The Ashes 2023: England v Australia, first Test, day two – live

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57th over: Australia 178-4 (Khawaja 82, Green 13) Stokes directs the fielders this way and that. Broad and Anderson chat; Root and Stokes chat, Stokes and Broad chat. Ollie Pope runs on with a helmet gets the booby prize of short leg. Khawaja swivel-pulls gloriously past him for four.

57th over: Australia 172-4 (Khawaja 78, Green 12) Another Anderson maiden, though Khawaja doesn’t seem affected by the driyng up of the run bed. In of the corner of the screen, Stuart Broad is warming up.

56th over: Australia 172-4 (Khawaja 78, Green 12) Australia content to just see this out till tea.

55th over: Australia 171-4 (Khawaja 77, Green 12) A maiden from Anderson.

“Is it do you think, likely,” asks John Starbuck, “that Moeen Ali is being set up as opposite number to Nathan Lyon, in terms of overs bowled per innings? If he takes four wickets it’ll be a successful ploy, if not, a waste?”

I can’t pretend to have a window into Stokes soul but hey, I’ll have a guess anyway. I don’t think so. Moeen got rid of Head, nearly got rid of Green – just what the captain ordered.

54th over: Australia 171-4 (Khawaja 77, Green 12) Moeen takes a break after 18 overs – quite the workload for someone who usually carries a white ball around with him. One precious wicket – could have been two. Joe Root takes over the off-spinning duties.

53rd over: Australia 170-4 (Khawaja 77, Green 11) The cameras pan to the Australian dressing room where Pat Cummins is staring becomingly into the distance surrounded by cartons of… talcum powder? Jeff Thomson, fine mop of hair still, sits in the crowd with a very floral shirt. One off Anderson’s over.

52nd over: Australia 169-4 (Khawaja 77, Green 10) Moeen, long sleeves, wheels away. Green plumps for a quick single but runs the gauntlet of Stokes’ arm – a dangeous tactic when the force is with him. The Hollies stand are in full voice- suspect its a more tuneful experience through the medium of the television.

51st over: Australia 167-4 (Khawaja 76, Green 9) The cameras can’t keep away from Stokes face as he plots the next twist. Green dabs one into the on side and they pick up a second after an enthusiastic return runs wild.

50th over: Australia 165-4 (Khawaja 76, Green 7) A nicely pulled four by Khawaja off Moeen, whose eyes light up when he sees one drop short; then Green ticks up one one straight down the ground, picked up by a sprawled Stokes who grabs his thigh mid way through but seems ok.

Ben Stokes feels a twinge in his thigh. Photograph: Matt Impey/Shutterstock

49th over: Australia 156-4 (Khawaja 71, Green 3) It is Jimmy, pressed and sprayed with some kind of fragrant lavender. Khawaja plays him respectfully, just picking up a couple off the last ball. And the atmosphere drops another notch.

An email arrives from Kim Thonger:

“It has come to my attention that the last line of the poem Pad Pad by the very wonderful Stevie Smith is, presumably unintentionally, appropriately descriptive of Steve Smith’s dismissal today.

I wonder if she thought first of calling the poem No Bat Involved?

48th over: Australia 154-4 (Khawaja 69, Green 3) Moeen continues, but is allowed to settle again into his rhythm. Green edges thick wide of slip where a chasing Joe Root loses his hat but saves the boundary. And it looks as if Jimmy Anderson is coming back for a mid-afternoon tester.

47th over: Australia 149-4 (Khawaja 67, Green 0) Thank you Geoff, words as gorgeous as always. Thanks too for ushering Travis Head back to the dressing room, the frantic-ness of his inning was not good for my fragile nerves. Robinson bowls a settler and everyone takes a breath.

