The Test: A New Era for Australia's Team (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 8 - Episode #1.8 - full transcript
The Australians continue their charge against England and prove they are a force to be reckoned with.
Alright, you keep thinking about -
not just for this test match,
but every time you play for Australia -
remember who you're representing.
You're not just representing us,
you're representing the whole country.
When you get to that moment
when you're thinking
it's getting a bit hard here, I want
you to think of a few other things.
Not just the country, I want you to
think about your mum and dad.
I want you to think about your brothers
or your sisters.
I want you to think
about your own little kids.
I want you to think about your mates.
Because that moment
when the pressure comes on,
that's when the steel is gonna come, OK?
When you've got that steel, you'll be OK.
Think who you're representing.
MAN: Smudge.
Um, so, today I had a proper catch-up
with him when we got here to Leeds.
He was feeling a bit better this morning,
he said he's actually feeling
much better this afternoon.
So, symptom-wise, he's feeling good.
Coach, you're often asking,
"What's your gut feel?"
And I occasionally give you an answer.
Most of the time I sit on the fence
and go, "Oh, could be this, could be this.
"We'll wait for a scan."
My thoughts were pretty clear
after thinking about it for some time.
I don't think Steve Smith
should play the next test.
I don't think it would be
the right thing to do for him.
I don't think you have enough time
to prepare him properly.
I don't see how he could be
in the right state to play
and perform in that short a time frame.
STEVE SMITH: I was kind of like, "Well, what
if I make, like, a quick recovery and I'm OK?"
You know, as the time sort of went on,
I still wasn't feeling any better.
The likelihood was that I was
going to get ruled out.
Doc and I just had a conversation and we
just said I wasn't ready to go out and play.
The doc didn't think I was ready
to go out and play,
and I think the right decision was made.
JUSTIN LANGER: If Steve Smith's saying,
"I'm not feeling too good,"
someone who loves batting
more than anyone I know,
you probably respect that.
I'd rather than going around
in circles and, "No, no, no,"
OK, decision made,
now we've gotta move on.
Righto, boys, first thing, Smudgie's
out of this test. Bad luck, Smudgie.
We saw how brutal it was the other day, so
Smudgie's out of this test. Decision's made.
There's obviously gonna be some
changes to the 11 because of it.
But that's OK. We talked from day one -
squad mentality.
Be ready, be ready, be
ready. Shit's gonna happen.
Let's think about how you're going to
help us win this test match. Nothing else.
We knew he wasn't gonna be right.
Obviously, from the team point of view,
"Oh, what? No Smudge?"
Someone's gonna have to step up.
So lucky we've got great
teams behind us now,
we've got great data analysts back home.
We had a lot of people behind the scenes
doing a lot of the research
and the planning and the preparation.
We actually employed
a mathematician.
[OVER SPEAKER] What we've got here,
to start off with,
is all the information from test matches
in England since 2009.
Our data team had come together
and looked at, you know,
what had we done over the last
five to ten years?
"How do you get a wicket in England?
You know, what's the best time to bowl?
"You know, what works in England?
What didn't work in England?"
The data showed you hit the top of off
with the occasional bouncer,
and here's the length that we need to bowl.
If you can start with six metres
as your key point,
so you're not searching for it,
we're gonna hit six
and then we're going to adjust from there.
You know, one of the things we've really
looked at has been just that six-metre length.
- Let's own that. Let's just own that first up.
- MAN: Yeah, yeah.
And then after that, we start to adjust.
We knew if we could
suffocate England's batting,
that would give us the best chance
of winning the Ashes.
- Is this a change of philosophy?
- TIM PAINE: A little bit, yes.
Because to be part of it over here,
particularly an Ashes series in England,
we've come over here
and tried to swing the ball.
You get off to a flyer,
it's hard to pull it back,
rather than get it in
that six to eight to start
and be able to adjust from there.
And as long as we're all really clear
and we know what we're doing, perfect.
To have all the fast bowlers ready,
that was pretty special.
And it just looked like a bit of a
perfect storm was about to happen.
JOSH HAZLEWOOD: Day one,
perfect bowling conditions.
Gloomy, real low cloud.
COMMENTATOR: Cloudy sky still,
and that's why Joe Root looked up
and decided when he won the toss,
"We will have a bowl."
They won the toss and sent us in
and it was dark. So dark.
Usually at Headingley, it just
does a bit when it's cloudy.
It was all like an
old-fashioned Headingley -
batsman's nightmare.
Oh, has he nicked that? He has!
I mean, that ball was just going
all over the place.
Yes! And gone!
Bowled him!
That is unplayable.
MAN: So, the first innings at Headingley
is the sum of all fears.
Smith is not there and
the batting collapses.
Gone!
Archer has six.
He's not there, and there's no-one...
there's no-one to make good.
What a fight-back from England.
NATHAN LYON: We knew
that we were behind the game.
You're not going to win many test matches
when you get bowled out for 180 on day one.
There were some...
A very poor last session. Shit happens.
Let's make sure tomorrow night
we're sitting in this change room
and we're still... we're feeling better
than we are now.
They're gonna bat last, alright?
Let's make sure they're chasing plenty
for us to win the test match, OK?
Let's go home, alright? Let's go.
PAINE: Turned up the next morning
and it is bright sunshine.
And you think, "Oh,
here we go. This is great."
So different to yesterday.
Ideal batting conditions.
Josh Hazlewood will be sharing
this new ball with Cummins.
PAT CUMMINS: JL actually pulled us aside
in the warm-up, the three of us, and said,
"I've been waiting for this moment since
I became coach - the three boys together,"
and it kind of reminded us, you know,
we've been eight or nine years now
and we haven't played a game together.
HAZLEWOOD: I remember Smithy saying it, and
sort of I was already thinking a little bit,
he goes, "Oh, a bit less movement today,
they'll nick them all."
Edged and gone.
Come on!
Edged and gone.
Another good catch.
So, Joe Root departs without
troubling the scorers. It's 10/2.
Is that gone? I think it is!
ALL: Yeah!
England three down.
I can imagine Friday night in Australia
at the moment.
Sitting on your couch, in front of
your fire, or at the pub with your mates.
Aussie have got them 3/20.
[LAUGHTER]
HAZLEWOOD: It was just consistent pressure.
We just did not let them get
a boundary here or there.
Just stayed very patient.
Beautifully bowled by Josh Hazlewood.
There was no loose balls. Like, not one.
Oh!
This is superb fast bowling.
James Pattinson comes into the attack.
Catch!
Edged and gone.
And England reeling at 34/4.
Another single-figure
dismissal for England.
This is turmoil.
Probably the best couple of hours I've bowled,
as a bowling group, my whole test career.
You're gone! It's another one.
Good partnership bowling.
Everything just went our way
and Davy took four magnificent catches.
Oh, nicked. Gone! What a catch!
Warner takes another screamer at slip.
DAVID WARNER: Just one of those things
where everything just stuck
and it was just finally we're sitting there
going, "We finally got one of those days."
Australia are on fire.
What a cataclysmic collapse that was.
Patrick Cummins.
Is there glove?! There is glove!
54/7.
Here's Hazlewood.
Gone! Brilliant!
And England's woes continue.
56/8.
Only one man in double figures.
That ain't good if you're an England fan.
AGNEW: That lunchtime, we did
a very serious discussion on the radio
about we have just witnessed
possibly the beginning of the end
of test cricket in this country.
