Former England captain Nasser Hussain has unloaded over the tourists’ lack of smarts after their grave day three, questioning if their lower-order batters would have played like Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland in the same scenario and delivering a searing assessment of Ollie Pope.
Chatting with former England teammate Michael Atherton on the Sky Sports coverage at stumps on day three of the Brisbane Ashes Test, Hussain conceded Ben Stokes would need to produce “something utterly remarkable” for the visitors to avoid going 2-0 down in the series.
Australia began day three of the second Test leading by 44 runs with Alex Carey and Michael Neser at the crease, before Starc and Boland found themselves in the middle together after a couple of quick wickets.
AS IT HAPPENED: The Ashes second Test, day three
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What followed was a sustained period of sensible batting in which Starc and Boland fattened up Australia’s lead, kept England out in the sweltering Brisbane sun, and pushed back the start of its next bowling innings to as close to night time as they could.
Starc chalked up 77 from 141 balls, Boland grinded out 21 from 72 deliveries, Australia’s lead climbed to 177, and the hosts weren’t bowling again until a tick past 6pm Queensland time.
Come the end of day three — a day for England described by Atherton as “grisly” and “gruesome” — the tourists were 6-134 and still 43 runs in arrears.
Ben Stokes (left) and Will Jacks trudge off at stumps on day three. Getty
“Out-bowled, out-batted, out-caught, out-thought,” Hussain said on the Sky Sports coverage.
“I don’t know where you want to start, but [England was] completely and utterly outplayed from start to finish.
“Earlier in the day, when they lost those two early wickets, the way Scott Boland batted with Mitchell Starc, they both realised which was going to be better: to be bowling with the new ball at 3.30, or at six o’clock in the evening? Six o’clock under lights, obviously, with the new ball.
“So they just batted time and occupied the crease and it made it the perfect day, the perfect timing.
“If England’s bowlers, lower order had been batting earlier today, would they have had the thought process to say, ‘We’ve got to play differently, we’ve got to just bat time because that will be beneficial to us later in the day’?
“No, they would have carried on playing the same way, smashing it, and been bowling by 3.30.”
Pope gifted Australia his wicket, driving on the up and scooping the ball back to pace bowler Neser.
England’s No.3 had twice gone perilously close to throwing his wicket away in the previous over — first by playing a lofted cover drive that evaded a leaping Josh Inglis by mere centimetres, then by going for another extravagant drive and edging the ball over second slip.
Pope got the nod over Jacob Bethell for the first two Tests, but after scores of 46, 33, 0 and 26, and multiple instances of questionable shot selection, he is no guarantee to retain his spot in Adelaide.
“I read Geoffrey Boycott in the week,” Hussain said.
“I used the Tiger Woods analogy the other week and he used one about Jack Nicklaus, when asked what is your most important club in the bag, and he said the head.
“And that’s why I question Ollie Pope. When you’ve seen that half hour … If me and you up in the press box can see a wicket coming, how can Ollie Pope himself not say, ‘If I carry on batting like this, I’m going to get out’?
“Put that shot away for a little while. The great players do that; Steve Smith does it, Joe Root does it. Put it away for a little while.
“He doesn’t. He believes that if you keep doing it, he’ll get away with it.
“If you keep doing the same things, you’ll get the same result.”
Ollie Pope after being dismissed by Michael Neser. Getty
England, with four wickets in hand, must score another 43 runs just to make Australia bat again.
In other words, Australia could well be on the verge of winning the second Test by an innings.
Stokes and Will Jacks will both resume on 4.
If the English lose at the Gabba, they will need to win the final three Tests to claim the series and snatch back the Ashes urn.
But they haven’t won a single Test on Australian soil since the summer of 2010-11.
“It has to be another Stokes genius,” Hussain said.
“They play the extra batter who bowls a bit of spin in Will Jacks, and they all bat a little bit, but this pitch is now doing a bit.
“It would have to be yet again Stokes doing something utterly remarkable.”