46th over: Australia 148-4 (Khawaja 66, Green 0) Fifty and out for Head, bringing Cameron Green to the middle for his first Ashes innings in England. He defends the first ball from Moeen. Then he uses his feet and should have been stumped! A good ball from Moeen, sharp turn inward, beats the inside edge and Bairstow fluffs it. Green wasn’t looking to play a big shot, just to be decisive in defence as he learned in Sri Lanka last year, but he’s done by the speed of the delivery and the turn. Gets a life!

England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow misses the chance to stump Cameron Green. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

And with that, my time is done for the day. Thanks for your messages, sorry to those I didn’t get to – please direct any further thoughts on the oeuvre of William Blake to Tanya Aldred.

WICKET! Head c Crawley b Moeen Ali 50, Australia 148-4

Your spinner is getting whacked, you leave him on, that’s Bazball. Or that’s amore. Moeen was always a chance with the tempo that Head prefers, and there it is. Down the pitch, slaps it to the leg side, but flat. Crawley at midwicket can tumble across and claim it. Another big moment for England, as the partnership was starting to sizzle. They lead by 245.

England’s Zak Crawley (right) celebrates teammate Ollie Pope after taking the catch to dismiss Australia’s Travis Head. Photograph: David Davies/PAAs does England's Moeen Ali (right) who provided the delivery. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PAHalf century! Travis Head 50 off 60 balls

45th over: Australia 148-3 (Khawaja 66, Head 50) Robinson, short, Head whacks it for four! Again splits the outfielders behind square, along the ground. Robinson shifts the line, and Head back-cuts twice in a row, to the same spot, beating backward point and running square enough that the deep third fielder has to run around. The first time he gets two, the second time three, and that raises his milestone. An exercise in contrast to Khawaja’s first 50 runs, in terms of balls faced.

44th over: Australia 139-3 (Khawaja 66, Head 41) Now Khawaja drops the hammer on Moeen! First with a lofted cover drive for four, then another straight hit for six. He’s gone for 66 off his 14 overs, nearly a run a ball.

43rd over: Australia 129-3 (Khawaja 56, Head 41) Short stuff, but the pace of Robinson isn’t bothering Head, defending it comfortably. The short leg is gone, the two boundary riders and the square leg remain for the hook, but Head plays it anyway, along the ground, between deep square and fine leg for four.

“Boa tarde Geoff,” writes Geoff Wignall from presumably either Portugal or Brazil. “Will Wroth is I believe on very much the right track in his interpretation of Jerusalem, though possibly it was the mushrooming Methodist chapels rather than the established church that the dark satanic mills referenced. We’ll never know. But it seems pretty certain he’d have no more set eyes on a factory than Ben Stokes would have watched a Chris Tavare innings. ‘The Tyger’ on the other hand is, in an act of remarkable pre-cognition, a poem clearly inspired by Shane Warne.”

I don’t think anyone ‘watched’ a Tavare innings. The verb might be ‘endured’.

42nd over: Australia 124-3 (Khawaja 55, Head 37) There goes Khawaja, to his highest score in England with a single driven through the covers. Head follows up by smashing six more runs down the ground. Umpire Raza gently hands Moeen back his hat and jumper before signalling the score.

41st over: Australia 117-3 (Khawaja 54, Head 31) Robinson carries on with the short stuff, both batters taking on the pull for singles, Khawaja much more stylishly. Then we have one of the daftest DRS referrals ever seen, as Head is hit on the elbow, off the arm guard, and the ball lobs to gully. Not out says the umpire and Stokes reviews. How did Robinson not see that from front on? It was as far from the glove as any part of the forearm can be.

Both teams are down a review now.

Australia's Travis Head reacts after being clattered by an Ollie Robinson delivery. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images

40th over: Australia 114-3 (Khawaja 52, Head 30) Moeen keeps bowling, Head keeps whacking ‘em. Narrowly past Mark Wood, subbing at midwicket, squeezed off the inside half of the blade for two. Firmly over mid on for four. Hard into the pitch at his feet for none. He’s got 30, when did that happen?

