England rode their luck, now the tables may have turned

Amid the endless dissection and delirium that followed the miracle of Headingley, much was made of the 'momentum' England had gained but little time was devoted to the equally intangible force of 'luck'.

It's almost as if attributing any unlikely outcome such as that remarkable last-day win to anything other than unbridled genius is to somehow devalue the efforts invested and the personalities involved.

But for all his courage, self-belief and undeniable skill, even Ben Stokes would surely admit that he and his team rode their luck to deliver that stunning one-wicket win that levelled the Ashes series.

And as events have transpired at Old Trafford in the fourth Test into which England were supposed to surf the billowing tide of momentum, they might well have ridden that luck into the ground.

Fortune surely deserted Joe Root's men on Thursday, just as surely as it eluded the outstretched fingertips of many an Australia outfielder at Headingley and Nathan Lyon as he snatched at the decisive but ultimately squandered run-out chance.

It was also pure coincidence rather than any force more or less abstract that placed those same central figures from the final afternoon in Leeds – Stokes and Jack Leach – at the hub of the luck that swung against England in Manchester.

The role reversal began with England this time toiling with the ball, straining to curtail the one player they saw as holding the power to alter the Test's direction – Australia's batting wonder, Steve Smith.

By his own admission, Smith's usually unbreakable concentration had begun to wane upon reaching his 26th Test century which was followed soon after by the 40-minute lunch adjournment.

That loss of lucidity was announced to England when Smith launched a wholly uncharacteristic charge down the pitch at Leach and skewed a needless swing high into the air only for it to fall fortuitously between converging fielders.

No momentum, even less science – just dumb luck.

Image Id: 3951B51149C449B7B02C7ED206182CA2 Image Caption: Leach reacts to a near miss as Steve Smith's run total grows // Getty

"I lost a bit of concentration I reckon for twenty minutes or so when Leach was bowling," Smith revealed at the end of a day on which his 211 lifted Australia to a formidable 8(dec)-497.

"I tried to hit one into next week and it landed safely.

"I think you always need some luck when you score big runs.

"It fell my way today."

From the first ball of Leach's next over, Smith aimed another overly ambitious stroke, this time an attempted drive at a ball that pitched well outside his eyeline but also bounced and spun more than the ex-skipper expected.

It was not dissimilar in execution, though demonstrably less vigorous in intent, to some of the swings that Stokes had aimed at Lyon during the final frantic hour at Headingley and which landed (via good grace) in gaps or cleared (through sheer force) fielders on the boundary rope.

Smith, however, was trying to steer his stroke along the ground rather than smash it into the stands so when he miscued, it sliced low to the fielder stationed at slip who happened to be the mercurial Stokes.

The pair who had kept Ashes hopes alive through their remarkable union in the third Test had once again combined as the fourth was slowly ebbing away.

Stokes's reaction, to hurl the ball forcibly into the turf as Smith tucked his bat beneath his arm and began a rueful march to the dressing room, wordlessly spoke of the threat that England believed they had finally seen off, albeit after scoring 118 runs.

Smith's journey to the team bunker took him directly past his batting partner and successor as skipper, Tim Paine, who extended his right arm towards his comrade who was, by now, admonishing himself for the lapse.

While Paine's gesture could have been interpreted as acknowledgement of an outstanding innings, it also resembled the method by which umpires signal 'no-ball' in those increasingly infrequent instances they are called on-field.

Perhaps Paine had noticed Leach's front foot perilously close to the popping crease and was suggesting Smith stall his exit while legality of the delivery was checked?

Maybe he was sending a subliminal message to officiating umpire Kumar Dharmasena to refer Leach's foot placement to the off-field invigilator?

On reflection, it was likely just another chance action that was mutually exclusive to all others.

Image Id: B33B9F00368F40E5B1228E67442F24F7 Image Caption: Kumar Dharmasena signals that fateful no-ball // Getty

But the video was examined, Leach was shown to have over-stepped, Smith was deemed not out, and England were compelled to endure a further three-and-a-half hours of his batting during which their hopes of winning the fourth Test dwindled further.

Victory from their current position – 474 runs behind on first innings with nine wickets available – will require luck that even Headingley on a sunny Sunday afternoon would struggle to summon.

England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, who might have run-out Smith earlier in the day if his throw had not unluckily missed the stumps, took a sanguine view of those pivotal few seconds.

"A no-ball is a no-ball - no-one means to bowl one, or to drop catches," Bairstow said of the instant that led Joe Root to call his players together and impart some stern words.

"It's not the first dismissal there's been off a no-ball, and it won't be the last.

Image Id: 685EBF7F0B324B0097181954744B8929 Image Caption: Jack Leach's front foot crosses the popping crease // Getty

"When we got together we just said 'look, we've got an opportunity now to crack on; there's nothing we can do about what's just happened and let's try to get him again'."

All rather similar to the 'it's happened, we've learned, now move on' refrain that echoed for more than a week from the Australia camp after the third Test.

Smith happily called out Thursday's vignette of intertwined moments for what it clearly was.

"I was losing my concentration, I was in a bit of a hurry for I reckon, twenty minutes," Smith admitted when asked about the potentially match-defining moment.

"Then after I got caught off the no-ball, I switched myself back on and got back into where I needed to be, and that was out in the middle and scoring runs.

"I thought I was out, so I was a bit angry with the shot that I played.

"It was a ball that spun and bounced a little bit, and I probably didn’t have to play it the way I did.

"But when I saw the foot over the line (on the video screen) and Kumar calling me back, it was like 'how good's this, I get to stay out here and keep batting'.

"It was obviously some luck, and then I made the most of it from there."

His luck held, while England's spilled from their fingers at a similar rate to which Stokes had piled on the winning runs on the other side of the Pennines 12 days earlier.

Indeed, it was Stokes's need to leave the field when he further aggravated the right shoulder problem he's been carrying all series while bowling, and was replaced by substitute fielder Sam Curran that further misfortune ensued.

Two overs after entering the match in his non-official capacity, Curran dropped the catch that Paine hit low to his left at mid-on from the bowling of Jofra Archer who finished wicketless for the first time in his three-game Test career.

Image Id: 7E6D603D961D4A23AD5D27D0F301C4AF Image Caption: Jofra Archer reacts to Sam Curran's dropped catch // Getty

Archer's 0-97 will undoubtedly be described as 'luckless' as is usually the case when bowlers send down that many overs (27) without claiming a scalp.

Then, as the shadows lengthened across Old Trafford and England possibly pondered how all that 'momentum' out of Headingley had landed them in the field for two unrelenting days, fortune's wheel completed its revolution.

With Australia nearing 500 and their tail-enders enjoying a few freebies from England's fraying bowlers, Lyon took on one of the outfielders in a cheeky bid to steal an extra run.

He would have been run out by the same distance Leach was stranded from safety with the game in the balance at Leeds, if only Root had gathered the ball cleanly near the bowlers' end stumps.

But it bounced out of his hands as he attempted to complete the dismissal, and the surprised batter made good his ground.

Maybe that's because 'momentum' at that instant was travelling with Australia.

Or perhaps it was just another moment of pure luck.

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia won by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: Match drawn at Lord's

Third Test: England won by one wicket at Headingley

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval