12th over: England 54-1 (Duckett 24, Pope 23) The Duck drives The Dog nicely through mid off, but again the grass saves a couple of runs.
“Delighted to see Crawley’s pair, despite being English - not because of any dislike or ill will, but because I am so desperate that England reconsider whatever gnostic rites they’ve bound themselves to in the name of the Undroppable. Please, give the boy a rest. A big innings now and then is all very nice, but his average is unforgivable.”
I’m broadly with you, H. North, but I think they’ve kept him for so long almost entirely because they think his booming style might harvest them a match-winning knock somewhere along the line in this series, on hard pitches against properly fast bowling. So it would waste all that previous angst by abandoning the gamble now. I say give him the next four Tests, then we’ll call the farm up-country.
11th over: England 51-1 (Duckett 22, Pope 22) Starc will be replaced, after five overs. Australia desperately need Boland to lift today. He only bowled ten overs on day one, he should be fresh, but he hasn’t been effective. Nice seam movement to beat Pope’s drive here. That’s the Boland method, subtle shifts in line. A couple of singles.
