2nd day of Test: Bazball confounds and delights
The day belonged to England but the view of such sages as Jonathan Agnew and Michael Vaughan was that it could have been better.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope set up a platform of parity only for Australia – bereft of Nat Lyon for possibly the Series – to bowl short and English batters to fall for the trap by hooking the deliveries and being caught.
Welcome to the new world of Bazball!
Personally I think it leads to an intriguing and engaging contest in which you can never be quite sure who will ultimately win.
I enjoyed the day much more than Wednesday.
A friend invited me into a box where I was introduced to a tanned and confident Nigel Farage.
My affable neighbour and former City lawyer argued passionately -over a bottle of overpriced rosé which the bar staff had difficulty in opening – that our contemporary politicians should have more respect for the rule of law and a good friend of mine joined us after being sat in a box between two ex- prime ministers John Major and David Cameron.
It was also Red for Ruth Day and – with Pink Glenn McGrath Day at Sydney and Blue for Bob at Edgbaston – with this one I think we have reached saturation point.
I did once meet Ruth Strauss at the Hampstead Theatre and found her delightfully impressive but I was at Lords to watch the cricket, not as a potential charity donor.
As I walked back to my hotel through a gloriously sunlit Regent’s Park, I pondered less on the “post tea lunacy” and more on a rich and satisfying day of cricket and socialising and a well set-up Test Match.
