eventually ended his stand, but only when KKR had reached 140. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (32) had to be substituted out, but Shreyas Iyer added a useful 23 before Ramandeep hammered 25 from just an overs' worth of deliveries.
KL Rahul (25) and Marcus Stoinis (36) tried to get Lucknow going either side of Ramandeep's spectacular catch to dismiss Arshin Kulkarni, but the Super Giants never set the pace to truly trouble Kolkata.
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