Yes! Yeah! Good boy!
And Australia have
bowled England out for 67.
Outstanding, Josh Hazlewood - 5/30.
It's England's lowest score
against Australia since 1948.
The deficit on first innings is 112.
That's test cricket.
It was just one of those days, wasn't it?
Did you tell him to do that?
No, he said to me... he goes,
"I'm gonna bowl him leg peg here."
Well done, big boy.
Bottom edge onto the stumps
just finishes things off.
But the final figures of this Australian
second innings, bowled out for 246.
The honest assessment
of the situation is this -
the odds are almost 100%
in favour of Australia.
England to chase 359.
A batting line-up that's just made 67?
It's preposterous to think
that it might happen.
Of all England's highest
successful run chases in history,
the highest is three 332.
What an opportunity for us
to retain the Ashes then.
England are up a creek without a paddle.
Right here is the moment.
Seize the day, son.
- Yeah!
- Come on!
And again it's David Warner.
Rory Burns the first to go
in the second innings
An absolute beauty from Pat Cummins.
Has that come off the
glove? He's been given.
- Yes!
- Yes!
It's now three down.
141/3.
[CHEERING]
The biggest cheers of the day
greeted the arrival of Ben Stokes
at the crease.
They want something special
from him here.
Come on, boys. Come on.
Ding-dong. Come on, Stokes, straight up.
He'll have to start against Lyon,
which won't be easy.
PAINE: Come on, lads. Two more tonight, eh?
Keep this pressure on,
we'll get two more tonight, boys.
New ball in the morning. Come on!
Perfect, Gazza!
There was no way Australia were not
going to win that match.
Stokes has one ball to survive.
England were going to lose
and the Ashes would be gone.
203 England need,
seven wickets Australia need.
LANGER: Opportunities don't come around
in life like that very often.
I was nervous because you still need
to get the job done.
SMITH: I'm not a good watcher of cricket.
I don't like to not be able to go out
and help or being able to do something.
So I was struggling,
particularly that last day.
Come on, Garry.
Trap him.
Catch it!
What a catch that is!
You champion.
MAN: When Joe Root goes,
there's the collective exhale. [EXHALES]
"We've got that wicket.
"Now just to methodically
work through the rest."
The only way for England to stay
in the series is to score these runs.
198 required.
Beautiful shot. Full face and punched
down the ground from Bairstow.
Wait!
That is for Stokes his first boundary.
The roar that came up here at Leeds.
They want a hero.
Will it be that man Ben Stokes?
Got to get Stokes out.
Well, first signs of naked aggression
from Ben Stokes.
He's hit it hard enough.
Momentum's definitely starting
to shift in England's favour here.
This Australian bowling group
has got to do something about it.
Catch!
Gone now!
Partnership of 86 between Stokes
and Bairstow has been broken.
Jonny Bairstow is gone.
245/5.
Come on!
Trouble! Ooh, gone!
Brilliant from Travis Head at mid wicket.
Buttler's failed to make his ground.
- A massive moment.
- Huge.
England six down.
Catch!
Top edge.
Man there, Western Terrace behind him.
286/8.
It hits the boot. It's out.
Yes!
286/9.
Delight for Australia.
They're one wicket away
from retaining the Ashes.
We're home. We're 2-nil up in the Ashes.
The last man is Jack Leach.
England still 73 away.
[CROWD SINGS RAUCOUSLY]
This is the man though who stands between
and almost certain victory.
Ben Stokes had an absolute golden summer.
70 or 80 runs, they're gonna hit one up,
we're gonna get a wicket here.
Catch!
Straight down the ground Stokes goes.
He's hit it sweetly.
Stokesy's closer and closer
to doing something stupid.
62 runs away, England.
One wicket for the Australians.
Oh, what a shot that is!
England need 50 to win.
And the crowd - listen
to it, they're going off.
LANGER: Pressure is the
biggest man in the game.
Don't worry about Ben Stokes,
the biggest man on the ground is pressure.
Gotta keep a clear mind here, Tim Paine.
Is this the last ball?
Bring them all in, bring them all in.
This is where Tim Paine,
I would have thought,
would have brought the field up,
with only one ball left.
So there's no single.
SMITH: Have to.
You've gotta bring
everyone in, surely! Everyone.
If he hits a four, so what?
PETER LALOR: You've got a guy out there
who can bat
and you've got a guy
out there who can't bat.
On the last ball of the over, they had to
stop Stokes getting off strike.
Yeah!
Does get the single.
No!
Stokes keeps the strike.
Well, you want to ball as many overs
as you can to the number 11.
I would have rather Ben
Stokes hit a six that ball
and we still get six balls at Leach.
CUMMINS: There wasn't
really any pace or bounce.
If you were just a little bit off,
he's gonna put it away.
How can I bowl where he doesn't want it?
- [CROWD ROARS]
- That's gone all the way!
43 now required for England.
The Aussies, they'd gone.
They were scrambled.
Whereas Stokes, clinical.
Slower ball. Dragged leg side.
Dragged to the boundary.
100 for Ben Stokes.
The whole of Headingley,
the whole of England rise to Ben Stokes.
PATTINSON: You know, fielding on the boundary,
you just thought,
"You know, he's going to hit one
up in the air eventually here
"and we're gonna win the game."
Up in the air!
That's all the way,
isn't it?! It is all the way!
27 needed!
Everything was sort of going his way.
Like, he's just... he's gonna hit one
down someone's throat, surely.
In the air, a big cry of "Catch."
Catch it.
Catch it, Harry!
Doesn't carry!
HARRIS: It landed right in the middle
of my hand,
then I hit the ground
and it went straight out.
That split second you're going,
"I've just dropped the Ashes."
That's the worst feeling I've ever had.
Oh, no.
Nine to win.
The Ashes are on the line right here
and right now for both these teams.
Don't forget the reviews. One left
for England, one left for Australia.
No, it pitched outside
leg. Pitched outside leg.
CUMMINS: I knew that it had pitched outside.
Painey was a bit like, "Oh, you know,
"you'd be kicking yourself if it was,
even if it's a 1% chance."
They're going to use the review.
No way in the world could it be out.
THIRD UMPIRE: Go to the ball tracking.
Chris, no bat at all.
Pitch outside of leg.
Who does Tim Paine turn to?
He's going to turn to Nathan Lyon.
- Catch!
- It's down the ground. Mid-off is there!
It's long enough! It's six!
One to tie, two to win.
It's not over till it's over. The hardest
thing in the world is hitting the winning run.
Reverse sweep. They run!
Take him!
Could be a run-out!
Oh, he's fumbled!
He's fumbled! Lyon has fumbled!
Pretty well sums us up, boys.
Wow. What have we just witnessed there?
LYON: I was absolutely gutted,
thinking, "I've lost the Ashes."
But I knew I couldn't dwell on it. I had
to... had to get up to bowl this last ball.
And at the top of my mind I'm thinking,
"OK, what type of shot is he likely to play?
"What type of shot do I want him to play?
How am I going to get him to play that shot?"
It comes back down to me
bowling my best ball.
- [AUSTRALIANS SHOUT]
- Oh, now... now everyone looks.
[ALL SHOUT]
They needed that review.
They needed that review.
Did it straighten enough?
Did it straighten enough?
It did straighten enough.
There was no way in the world that
that Pat Cummins one could possibly be out.
They burnt that one and
it's cost them the test match.