39th over: Australia 108-3 (Khawaja 52, Head 24) Ollie Robinson replaces Broad. Long angled run to the crease, and he’s also bowling back of a length at the ribs. Khawaja gets off strike. For Head, a short leg in place, set deep ten paces back.

In fact, let’s go through this field. Fine leg. Leg slip. Short leg. Deep square leg, just in front to comply with the Laws. Square leg almost exactly in line with the deep man, but two thirds back. Wide mid on.

Cover. Backward point. Long stop, just to the off side.

Head tries to hook anyway and misses. Plays a ball down behind square and takes one. Khawaja’s field has two slips and a midwicket, and he pulls straight to the latter position, no run.

38th over: Australia 106-3 (Khawaja 51, Head 23) The ton is up, and Travis Head is warming to his task. Looks much more confident against the spin now, and smacks Moeen straight down the ground, before going back and carving a cut shot square. Two boundaries, the deficit is down to 287 runs.

37th over: Australia 98-3 (Khawaja 51, Head 15) Khawaja glides a run. Broad continues the short ploy to Head, who ducks one, plays down another. Another no-ball for an overstep, and Head deflects it for a run. That leaves Broad the chance to get Khawaja on the gloves before blocking a length ball.

“Philip Cornwall’s pedantry was half-hearted,” writes Richard Mansell. “Upon receiving that answer from the stadium a committed pedant would have written to the ECB.”

We are indeed in the Sacred Palace of Pedantry, here at the OBO. Speaking of which, I should correct the record as per Robin Walters earlier that Jerusalem is the name of the music, which the poem ‘And did those feet’ is set to.

Half century! Usman Khawaja 50 off 106 balls

36th over: Australia 95-3 (Khawaja 50, Head 14) A neatly placed cover drive from Moeen brings Khawaja his 50th run. In the past couple of years he has corrected his record in home Ashes matches, then against spin, then in Asia. Now he’s doing it England. A long way yet to make a really influential contribution, but it has been vital for Australia that he held firm through that first session.

Head celebrates by clobbering four over mid on, then tucking two runs square.

Usman Khawaja thwacks the ball on his way to his half century. Photograph: Paul Greenwood/Shutterstock

35th over: Australia 88-3 (Khawaja 49, Head 8) The headbanded Broad comes in, Cobra Kai-ing his way to the crease to flykick Usman Khawaja. The cricketing version of a flykick, which is a rising ball at the collarbone that Khawaja fends away for a run off the gloves, behind square. Surprised him. It’s an overstep as well, maybe that’s where the extra pace came from. The tactical no-ball could be a thing, as per Jasprit Bumrah at The Oval last year. Travis Head copes more calmly with similar stuff, jumping up to drop the ball to ground.

34th over: Australia 86-3 (Khawaja 48, Head 8) Khawaja gets closer to fifty with that shot! Skips down and lifts Moeen straight for six. Over long on. Then a single to point. Head still looks dicey against the spin, coming forward with hard hands to defend.

Philip Cornwall, the master of puppets behind the OBO, sends an email titled: “Jerusalem complaint (not one you’re expecting).” Which did have me worried for a moment. Visa revoked?

“It still grates, 14 years later, that when they put Blake’s words on the scoreboard for a triumphant rendition after England won the 2009 Ashes, they put “Oh clouds unfold”, as though Blake was slightly baffled at seeing clouds unfold, instead of the vocative appeal “O clouds unfold”. I did write to the Oval to complain; remarkably, instead of ignoring me as a tedious pedant, someone emailed back blaming the ECB, who had supplied the text.”

That’s entirely reasonable. “Oh clouds unfold” is all very “Oh dear me. Oh, they didn’t, did they?”

33rd over: Australia 79-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 8) Stuart Broad is back, rested and restless. Long-legged lope to the crease. Dabbed away by Khawaja for one. Head is nearly caught down the leg side, chasing a wayward ball, then Broad is getting the ball to jump off a length outside off stump.

