In this week’s edition of Tyler’s Top Ten, TYLER LEWIS steers from local angles for a special segment, This week, he takes a dive into the ten best moment’s of the Ashes series….
1. BOLO BRILLIANCE: It simply couldn’t be anything or anyone else. ‘The Barrel’ looked un-threatening in the first innings at the MCG, taking 1/47. But he was clearly just giving the Poms false hope, setting them up for pure humiliation in the following innings. 6/7 from four overs, in a chaotic third morning at the G, and 18 wickets at 9.56 to finish the series. He could very well be Prime Minister by the end of 2022.
2. THE PERFECT START: There were doubts on Mitchell Starc’s place in the side ahead of the First Test, but those doubts soon evaporated when he castled England opener Rory Burns. The left-armer set up the series perfectly, pushing the Poms onto the back leg from ball one. Beautifully bowled by ‘Starcy’, but what are you doing batting on a fifth stump line, Rory?
3. THE FIRECRACKER AT FIVE: When Travis Head is at the crease, you can’t take your eyes off him. He belts the ball to all parts and makes scoring runs look so easy. He came in at a good time in Brisbane, but accelerated the game so quickly that the Aussies couldn’t lose, and in Hobart he must’ve taken guard on a different wicket to the batters before him. 357 runs 59.50 striking at 86.02, he truly is a firecracker.
4. WELCOME BACK UZ: Usman Khawaja swiftly emerged as a contender (with Boland) as Australia’s favourite human before he was even named in the XI. If his dance moves at fine leg in Adelaide didn’t win you over, his twin tons in Sydney certainly did. 137 and 101 not out isn’t a bad return to the Test side.
5. THE RISE OF A GIANT: He didn’t win Man of the Series or receive the plaudits he deserved, but this Ashes series will be the one remembered for the birth of Cam Green. Bowls express, bats well, clunks them in the gully, what’s not to like?
6. MARNUS MAYHEM: If anyone was going to be dismissed that way, it was going to be Marnus Labuschagne. Much like Rory Burns first rock at the Gabba, Labuschagne left supporters at home asking themselves ‘what are you doing?’
7. TAIL TORMENT: It was real men against boys sort of stuff in Adelaide when the tail went out to bat. After storming in to Warner, Labuschagne, Smith and Carey for the best part of two days in 35 plus degree heat, the English bowlers had to deal with the fresh-legged Aussie bowlers depositing them into the people. The crowd had a brief moment to feel sympathy for Joe Root’s men before ducking for cover.
8. SYDNEY HEART-STOPPER: The Poms denied Australia of a 5-0 whitewash with a brave batting performance in Sydney. Steve Smith almost snared a Michael Clarke 2008 moment with the ball, but it wasn’t to be, with James Anderson and Stuart Broad holding on.
9. THE NO-BALL PANDEMIC: It’s almost unfathomable to understand the English bowler’s inability to keep a shred of their shoe behind the line. Ben Stokes to Warner in Brisbane, Ollie Robinson to Labuschagne in Adelaide and Woakes to Carey in Hobart. England was outplayed from the get-go, but over-stepping and over-knicking certainly didn’t help.
10. THE FAREWELL TOUR: James Anderson joked four years ago that he didn’t plan on bowling on Aussie wickets at 39 and yet here he was. But surely, surely, that is the last the Aussie faithful see of Anderson and Broad. Despite plenty of altercations and rivalries in years gone by, credit has to go where it’s due, the pair are going to go down as legends of the game.