Cut away! Cut away for four!
What an innings, what a player.
The Ashes well and truly alive
because of one cricketer.
That is one of the best
innings I've ever seen.
His team was gone. They were
down and out, they were buried.
The Australians will be gutted.
MAN: It is as difficult a loss to swallow
as Australian sport has
seen in a generation.
I'll go and do media now, boys,
but I just want to say,
fuck, that's gonna fucking hurt a lot,
no doubt, for the next couple of days.
However, as I said to a few of you out
there, we've still got two test matches.
So let this fucking sting.
We had our chances to win that game
and we fucked it up - shit happens.
We can talk about that another time.
We've got two test matches,
we've got a bit of time off.
Let's take time, stick together.
Keep knowing that the process we've got in
place to beat these blokes is going to work.
So it's not game over, it's not toys out of
the cot, it's a game of cricket.
Shit fucking happens. Yeah, it was
fucking important and we wanted it.
And we should have fucking won it.
Let's move on and start getting our head
around winning the next two fucking tests.
Yeah, it's... [SIGHS]
..disappointing.
Yeah, that one hurt a lot.
It still does. Doesn't sit very well.
LANGER: I remember getting back to
my hotel room, I didn't know what to do.
I just felt like a physical,
emotional wreck.
I was on FaceTime to my wife,
and she goes, "What's that in your hand?"
I said, "Oh, it's a scotch.
She goes, "What?" She goes, "Scotch?
You don't drink Scotch."
I go, "I do tonight, baby."
I was, like... I felt sick then.
I was just sitting in my room by myself
and I'm just going, "Oh, go to sleep."
Did not sleep. And that's when I realised
we gotta do something about it.
I texted Dene Hills, I just said,
"Mate, can you set up
"the last partnership between
Leach and Stokes in the boardroom?"
He goes, "Yeah, I can do that."
Grab a seat, boys, please.
Grab a seat.
The truth is, this could easily break us.
That's what everyone else,
the whole rest of the world will be saying.
But it's our choice.
So, what we're gonna do, we're gonna watch
what happened yesterday.
And for no other reason
except we're gonna learn.
It's gonna give us the shits, watching it,
but we're going to learn from it.
We're gonna shake ourselves off
and we're gonna get up
to be ready for the next test match.
LYON: I wasn't overly
impressed with going there
and rewatching that last 15 overs
or whatever it was.
I already did that in my head over and over
and over, I didn't need to do it again.
LANGER: Just roll it, Deno, please, mate.
HILL: Sure.
62 runs away, England.
That is an unbelievable
shot from Ben Stokes!
- [AUSTRALIANS APPEAL]
- No, pitched outside leg.
Pitched outside leg.
LANGER: Is that the referral?
They've got a review.
They're going to use the review.
No way in the world could it be out.
Obviously, but opportunity, opportunity,
opportunity.
[LANGER SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
One to tie, two to win.
Reverse sweep. They run! Non-striker's end!
Could be a run-out! Oh, he's fumbled!
He's fumbled! Lyon has fumbled!
Cut away for four!
The Ashes well and truly alive
because of one cricketer!
Hard to watch, hard to watch,
but it is what it is.
The only thing I will say,
there was an opportunity in my opinion
with 71 to go, last bowl of the over.
If we're reading the play, there is no way
there can be a run there.
We've got six balls at Leach, right,
and we've gotta squeeze
him, squeeze in on him.
We can't give an easy run like that.
He wanted to sweep from wide, out of rough.
We thought it was actually
a chance to get him out.
Were our plans clear enough
to Stokes, do you reckon?
We know we could have changed the fields.
We could have bowled more bouncers.
We had guys coming on
saying, "Bowl slower balls."
Hoff bowled him three slower balls
and he hit him for three sixes.
So, 100% we can do things
slightly differently. We didn't panic.
We didn't shit ourselves.
We tried our best.
We had a crack, a guy had a day out.
Yeah, absolutely I've been awake all night.
I would have changed the field a
hundred times. I think we all would have.
But we didn't.
The question is, when we're
under that pressure, we know that,
were we really clear what the plan was?
The plans were clear. Painey came up
at the start of the over, said,
"Let's try some slower balls,"
and we tried to go wide.
It probably wasn't wide
enough on occasions.
And I tried the yorker, just missed.
So, he's faced 220 by then,
and we've got Leach who's come in.
We want Patto to have
six balls at Leach, surely.
The opportunity missed there
is that we let him have a single.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- That's just intent.
That's just game awareness,
which we all talk about.
Yeah.
I was sort of umming and aahing,
"Well, fuck, if we get one or two at Leach,
"I'm gonna hit him on
the toe or get some glove."
But the percentage play would now be
to bring the field up.
Balls five and six we should have had
the field up when we had 60 percenters.
Play at a simple seamer.
Got it wrong.
LANGER: No-one wants to ever have
that feeling again that you had yesterday
or last night when
you're lying in your bed.
We're gonna stay together, we're gonna stick
together, we're gonna work hard together.
We're gonna get ready together
to be ready for Old Trafford together,
to win the fourth test match, OK?
After it, Painey says to me,
"I found that really confronting 'cause I
had to admit that I made some mistakes."
And I said, "It's not a weakness, mate,
that's a strength."
Because we're all human,
and it's good to admit weakness
or vulnerability in front of your mates
because then they'll go, "Oh, yeah, OK,
we actually did make some mistakes."
Usually on an Ashes tour, we have five guys
go away and have a rest and go to London.
I said, "You know what? Everyone's going
to Derbyshire. We're all going together."
PETER SIDDLE: It was a hard time, and I think
initially that probably annoyed a few blokes.
But he was adamant. "No,
we're gonna stay together as a team."
It was the first time that this group had
come back together and been tested again.
LANGER: When you're under pressure, you need -
whether it's in life or it's on a cricket field -
you need to have your friends or
your family to help you through it.
MAN: Guys, we're just going to introduce
ourselves to the morning.
It's a great opportunity to bring
some connection to your breathing.
The reason we're all together
is because for the next three weeks,
we're gonna have to stick together big-time
if we're gonna win the Ashes, right?
OK, today we're just gonna
have a game of touch footy.
Run around, have a sweat up,
ready for tomorrow, OK?
It gave us a time to actually relax
and not think about cricket.
It started a bit sluggishly, and then
within sort of two or three minutes,
there's a bit of stick flying around
and it gets competitive.
Whoo!
Nathan Lyon sprained his ankle
playing touch footy.
That's OK. There was competitive instinct.
We needed to get that fight back in,
otherwise, like I say, series over.
Painey was really good at just
making sure everyone stuck together.
We thought let's get everyone there,
let's have a really relaxed week.
[LAUGHTER]
LANGER: One thing I know is about teams.
We do things together, it has a big impact.
SIDDLE: It was one of our early meetings.
Mitch Marsh stood up in front of the boys,
he just said,
"Every morning of this tour I'm going to be
walking and we'll get a coffee."
MARSH: On a tour like this,
I know there's gonna be times
where we're all feeling pressure
or falling a bit down, missing home.
And if some guys wanna join me at any time
I'll be there.
I just wanted to get the ball rolling
about having care for your mates
and looking after each other on tour,
and it just sort of grew.
And I was like, "Wow, this is actually
pretty cool."
LANGER: All those little things
are so important.
What happens is you build
camaraderie together.
You can't fake it, you
gotta build it over time.
