Ashes 2019: Aching England end fourth day in grim fight for survival as Australia take stranglehold on first Test

Moeen Ali was the last England player to leave the field. He had been fielding at long-on, at the Birmingham end of the ground, when James Pattinson smashed the six that ended Australia’s innings. And so, as his team-mates scuttled back to the safety of the dressing room, Moeen had to trudge fully 120 yards to catch up with them: the last thankless task of a long, thankless day.

For Moeen, the day had begun with high hopes and high ideals. Entrusted with the first over of the day in his hometown, on a spinning wicket, he knew his contribution would be pivotal. And it was, although not quite in the way he had hoped. In his first over, he startled Steve Smith with a head-high beamer after the ball slipped out of his hand. It didn’t get too much better after that. It was well past 5pm by the time he delivered his first maiden of the day.

What’s eating Moeen? It’s a question that we have often been forced to ask over the last few years, as this most mercurial of players blows mercilessly from one weather to another. His batting has deteriorated to the point where to call him an all-rounder feels a touching exercise in nostalgia. Often it’s said of out-of-form batsmen that they have forgotten where their off-stump is. Moeen appears to have forgotten where all three stumps are, as well as the fielders, the bowler, the ball, his own bat and most of his limbs. Cruelly, on current form, Jack Leach feels a better option with both bat and ball at the moment.

Moeen’s advocates argue that nobody has taken more Test wickets in the world over the last 12 months. It’s a persuasive statistic, albeit one that tells us two things above all: firstly, that England have played more Tests than anyone else in that period; and secondly, that Moeen’s form came on the back of an extended break from international cricket in the first half of 2018, after being dropped from the side.

By contrast, if you take into account the Test and one-day tours of the Caribbean, the Indian Premier League, the World Cup build-up and the World Cup, Moeen has been playing pretty much solidly since the middle of January. This is his 36th game of cricket this year, not including practice, travel, training camps and all the other annoying little bits and pieces that make up the life of an international cricketer. Coach Trevor Bayliss used to say there’s nothing like a good dropping to bring the best out of a player. Moeen has scarcely looked more in need of a few weeks off and maybe a nice spa day with the family.

And it was a similar story everywhere you looked. For Ben Stokes, the day had begun with a crackle of electricity, a chance to be the difference-maker. The previous evening, he had dismissed Usman Khawaja with his second ball to swing the momentum back England’s way. Now, as he hobbled stiffly around in between spells of innocuous 82mph pace, the heroics of three weeks ago felt like a flicker of some distant memory.

How do you pick yourself up after the greatest emotional rush of your life? When you’ve given every last bead of juice you have in service to a cause, what happens when you go back to the well? As with many of his team-mates, the adrenaline of the encounter had sustained Stokes’s tired limbs through the first three days. Now, as Australia’s middle order piled on the pain, Stokes was going back to the well, and finding there was nothing left to call on.

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For Joe Root, the day had begun with a plan and a purpose. An opening burst from Stuart Broad, an early look at Moeen to see how much turn there was, a couple of early wickets, and then a slow turn of the screw. Now, as the prospect of a first Ashes victory as captain slipped from his grasp, he chewed his cheek, scuffed the turf, buried his face in his hands.

At one point, he picked up the ball at mid-on and, as if venting all the day’s frustrations at once, hurled it mightily at the stumps, even though there wasn’t the remotest possibility of a run-out. This series will define Root’s captaincy, and while it’s early yet, he probably wasn’t banking on having to give Joe Denly 14 overs on only its fourth day.

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For the England supporters in the Hollies Stand, the day had begun with a skip and a song and a surge of anticipation. For three days, they had delighted in treating Tim Paine’s Australians to their full beery repertoire. Now, as afternoon turned to evening and with nothing but a steady diet of Australian ones and twos to keep them entertained, came the ultimate humiliation: their yellow-clad counterparts in the adjoining stand goading them with a chant of “it’s all gone quiet over there”. It had taken just four days for Fortress Edgbaston to put down the drawbridge.

And now, as Matthew Wade reverse-swept his way to three figures and Denly twirled away to little effect and the fielding began to fray and Root’s head began to droop a little, it felt for the first time like England’s efforts this summer were beginning to catch up with them. If the Ireland game was the forgotten chunder in the cab afterwards, then this was the real thing: the full-blown hangover, the aching limbs, the long sour daydreams, the sense of time and hope leaking away.

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The day began with England ahead of the game and scenting victory, and ended in a grim fight for survival. This wasn’t their worst or most ignominious day in the field, not by a long chalk. But for a team already mentally and physically running on fumes, the next 90 overs will show us what they have left in the tank. It’s possible that they themselves don’t even know the answer yet.