For those still playing at home, that’s Khawaja’s second-highest score in England. He has precisely one half-century.

32nd over: Australia 78-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 8) We’re back, fed and satisfied I hope. Moeen Ali starts with a maiden to Travis head, who tries his best to score a couple of times but can’t beat the field.

Enjoying our Blake chat today. Here’s Will Wroth.

“There is a school of thought that, given his very radical social and religious convictions, Blake’s ‘satanic mills’ were more the established church, top-down religious institutions, and the conservatizing moral and political influence they enjoyed, than the actual factories, for all their social and economic disruption. Perhaps it is a fitting anthem for Bazball after all – militating against ingrained, conservative attitudes towards what is right, and how things should be done…?”

Can see it now. Ben Stokes mulls a Declaration (on the Rights of Man).

Andrew James is checking in, and out. “I’m about to get on a plane from Tokyo to Melbourne, which means an enforced 10 hours until I can see the result of the day. Here’s hoping there’s no more batting carnage, Smith bags a double-hundred with Head on 115*.”

Hope you were in the air before that lbw.

Lunch - Australia 78 for 3

An absolutely critical session for England. They will be buzzing as they walk off the field. Australia’s two biggest guns have been spiked, in Labuschagne and Smith, while Warner popped himself back in Broad’s pocket. The home side’s lead is still 315, and somehow this came in a session where Harry Brook had a trundle.

A mass of work to do for Australia: Khawaja and Head have both gone big in recent times, but both of them will need to repeat that today.

Wonder if the Super Mario crew, seen here before the day’s play, enjoyed that session? Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

31st over: Australia 78-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 8) You can defy convention, but you can’t resist bringing on a part-time spinner for one over before lunch. Joe Root has the ball, sending it down outside Khawaja’s off stump for the opener to ignore. Stokes performatively brings himself into leg slip for one ball, to no effect, and that is lunch.

30th over: Australia 78-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 8) I lied, the umpires have decided we’ll get more overs in. They started the session five minutes late. Head gets down low and slaps four through cover, then Moeen beats him twice in a row! The crowd groaning as the ball goes past the edge. Head is flummoxed, he goes back and lets the next ball hit him on the pad, angling down leg side, left alone.

29th over: Australia 74-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 4) Nicely driven straight by Khawaja from Stokes, down the ground for a couple more runs.

28th over: Australia 72-3 (Khawaja 38, Head 4) Into it straight away is Travis Head! Down on one knee and clubs his sweep shot over backward square. Moeen finishes his work for the session with 0 for 17 off six overs.

27th over: Australia 67-3 (Khawaja 37) Last ball of the over, after two runs from it, is the biggest wicket of all.

WICKET! Smith lbw Stokes 16, Australia 67-3

It had to be Stokes! It just had to be. Smith gets squared up, ends up with both pads together as the ball smashes into his knee roll. Stokes roars and throws out both arms in an appeal. Umpire Erasmus waits a long, long time, then at last the finger goes up. Smith reviews immediately, because of course he does. On a bouncier pitch that would have been going over, but on this flatter one it’s three red lights, hitting the off bail flush. Smith is gone! A massive moment just before the lunch break. The ball didn’t do too much, it went on straight at the stumps, but Smith got his feet and timing tangled and missed it – the thing he never did in 2019.

Ben Stokes of England appeals successfully for the wicket of Steve Smith of Australia. Photograph: ShutterstockStokes and his England teammates celebrate Smith’s wicket. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesSmith walks after losing his wicket. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters

26th over: Australia 65-2 (Khawaja 36, Smith 16) No run from the Moeen over. Smith plays at every ball but doesn’t do anything with them.