When the pressure comes on, it's like
the glue that keeps everything together.
[ALL LAUGH]
What happened next
was also really important.
That time we went to Derbyshire,
we're going to win in Derbyshire.
We're not gonna play it
as a three-day practice game,
we are going to get back into the attitude
of winning this game.
From where we were probably a week earlier,
it was a different group.
And we beat them in two days and an hour.
We've worked hard for 12 months, boys,
to win the prize.
We're one test match
off retaining the Ashes.
But they're not gonna give it to us.
We saw that last week.
They're not gonna give it to you.
You're not gonna get great prizes in your life,
you're not going to just get it given to you.
It's not how life works.
If you really want it - and it sounds like
a cliche, but I truly believe this -
the team who wants it more
will win this Ashes.
And only you guys can answer that.
MAN: Australia had Steve Smith back.
If there's any possible counter
to Ben Stokes, it is Steve Smith.
MAN: Get your Ben Stokes scarves now!
Cheap at 50! £8 each now!
Get your Ben Stokes scarves!
This is the fourth test match
and the teams are locked in at one each.
There will be some scars,
whatever debrief you've done.
At some stage, Australia will think,
"Crikey, we had that opportunity."
And that's the key for England.
If they start well here, some of those lads
in the Australian dressing-room
will be walking away thinking, "Crikey,
Headingley's hurting that little bit more."
LANGER: I know this week,
since this happened,
I know it's been the best coaching
week of my life, eh?
Because I had... because I knew
we're going to lift
or we get flat and let them steamroll us.
And it's been awesome.
How you come back from adversity
is what really counts.
Absolutely, mate. Absolutely.
True colours come out.
Absolutely, mate.
Gotta keep an eye on Painey.
STEVE WAUGH: Yeah, I just had a word
to him there, you know.
LANGER: Did you? I said to him last night,
"Make sure you wake up tomorrow morning.
"I promise you'll have that much fun,
no matter what."
The game is hard enough without
carrying the world on your shoulders.
What a series we're
witnessing at the moment.
Ashes 1-all. Nothing like it.
There's so many battles.
This is one of them.
Marcus Harris has gotta go.
Australia 28/2.
Here he is, the man back into
the Australian team.
Steven Smith makes his way out
to the middle of Old Trafford,
Australia in trouble.
Once again, Australia going to need
something very special from him today.
Both Archer and Steve Smith no doubt
have been thinking about this battle.
That's got to be in the back of your mind,
having taken a blow like that from Archer.
SMITH: I did read a lot of the reports
after that game.
People saying that Archer had had the wood
on me. It actually said it in the media.
Yeah, he hit me, but didn't get me out.
Great contest. Archer fired up,
Smith an absolute immovable force.
SMITH: I was like, "I just need to do more
"just to kind of prove people wrong."
I like doing that.
Full, wide and driven for four.
Ooh, four more. Twatted.
Well, we've got two eccentrics at
the crease right now. It should be fun.
I was waiting to bat with him.
You know, it was an exciting moment.
Well, here we go, let's get in the contest.
Nicely played.
He times it so well, Steven Smith.
Labuschagne moves
on to another half century.
Australia's two best batsmen
in the middle at the moment.
Labuschagne has been
outstanding in the series.
LALOR: Smith has got
centre stage in these Ashes,
but Marnus is the
revelation of this series.
This is the batsman that Australia
has been looking for.
115 runs, the partnership,
putting Australia in a
pretty strong position.
Oh, yes! Got his wicket.
Got through the gap.
Labuschagne goes for 67.
Frickin' beaten on the inside, you freak!
Australia at 170/3.
Day two at Old Trafford -
the series tied 1-all, with two to play.
Well, the Australian captain comes in
at number seven.
Hasn't got really any score of note
in this series so far.
But Australian need him now.
LANGER: So much talk
about Painey's batting.
I know how good a batter he is. I think he just
thinks too much about it. He tries too hard.
Batting was Steve Smith, who's on 91.
Good time for him to get some here.
225/5.
We knew we needed to get 400,
so it was just important to go with him.
Well, he's found a way through.
This time he does find the gap,
and Paine moves into double figures.
That will boost his confidence.
Good shot.
This man is incredible.
Yet another hundred for Steve Smith.
PAINE: I could sense how frustrated they were
getting 'cause they couldn't get him out.
What would happen then is they'd get me
on strike and they'd probably overattack.
Nice shot.
And to bat with him was pleasing.
It was what was needed to be done.
Gets to 50, the Australian captain.
His first half century for 11 test matches.
The former captain and the present captain have
led Australia into a very commanding position.
Ooh, edged to slip.
Edged straight to Stokes,
and finally they have their man.
Yes, they're going to check that.
No way. It looks like
a no ball to me, that.
- Seriously?
- Come on!
That is literally a magic moment.
Who would have thought?
Nicely played, that.
That's another boundary.
Steve Smith makes up for missing
the last test by a double century.
A world-class player
batting in a world of his own.
Being able to come out and do that and just
switch back onto beast mode was incredible.
What a freak.
MAN: Australia had to put
a stamp back on England,
and that was the punch in the nose,
is for all that England
had working for them,
they had no clue how
to get Steve Smith out.
Call 'em in.
So, Tim Paine makes the gesture
that declares this innings closed on 497/8.
Great work, lads.
England have had a tough day.
England 301.
Australia with a lead of 196 runs.
LALOR: Something of a fight-back
from England in the first innings,
but it wasn't enough.
Very powerful from Smith.
Beautiful hands through the ball.
He's doing it again.
LALOR: And when Australia get to 6/186,
Tim Paine calls his side in.
Yeah, they're coming off.
A surprise declaration.
Tim Paine, spur of the moment,
has said, "Right, that's enough."
186/6. The lead is 382.
And after the drama of Headingley,
where they saw a chance for victory
snatched away by the
brilliance of Ben Stokes,
are we posing the question,
can lightning strike twice?
Catch!
And that is the worst
possible start for England.
CUMMINS: This is where
we win the test match.
You know, I wasn't able to do it last game.
Here, I feel I'm more in control
of what I'm trying to do.
- Clean bowled!
- Bowled him!
This is Pat Cummins, this is Australia
absolutely at their best.
And the England captain is gone first ball.
It's 0/2.
To get two early wickets was just like,
"Alright, we're on our way."
Morning. Good morning.
LANGER: The job's not done yet.
We've still got eight wickets to get.
But let's just stay nice and patient, stay calm.
We talk about it, let's make sure we do it.
If you're tired or struggling as a fielder,
or if the bowling, you're tired and sore,
think about when we were sitting in that
changing room last week, push through it.
[CROWD ROARS]
The crowd now on its feet. The salute
is for none other than Ben Stokes.
Brings a tingle to the spine, doesn't it?
To get a welcome like that.
Come on, just get a wicket.
Tim Paine is adamant.
And Ben Stokes is walking.
Caught behind!
That is a massive wicket for Australia.
Just six more wickets to retain
the Ashes.
Yeah, we were still pretty confident.
We knew the wicket was starting to wear.
We had foot marks either side, because of
my big hoofs, through the middle for Gazza.
And then it was going about our work
and not trying to overdo it,
we had plenty of time.
[AUSTRALIANS APPEAL]
Close. On the angle. The finger goes up!
You can see what it means
to this Australian team.
Overs left 41.
Australia need four wickets.
Great sesh. Well done, mate.
