Australia storm Fortress Edgbaston

SAM MORSHEAD AT EDGBASTON: This was far from noble failure. This was surrender. Down the drawbridge and let the enemy in, serve them coffee and cake and massage their feet.

Final day of five: Australia (284 & 487-7) beat England (374 & 146) by 251 runs

Scorecard

Fortress Edgbaston, they called it.

On this evidence, it might as well have been made out of Meccano and bubblewrap. 

England were so proud about their record in Birmingham - no defeat in 10 matches across all formats since 2014, no loss to Australia since 2001. The chorus of the Hollies had become a familiar victory song. The venue even changed its Twitter handle in advance of this Test to make sure they were on-message.

That all looks a little silly this afternoon.

Australia crept in through the back door, ransacked the living room and stole the family silver.

Seeing out 90 overs on the final day, having been set an unlikely 398 for victory, was always expected to be beyond the home side - after all, they had only gone further than 90 overs in the fourth innings of a Test three times since the end of the 2015 Ashes.

But this was far from noble failure. This was surrender. Down the drawbridge and let the enemy in, serve them coffee and cake and massage their feet.

^{England captain Joe Root walks off after being dismissed}

When England needed staying power the most - and let’s not forget that in their first innings they batted longer than in any other Test innings in that four-year period - they let themselves down.

Yes, the bowling was hostile. Pat Cummins and James Pattinson upped their pace, targeted the body and rushed batsmen with ease; Nathan Lyon was quickly into his groove and worked the footmarks superbly; Peter Siddle nagged outside off stump in the sort of brilliant spell that only ever seems to result in wickets at the other end.

Yes, the task was stiff. Even if England’s batsmen had played to their Test averages they would still have been 70 short, while no target more than 283 had ever been made by a side batting last at Edgbaston.

And yes, conditions favoured the visitors. Lyon benefited from a fourth-innings pitch which had accepted turn throughout, and Australia were able to crowd the bat like vultures on the Serengeti. It would not have been an enjoyable experience to bat at Edgbaston today.

But still. England needed more. The occasion demanded more. Heck, this team owed themselves more. 

Instead the top order fell apart in an untidy heap, a conflation of confused strokeplay and excess timidity. The accusation has long been thrown at this side that they simply do not have the collective gumption to stick it out in Test cricket, and there was practically no reason for anyone in possession of such an opinion to change it based on the evidence at hand here.

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Some dismissals were more ‘acceptable’ than others.

Rory Burns was caught unawares by a spitting delivery from Cummins which looped to backward point, Joe Root snaffled at short leg off the inside edge by Cameron Bancroft, Nathan Lyon ripped one out of the dirt to take Ben Stokes’ glove and Jos Buttler was made to look oh so ordinary by a snorter from Cummins which jagged away to take off stump.

This innings may well prove to be defined, though, by a photograph of Jason Roy, four steps down the wicket, seemingly pummeling the ball through midwicket. When cropped, it tells the story of a man in charge, bossing proceedings, determined and dominant. It’s the sort of image you might see as a profile picture on Instagram. 

Out of context, it looks magnificent.

But zoom out and you’ll find that all is not what it seems. Roy had foxtrotted, tried to pulverise a good length delivery from Lyon over the top, missed by several inches, nearly fallen over himself in the process, and lost middle stump. Siri, show me ‘hot mess’.

^{Jason Roy's dismissal will spark criticism}

The one pressing concern over the opening batsman is how he adjusts his temperament from white-ball cricket to red - there’s no denying his talent with bat in hand, nor his ability to bully opposition bowlers when pitches are relatively flat. At Edgbaston, did not help his cause.

In ODIs, such a dismissal might be easily shrugged off with a rendition of “that’s just the way he plays”, but in Tests that argument is unlikely to stick. 

Roy has another four matches to acclimatise, but Joe Denly might not be quite as fortunate - Denly made 11 in the second innings, caught at short leg leaning feebly at Lyon, to go with 18 in the first - and the spotlight is shining ever more in the eyes of Jonny Bairstow.

The wicketkeeper averages less than 23 in Test cricket since the start of 2018 after ducking into Cummins and being struck on a combination of forearm and wristband, the ball floating up into the slips, and looks a completely different player in whites as compared to colour clothing.

With Moeen Ali also failing again - reports suggest he is set to lose his place for Lord’s - it was left to Chris Woakes to inject a modicum of respectability into the result, as he did with a counter-punching 31.

England were still left dismally short, the match over at 3.13pm on the final day. 

It is amazing to think that, almost exactly 96 hours prior, the state of play in this match was the absolute inverse, Australia laying exposed at 122 for 8 in their first innings.

Steve Smith was the difference, and this shall forever be known as his Test, but England must not let that cover up some difficult truths.

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