25th over: Australia 65-2 (Khawaja 36, Smith 16) Ben Stokes is having a bowl! It’s been a long time coming, but he’s giving it a go. To celebrate, in scenes that will surprise everyone, England succeed in lobbying to get the ball changed. The umpires swap it over. They do call him for a no-ball though. Rusty beard, rusty bowling. Two slips only for Smith now. Cover has been included. So of course he plays off the hip to backward square for a run. Stokes looks to be walking back to his mark freely. Khawaja leaves. Two slips for him as well, with a catching cover and catching midwicket.

24th over: Australia 63-2 (Khawaja 36, Smith 15) Smacked off the back foot through cover, and a brilliant diving stop saves a boundary. Smith has to content himself with nudging Moeen to leg for a single.

23rd over: Australia 62-2 (Khawaja 36, Smith 14) Stroked by Smith down the ground, lovely off drive from Robinson’s fuller pitch. Broad chases and slides to save to the delight of the crowd.

Robin Walters: “Isn’t the whole point of ‘And did those feet’ that it is saying “‘this country’s a bit crap, let’s make it a place worth living’? That seems to me to exactly fit what you look for in a national anthem.”

Quite agree. That would be the good kind of patriotism, which does exist even if it’s derided by the plastic kind. I’d also say that is not what’s reflected by triumphalist renditions at sporting events. But hey, just one opinion.

22nd over: Australia 59-2 (Khawaja 36, Smith 11) Across the stumps, shovel to leg… the Smith method works against off spin as much as outswing. Gets a run past the short leg. Khawaja tries to do likewise but finds midwicket. So he skips down, tries to loft, and is nearly caught. Stokes loses the ball in the backdrop! Khawaja isn’t to the pitch, hits it too early and so it goes flat towards mid off. In the end it goes to one side of Stokes, and maybe a bit too high to catch, but he can’t even attempt the catch because he doesn’t know where the ball is. Just holds his arms out helplessly. Moeen follows with a ball the keeps low, like Lyon did a few times yesterday, that Khawaja jams out.

21st over: Australia 54-2 (Khawaja 32, Smith 10) More shuffling across for Smith, blocking Robinson with a straight bat, then playing the pull to a rare short ball. One run. That brings Khawaja on strike, and there’s that pull to the length ball again! Played that three times today, nailed all of them. This is already Khawaja’s fourth highest score in England.

If you’re confused by the Smith technique, this might help a bit. Turn down the dial on the headline by about 200% before reading.

20th over: Australia 49-2 (Khawaja 28, Smith 9) Moeen turns the arm over, as the sun comes out for the first time today through high patchy cloud. Khawaja blocks away, then decides he’s had enough and skips down the track, driving stylishly through extra cover for four. Two fielders there for the shot and he goes right between them.

19th over: Australia 45-2 (Khawaja 24, Smith 9) Nice bowling from Robinson, getting that movement away, but Smith gets across so far that he can leave anything outside his pads without concern. He’s soaked up 33 balls now.

18th over: Australia 45-2 (Khawaja 24, Smith 9) Moeen Ali to bowl from the City End. Drops short a couple of times, and Khawaja is going too hard and miscuing. One is a top edge landing safely at 45 for two runs, the other gets none as he underedges hard into the ground to the off side. Interesting.

17th over: Australia 43-2 (Khawaja 22, Smith 9) Ollie Robinson gets over the shock of being bumped behind Brook in the bowling order and begins his day. A bit of swing, making Smith play to the off side more than leg. Smith adds two runs with a straight drive.

Andy Flintoff (not that one, he clarifies) writes: “It’s not that the words of Jerusalem are patriotic, it’s more that the music (by C Hubert H Parry) sounds much more triumphant than the usual dirgey way that God Save The King/Queen is played.”

For sure, not hard to exceed an anthem that rivals Australia’s for drabness. But that’s the point and the problem – the poem despairs of what the nation has become, the despoliation of the earth for a few to profit, in a way that is even more markedly relevant now. But somehow people went, “Well it says England in it,” and decided it’s a patriot’s hymn.