Great catch. Well done. Great catch.
OK, let's stay nice and calm.
Gaz, when you're bowling out into that...
...you look like you're
getting a wicket every ball.
Gaz, you're the best bowler in the world.
Stay calm, alright?
Best get Gazza Bon Jovi
up singing the song for us, eh?
And let's take the Ashes home, eh?
PAINE: Come on, boys.
Come on, everyone up. Up, let's go.
Let's be up. Everyone up.
GROUND ANNOUNCER: To bowl
from James Anderson End, Nathan Lyon.
Ooh, big appeal, and gone!
We bloody deserve this.
No such thing, Dene.
We've earned the right, however you...
Hard work deserves success.
Leach comes in at 10. 173/8.
29 overs are left.
And he's got a defence
and he's got character.
It's all about time. Plenty of
overs left, but time is ticking away.
The lights are on. It's
getting a little darker.
Well, Australia were
so close at Headingley,
and they are so close here.
Another block, another
over goes by. 21 left.
194/8.
England hanging on.
The speeds are dropping off a
little bit too. I guess they're tired.
Those gloves out the way. And a stare.
That's the first time we've seen
real words from Cummins.
It's alright. We're nearly there.
This can't happen again.
Not twice in a series.
Another solid block,
another over goes by.
20 left.
And another one goes by.
Just saying that the glasses
had steamed up again.
STEVE WAUGH: Oh, for God's sake,
he's wiping his glasses again.
There's all this shit that's gonna happen
for the next hour.
LANGER: Does it get easier? No, not really.
I've been doing this a long time.
It doesn't, no. No, it doesn't get easier.
[SIGHS]
Two wickets away from retaining the Ashes
for the first time in 18 years.
SMITH: Painey just said, "Right,
we're gonna give Marnus a go.
You can call it a punt, I guess, in a way.
He's a part-time bowler.
What do you think of this change?
Surprising.
PAINE: I've always had a lot of faith,
probably more faith than others,
in Marnus because I played in his first
test tour and he bowled unbelievably well.
Ashes on the line and
fresh bowler at the crease.
MAN: Alright, Marnie boy!
Tugger said since this morning,
he reckons he'll win the game.
Catch!
Nothing on that, no.
Are you sure? Into the rough, mate.
- Catch!
- Oh, yeah, boy.
Come on. Come on, little Marn.
What is he even thinking here?
Bowl into the fucking rough -
it's that simple, mate.
Just one good one is all they need.
That's the way they've gotta think
about it as well, the Australians.
Just know they're one good ball away.
- LANGER: He's straight, eh?
- Yeah.
Is he being stubborn or
has he just got his radar off?
It's like, "Righto, just spin it
and just try and hit the rough."
They bounce! And he's gone!
Superb captaincy. What a change.
Labuschagne with the bat all series,
it's Labuschagne with the ball!
Well, there's the
breakthrough they were after.
Australia one wicket away.
LANGER: Little Marn!
You beauty, Marnie!
Captain's move.
Australia need one
wicket to retain the Ashes.
Every time the skipper,
when they've needed something special,
has gone Cummins-Hazlewood,
Cummins-Hazlewood.
Has he got enough in the tank?
Oh, a big shout, big
shout. What's he think?
- Gone!
- [BOTH CHEER]
He'll review it obviously.
But I don't think it will matter.
The end is nigh. A desperate review.
- They've got a review.
- They've got a review.
Come on, Dene, tell me something.
Come on!
That's out. It's definitely out.
Has to be out.
Come on.
THIRD UMPIRE: It's a fair delivery.
Go to front-on vision please.
MAN: It's gotta be out.
That's out. That's out.
THIRD UMPIRE: OK.
Can you just give me the outrights
to see whether any bat involved?
Come on, please be out.
THIRD UMPIRE: OK, roll forward,
roll forward, roll forward.
OK. No bat involved.
Flat line when the ball passes the bat.
Give me the whole cover when
you're ready, please. Ball tracker.
LANGER: Please be out.
Here we go. Up on the screen.
THIRD UMPIRE: Come on,
ball tracker coming up.
Impact outside the off, impact in line.
[CROWD ROARS]
COMMENTATOR: Great joy for Australia.
Whoo!
It's all worth it. It's all worth it.
[ALL SHOUT]
The feeling in that change room was like
nothing I've ever experienced in my life.
That was unbelievable.
I don't know what to feel like, eh?
SMITH: I'd been to England in 2013 and 2015
and with some pretty good teams.
We weren't able to bring that urn home.
Apparently I look like Craig Overton, so...
which I was fuming about.
No disrespect to him.
But the boys were calling me Overs, so
obviously I had to re-enact the decision.
[ALL APPEAL]
ALL: Yeah!
That's why you play.
[ALL CHEER]
MARSH: And I just hope that
people can relate to us.
We're just normal blokes playing cricket.
It was so much fun in that change room.
But this is what the relentless nature
of the job...
Even if you retain the Ashes,
you still go to bed that night
and you know, "Who am I going to select
for the next test?
"How am I going to get them back up?"
300-plus for the first innings. Let's be
ruthless on our lengths, 'cause we know it works.
Skill over emotion.
Let's switch back into game mode tomorrow.
I think the moment we get there tomorrow,
the minute we walk out that front door
onto the ground,
we show these blokes with our body language
and our attitude, we're back.
Nothing better than go home 3-1,
stand on the podium at the end
winning the test match
and winning the series outright.
Australia want to become the first
team to win here for 18 years.
So lots to play for.
MARSH: There was definitely
a little bit of exhaustion,
but at the same time there was
still the hunger to win 3-1.
Australia calls heads.
And Australia win the toss.
- What are you doing?
- PAINE: We're going to have a bowl first, sir.
It looked as though it was a bat-first day.
By looking at the pitch,
they should be batting.
Painey won the toss and bowled first, it was
like, oh, there's a surprise to everyone.
All the questions on Australia after
winning the toss and electing to bowl.
I suppose the only way to look at it is,
just assume we lost the toss.
Move on.
It's a good shot from Burns.
Shot. That will be four.
Brings up England's hundred.
LABUSCHAGNE: We just didn't start
like we did every other test.
We were unbelievable with the ball
the whole series,
and we were probably just 1% off, really.
Short.
- And again.
- It's just way too short and way too wide.
This opening spell wasn't what we'd
expected from this fast-bowling brigade.
MAN: We just dropped
catches, we misfielded.
Oh, down it goes.
We just gave England
way too many opportunities.
Oh, down again! Down again.
Sloppy from Australia.
England 271/8 off 82 overs.
Do you reckon we were ruthless?
MAN: No.
What do you reckon?
Nah.
I know we got some
fatigue, we respect that.
But we've got an opportunity that's
not gonna come around very often.
Come on.
Maybe it was the emotional
high of Manchester.
Edged. Yes, gone.
Australia in all sorts of trouble.
So much build-up and
so much stress and anxiety
put into retaining the Ashes.
The whole test match,
we were just slightly off.
Oh, no. Oh, he's given it.
LANGER: The end of a long tour,
we had some really inexperienced
players in there,
we had some senior players, but one of
them, Steve Smith, was completely cooked.
Ooh, what a catch!
What a great tour this man's had, though.
Appreciation for Steve Smith.
The cricketing public have
acknowledged greatness.
You know, it was nice of them to,
I guess, stand and applaud.