16th over: Australia 41-2 (Khawaja 22, Smith 7) Anderson resumes after his hydration interval, bowls three more balls that Khawaja blocks, and an unusual over comes to an end in this unusual Test match.

We’re taking drinks halfway through an over because Khawaja wanted to trim a loose bit off his bat and called for the runner. That’s a new one.

15th over: Australia 40-2 (Khawaja 22, Smith 6) It’s been an hour without any Stokes-induced madness, so he decides to introduce… Harry Brook to the attack. Five overs from Broad, including two in two, and he gets replaced by a middle-order bat who runs in off a long approach and bowls a twisty frog-footed Virat Kohli kind of stuff that is notionally medium pace but comes out at around 65 miles an hour and seems to loop as though he has an off-spinner’s grip. Smith clips one to midwicket on the bounce, which gets the crowd excited, but more impressive is Bairstow’s take about two metres down the leg side to some proper club-level dross. Smith gets a run to fine leg.

14th over: Australia 39-2 (Khawaja 22, Smith 5) Anderson ticking away. A couple of singles to the leg side, Smith continues to quiet things down after the Broad intervention.

“Totally agree with your reservations about the singing of Jerusalem. It kicks off with a series of contrived questions, the answer to all of which is no,” writes Freddie Simon. “I want to make a plea for poor Dom Bess - best haircuts in the county championship and a pretty decent/lucky international record. He was broken by pre-revolutionary England and if any spinner deserves a second chance, it’s Dom Bess. Such a fan of The Final Word and your OBOing. Thrilled to see you on duty today. All the best from Berlin.”

Thanks Freddie. I should clarify, I’m an admirer of William Blake. The lavishness of language, and that hallucinatory vision burns with the brightness of the true mystics. Less on board with shoehorning his great work into an attempt at a patriotic symbol, especially when the meaning of the text is anything but.

And yes… Simply Dom Bess, better than all the rest? Could have done alright in the current environment.

13th over: Australia 37-2 (Khawaja 21, Smith 4) Very happy to take his time, Smith is almost deadbatting the ball, playing as softly as he can at Broad to bat out a maiden.

12th over: Australia 37-2 (Khawaja 21, Smith 4) With a very open stance, Smith places a full ball from Anderson to midwicket for one run. Three slips, backward point, short cover, mid off for Khawaja… who whacks another pull shot for four! Now, that’s just rude. It wasn’t even slightly short, he’s hit that off a length outside the off stump, angled across him. Not a high-percentage shot, I would suggest. Cue joke about Usball.

Just another quiet little Ashes over for Stuart Broad, then…

11th over: Australia 32-2 (Khawaja 17, Smith 3) Had Stuart Broad got that third wicket, it would have been one of the best hat-tricks ever by calibre of player. Instead he bowls one of the worst hat-trick balls ever, wide down the leg side. Smith half does the splits and watches it pass by. Plays the next similarly, then shovels a ball out through midwicket, making the ageing legs of Moeen Ali chase back to the Hollies Stand boundary to great encouragement to keep the scoring to three.

WICKET! Labuschagne c Bairstow b Broad 0, Australia 29-2

STUART BROAD IS ON A HAT-TRICK. First ball for Marnus Labuschagne, who starts his very slow trudge off the field. Outside off stump, a bit of movement away, a fiddle at the line from Labuschagne when it wasn’t needed, and Jonny Bairstow is off balance but throws out his right glove, folds his knee under his body to get down low enough, and takes it one-handed above the turf.

Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne caught out by England’s Jonny Bairstow. Photograph: David Davies/PABairstow (left), Joe Root (centre) and England's Ollie Pope (right) celebrate the dismissal of Australia's Marnus Labuschagne. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty ImagesBroad celebrates with Joe Root after taking Labuschagne’s wicket. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/ReutersWhilst Labuschagne looks dejected as he trudges back to the pavilion. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images