And, yeah, I guess I'd
shifted them perhaps.
Catch! Yeah!
That's it. That finishes the game off.
It squares the series 2-all.
Australia still haven't won a test series
in England for 18 years.
Australia nonetheless will take the urn.
It certainly put a bit of a downer
on it for that day and that test.
It was a really strange feeling
because we hadn't won the game,
but the most interesting thing for me
was after the game,
and my daughter was there.
I went down and all the
wives and the girlfriends
and they're all giving us,
"Oh, well done, it's awesome.
"You know, great stuff.
You've retained the Ashes."
Good job.
I thought, "Yeah, we did that last week.
We didn't finish it off like we should."
But if you had have said to me
before we got on the plane,
"You're gonna make the
semifinal of the World Cup
"and then you're gonna retain the Ashes,"
yeah, I would have taken that.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
to retain the Ashes in 2019, Australia.
[CROWD ROARS]
I think in a few years' time
and for the rest of our lives,
we're going to remember going to England
and being the first team
to bring it home in 20 years.
It's such a difficult thing to do.
LANGER: We're a bit closer. Like,
we lost it for a long time in England.
We now drew the series
and retained the Ashes,
and then hopefully next time we go there
we'll win the Ashes.
Be nice, wouldn't it?
What I'm most proud about though
is that Australians are proud of us again.
From the deepest scandal
where people were repelled
by the national cricket team,
to the collective embrace of accomplishment
when the Ashes were retained,
that's the journey of redemption in sport.
[ALL CHEER]
MAN: The defining figure of the 2019 Ashes
was Steve Smith.
LANGER: From the moment where
he gets abused everywhere he goes,
to him getting a standing
ovation at the end,
summed up where Australian cricket, to me,
where we've been, where we're going.
People think it's a war.
People think that we all hate each other.
I hate to disappoint...
Sorry, I hate to disappoint you,
but it's not a war, it's a game of cricket.
Oh, shit.
LALOR: A few years back, teams didn't want
to drink with the Australians.
The Aussies won respect back.
People wanted to have a drink
with them again.
I just think what we've seen has been a
team of respectful Australian cricketers.
And that's actually all that you want
of a cricket team,
to respect the game
and to respect their opponents.
SIDDLE: We've definitely played
some good cricket.
We haven't played great cricket yet,
but we're trending in the right direction.
- Enjoy it?
- Yeah, it was good, man.
Cape Town was so traumatic
that it was possible for the game
to have really fragmented.
But in some respects I think Australian
fans have kind of enjoyed the fight.
We like them more than we used to,
and I think that's almost more important
than being proud of them.
PAINE: It's been a real roller-coaster,
but I'm just so lucky
to be doing what I'm doing.
And, yeah, I'm looking forward to
doing it for a little bit longer.
Keep making our country proud
of their cricket team.
[SIGHS]
Now I've gotta start again.
I've gotta start again.
not just for this test match,
but every time you play for Australia -
remember who you're representing.
You're not just representing us,
you're representing the whole country.
When you get to that moment
when you're thinking
it's getting a bit hard here, I want
you to think of a few other things.
Not just the country, I want you to
think about your mum and dad.
I want you to think about your brothers
or your sisters.
I want you to think
about your own little kids.
I want you to think about your mates.
Because that moment
when the pressure comes on,
that's when the steel is gonna come, OK?
When you've got that steel, you'll be OK.
Think who you're representing.
MAN: Smudge.
Um, so, today I had a proper catch-up
with him when we got here to Leeds.
He was feeling a bit better this morning,
he said he's actually feeling
much better this afternoon.
So, symptom-wise, he's feeling good.
Coach, you're often asking,
"What's your gut feel?"
And I occasionally give you an answer.
Most of the time I sit on the fence
and go, "Oh, could be this, could be this.
"We'll wait for a scan."
My thoughts were pretty clear
after thinking about it for some time.
I don't think Steve Smith
should play the next test.
I don't think it would be
the right thing to do for him.
I don't think you have enough time
to prepare him properly.
I don't see how he could be
in the right state to play
and perform in that short a time frame.
STEVE SMITH: I was kind of like, "Well, what
if I make, like, a quick recovery and I'm OK?"
You know, as the time sort of went on,
I still wasn't feeling any better.
The likelihood was that I was
going to get ruled out.
Doc and I just had a conversation and we
just said I wasn't ready to go out and play.
The doc didn't think I was ready
to go out and play,
and I think the right decision was made.
JUSTIN LANGER: If Steve Smith's saying,
"I'm not feeling too good,"
someone who loves batting
more than anyone I know,
you probably respect that.
I'd rather than going around
in circles and, "No, no, no,"
OK, decision made,
now we've gotta move on.
Righto, boys, first thing, Smudgie's
out of this test. Bad luck, Smudgie.
We saw how brutal it was the other day, so
Smudgie's out of this test. Decision's made.
There's obviously gonna be some
changes to the 11 because of it.
But that's OK. We talked from day one -
squad mentality.
Be ready, be ready, be
ready. Shit's gonna happen.
Let's think about how you're going to
help us win this test match. Nothing else.
We knew he wasn't gonna be right.
Obviously, from the team point of view,
"Oh, what? No Smudge?"
Someone's gonna have to step up.
So lucky we've got great
teams behind us now,
we've got great data analysts back home.
We had a lot of people behind the scenes
doing a lot of the research
and the planning and the preparation.
We actually employed
a mathematician.
[OVER SPEAKER] What we've got here,
to start off with,
is all the information from test matches
in England since 2009.
Our data team had come together
and looked at, you know,
what had we done over the last
five to ten years?
"How do you get a wicket in England?
You know, what's the best time to bowl?
"You know, what works in England?
What didn't work in England?"
The data showed you hit the top of off
with the occasional bouncer,
and here's the length that we need to bowl.
If you can start with six metres
as your key point,
so you're not searching for it,
we're gonna hit six
and then we're going to adjust from there.
You know, one of the things we've really
looked at has been just that six-metre length.
- Let's own that. Let's just own that first up.
- MAN: Yeah, yeah.
And then after that, we start to adjust.
We knew if we could
suffocate England's batting,
that would give us the best chance
of winning the Ashes.
- Is this a change of philosophy?
- TIM PAINE: A little bit, yes.
Because to be part of it over here,
particularly an Ashes series in England,
we've come over here
and tried to swing the ball.
You get off to a flyer,
it's hard to pull it back,
rather than get it in
that six to eight to start
and be able to adjust from there.
And as long as we're all really clear
and we know what we're doing, perfect.
To have all the fast bowlers ready,
that was pretty special.
And it just looked like a bit of a
perfect storm was about to happen.
JOSH HAZLEWOOD: Day one,
perfect bowling conditions.
Gloomy, real low cloud.
COMMENTATOR: Cloudy sky still,
and that's why Joe Root looked up
and decided when he won the toss,
"We will have a bowl."
They won the toss and sent us in
and it was dark. So dark.
Usually at Headingley, it just
does a bit when it's cloudy.
It was all like an
old-fashioned Headingley -
batsman's nightmare.
Oh, has he nicked that? He has!
I mean, that ball was just going
all over the place.
Yes! And gone!
Bowled him!
That is unplayable.
MAN: So, the first innings at Headingley
is the sum of all fears.
Smith is not there and
the batting collapses.
Gone!
Archer has six.
He's not there, and there's no-one...
there's no-one to make good.
What a fight-back from England.
NATHAN LYON: We knew
that we were behind the game.
You're not going to win many test matches
when you get bowled out for 180 on day one.
There were some...
A very poor last session. Shit happens.
Let's make sure tomorrow night
we're sitting in this change room
and we're still... we're feeling better
than we are now.
They're gonna bat last, alright?
Let's make sure they're chasing plenty
for us to win the test match, OK?
Let's go home, alright? Let's go.
PAINE: Turned up the next morning
and it is bright sunshine.
And you think, "Oh,
here we go. This is great."
So different to yesterday.
Ideal batting conditions.
Josh Hazlewood will be sharing
this new ball with Cummins.
PAT CUMMINS: JL actually pulled us aside
in the warm-up, the three of us, and said,
"I've been waiting for this moment since
I became coach - the three boys together,"
and it kind of reminded us, you know,
we've been eight or nine years now
and we haven't played a game together.
HAZLEWOOD: I remember Smithy saying it, and
sort of I was already thinking a little bit,
he goes, "Oh, a bit less movement today,
they'll nick them all."
Edged and gone.
Come on!
Edged and gone.
Another good catch.
So, Joe Root departs without
troubling the scorers. It's 10/2.
Is that gone? I think it is!
ALL: Yeah!
England three down.
I can imagine Friday night in Australia
at the moment.
Sitting on your couch, in front of
your fire, or at the pub with your mates.
Aussie have got them 3/20.
[LAUGHTER]
HAZLEWOOD: It was just consistent pressure.
We just did not let them get
a boundary here or there.
Just stayed very patient.
Beautifully bowled by Josh Hazlewood.
There was no loose balls. Like, not one.
Oh!
This is superb fast bowling.
James Pattinson comes into the attack.
Catch!
Edged and gone.
And England reeling at 34/4.
Another single-figure
dismissal for England.
This is turmoil.
Probably the best couple of hours I've bowled,
as a bowling group, my whole test career.
You're gone! It's another one.
Good partnership bowling.
Everything just went our way
and Davy took four magnificent catches.
Oh, nicked. Gone! What a catch!
Warner takes another screamer at slip.
DAVID WARNER: Just one of those things
where everything just stuck
and it was just finally we're sitting there
going, "We finally got one of those days."
Australia are on fire.
What a cataclysmic collapse that was.
Patrick Cummins.
Is there glove?! There is glove!
54/7.
Here's Hazlewood.
Gone! Brilliant!
And England's woes continue.
56/8.
Only one man in double figures.
That ain't good if you're an England fan.
AGNEW: That lunchtime, we did
a very serious discussion on the radio
about we have just witnessed
possibly the beginning of the end
of test cricket in this country.
Yes! Yeah! Good boy!
And Australia have
bowled England out for 67.
Outstanding, Josh Hazlewood - 5/30.
It's England's lowest score
against Australia since 1948.
The deficit on first innings is 112.
That's test cricket.
It was just one of those days, wasn't it?
Did you tell him to do that?
No, he said to me... he goes,
"I'm gonna bowl him leg peg here."
Well done, big boy.
Bottom edge onto the stumps
just finishes things off.
But the final figures of this Australian
second innings, bowled out for 246.
The honest assessment
of the situation is this -
the odds are almost 100%
in favour of Australia.
England to chase 359.
A batting line-up that's just made 67?
It's preposterous to think
that it might happen.
Of all England's highest
successful run chases in history,
the highest is three 332.
What an opportunity for us
to retain the Ashes then.
England are up a creek without a paddle.
Right here is the moment.
Seize the day, son.
- Yeah!
- Come on!
And again it's David Warner.
Rory Burns the first to go
in the second innings
An absolute beauty from Pat Cummins.
Has that come off the
glove? He's been given.
- Yes!
- Yes!
It's now three down.
141/3.
[CHEERING]
The biggest cheers of the day
greeted the arrival of Ben Stokes
at the crease.
They want something special
from him here.
Come on, boys. Come on.
Ding-dong. Come on, Stokes, straight up.
He'll have to start against Lyon,
which won't be easy.
PAINE: Come on, lads. Two more tonight, eh?
Keep this pressure on,
we'll get two more tonight, boys.
New ball in the morning. Come on!
Perfect, Gazza!
There was no way Australia were not
going to win that match.
Stokes has one ball to survive.
England were going to lose
and the Ashes would be gone.
203 England need,
seven wickets Australia need.
LANGER: Opportunities don't come around
in life like that very often.
I was nervous because you still need
to get the job done.
SMITH: I'm not a good watcher of cricket.
I don't like to not be able to go out
and help or being able to do something.
So I was struggling,
particularly that last day.
Come on, Garry.
Trap him.
Catch it!
What a catch that is!
You champion.
MAN: When Joe Root goes,
there's the collective exhale. [EXHALES]
"We've got that wicket.
"Now just to methodically
work through the rest."
The only way for England to stay
in the series is to score these runs.
198 required.
Beautiful shot. Full face and punched
down the ground from Bairstow.
Wait!
That is for Stokes his first boundary.
The roar that came up here at Leeds.
They want a hero.
Will it be that man Ben Stokes?
Got to get Stokes out.
Well, first signs of naked aggression
from Ben Stokes.
He's hit it hard enough.
Momentum's definitely starting
to shift in England's favour here.
This Australian bowling group
has got to do something about it.
Catch!
Gone now!
Partnership of 86 between Stokes
and Bairstow has been broken.
Jonny Bairstow is gone.
245/5.
Come on!
Trouble! Ooh, gone!
Brilliant from Travis Head at mid wicket.
Buttler's failed to make his ground.
- A massive moment.
- Huge.
England six down.
Catch!
Top edge.
Man there, Western Terrace behind him.
286/8.
It hits the boot. It's out.
Yes!
286/9.
Delight for Australia.
They're one wicket away
from retaining the Ashes.
We're home. We're 2-nil up in the Ashes.
The last man is Jack Leach.
England still 73 away.
[CROWD SINGS RAUCOUSLY]
This is the man though who stands between
and almost certain victory.
Ben Stokes had an absolute golden summer.
70 or 80 runs, they're gonna hit one up,
we're gonna get a wicket here.
Catch!
Straight down the ground Stokes goes.
He's hit it sweetly.
Stokesy's closer and closer
to doing something stupid.
62 runs away, England.
One wicket for the Australians.
Oh, what a shot that is!
England need 50 to win.
And the crowd - listen
to it, they're going off.
LANGER: Pressure is the
biggest man in the game.
Don't worry about Ben Stokes,
the biggest man on the ground is pressure.
Gotta keep a clear mind here, Tim Paine.
Is this the last ball?
Bring them all in, bring them all in.
This is where Tim Paine,
I would have thought,
would have brought the field up,
with only one ball left.
So there's no single.
SMITH: Have to.
You've gotta bring
everyone in, surely! Everyone.
If he hits a four, so what?
PETER LALOR: You've got a guy out there
who can bat
and you've got a guy
out there who can't bat.
On the last ball of the over, they had to
stop Stokes getting off strike.
Yeah!
Does get the single.
No!
Stokes keeps the strike.
Well, you want to ball as many overs
as you can to the number 11.
I would have rather Ben
Stokes hit a six that ball
and we still get six balls at Leach.
CUMMINS: There wasn't
really any pace or bounce.
If you were just a little bit off,
he's gonna put it away.
How can I bowl where he doesn't want it?
- [CROWD ROARS]
- That's gone all the way!
43 now required for England.
The Aussies, they'd gone.
They were scrambled.
Whereas Stokes, clinical.
Slower ball. Dragged leg side.
Dragged to the boundary.
100 for Ben Stokes.
The whole of Headingley,
the whole of England rise to Ben Stokes.
PATTINSON: You know, fielding on the boundary,
you just thought,
"You know, he's going to hit one
up in the air eventually here
"and we're gonna win the game."
Up in the air!
That's all the way,
isn't it?! It is all the way!
27 needed!
Everything was sort of going his way.
Like, he's just... he's gonna hit one
down someone's throat, surely.
In the air, a big cry of "Catch."
Catch it.
Catch it, Harry!
Doesn't carry!
HARRIS: It landed right in the middle
of my hand,
then I hit the ground
and it went straight out.
That split second you're going,
"I've just dropped the Ashes."
That's the worst feeling I've ever had.
Oh, no.
Nine to win.
The Ashes are on the line right here
and right now for both these teams.
Don't forget the reviews. One left
for England, one left for Australia.
No, it pitched outside
leg. Pitched outside leg.
CUMMINS: I knew that it had pitched outside.
Painey was a bit like, "Oh, you know,
"you'd be kicking yourself if it was,
even if it's a 1% chance."
They're going to use the review.
No way in the world could it be out.
THIRD UMPIRE: Go to the ball tracking.
Chris, no bat at all.
Pitch outside of leg.
Who does Tim Paine turn to?
He's going to turn to Nathan Lyon.
- Catch!
- It's down the ground. Mid-off is there!
It's long enough! It's six!
One to tie, two to win.
It's not over till it's over. The hardest
thing in the world is hitting the winning run.
Reverse sweep. They run!
Take him!
Could be a run-out!
Oh, he's fumbled!
He's fumbled! Lyon has fumbled!
Pretty well sums us up, boys.
Wow. What have we just witnessed there?
LYON: I was absolutely gutted,
thinking, "I've lost the Ashes."
But I knew I couldn't dwell on it. I had
to... had to get up to bowl this last ball.
And at the top of my mind I'm thinking,
"OK, what type of shot is he likely to play?
"What type of shot do I want him to play?
How am I going to get him to play that shot?"
It comes back down to me
bowling my best ball.
- [AUSTRALIANS SHOUT]
- Oh, now... now everyone looks.
[ALL SHOUT]
They needed that review.
They needed that review.
Did it straighten enough?
Did it straighten enough?
It did straighten enough.
There was no way in the world that
that Pat Cummins one could possibly be out.
They burnt that one and
it's cost them the test match.
Cut away! Cut away for four!
What an innings, what a player.
The Ashes well and truly alive
because of one cricketer.
That is one of the best
innings I've ever seen.
His team was gone. They were
down and out, they were buried.
The Australians will be gutted.
MAN: It is as difficult a loss to swallow
as Australian sport has
seen in a generation.
I'll go and do media now, boys,
but I just want to say,
fuck, that's gonna fucking hurt a lot,
no doubt, for the next couple of days.
However, as I said to a few of you out
there, we've still got two test matches.
So let this fucking sting.
We had our chances to win that game
and we fucked it up - shit happens.
We can talk about that another time.
We've got two test matches,
we've got a bit of time off.
Let's take time, stick together.
Keep knowing that the process we've got in
place to beat these blokes is going to work.
So it's not game over, it's not toys out of
the cot, it's a game of cricket.
Shit fucking happens. Yeah, it was
fucking important and we wanted it.
And we should have fucking won it.
Let's move on and start getting our head
around winning the next two fucking tests.
Yeah, it's... [SIGHS]
..disappointing.
Yeah, that one hurt a lot.
It still does. Doesn't sit very well.
LANGER: I remember getting back to
my hotel room, I didn't know what to do.
I just felt like a physical,
emotional wreck.
I was on FaceTime to my wife,
and she goes, "What's that in your hand?"
I said, "Oh, it's a scotch.
She goes, "What?" She goes, "Scotch?
You don't drink Scotch."
I go, "I do tonight, baby."
I was, like... I felt sick then.
I was just sitting in my room by myself
and I'm just going, "Oh, go to sleep."
Did not sleep. And that's when I realised
we gotta do something about it.
I texted Dene Hills, I just said,
"Mate, can you set up
"the last partnership between
Leach and Stokes in the boardroom?"
He goes, "Yeah, I can do that."
Grab a seat, boys, please.
Grab a seat.
The truth is, this could easily break us.
That's what everyone else,
the whole rest of the world will be saying.
But it's our choice.
So, what we're gonna do, we're gonna watch
what happened yesterday.
And for no other reason
except we're gonna learn.
It's gonna give us the shits, watching it,
but we're going to learn from it.
We're gonna shake ourselves off
and we're gonna get up
to be ready for the next test match.
LYON: I wasn't overly
impressed with going there
and rewatching that last 15 overs
or whatever it was.
I already did that in my head over and over
and over, I didn't need to do it again.
LANGER: Just roll it, Deno, please, mate.
HILL: Sure.
62 runs away, England.
That is an unbelievable
shot from Ben Stokes!
- [AUSTRALIANS APPEAL]
- No, pitched outside leg.
Pitched outside leg.
LANGER: Is that the referral?
They've got a review.
They're going to use the review.
No way in the world could it be out.
Obviously, but opportunity, opportunity,
opportunity.
[LANGER SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
One to tie, two to win.
Reverse sweep. They run! Non-striker's end!
Could be a run-out! Oh, he's fumbled!
He's fumbled! Lyon has fumbled!
Cut away for four!
The Ashes well and truly alive
because of one cricketer!
Hard to watch, hard to watch,
but it is what it is.
The only thing I will say,
there was an opportunity in my opinion
with 71 to go, last bowl of the over.
If we're reading the play, there is no way
there can be a run there.
We've got six balls at Leach, right,
and we've gotta squeeze
him, squeeze in on him.
We can't give an easy run like that.
He wanted to sweep from wide, out of rough.
We thought it was actually
a chance to get him out.
Were our plans clear enough
to Stokes, do you reckon?
We know we could have changed the fields.
We could have bowled more bouncers.
We had guys coming on
saying, "Bowl slower balls."
Hoff bowled him three slower balls
and he hit him for three sixes.
So, 100% we can do things
slightly differently. We didn't panic.
We didn't shit ourselves.
We tried our best.
We had a crack, a guy had a day out.
Yeah, absolutely I've been awake all night.
I would have changed the field a
hundred times. I think we all would have.
But we didn't.
The question is, when we're
under that pressure, we know that,
were we really clear what the plan was?
The plans were clear. Painey came up
at the start of the over, said,
"Let's try some slower balls,"
and we tried to go wide.
It probably wasn't wide
enough on occasions.
And I tried the yorker, just missed.
So, he's faced 220 by then,
and we've got Leach who's come in.
We want Patto to have
six balls at Leach, surely.
The opportunity missed there
is that we let him have a single.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- That's just intent.
That's just game awareness,
which we all talk about.
Yeah.
I was sort of umming and aahing,
"Well, fuck, if we get one or two at Leach,
"I'm gonna hit him on
the toe or get some glove."
But the percentage play would now be
to bring the field up.
Balls five and six we should have had
the field up when we had 60 percenters.
Play at a simple seamer.
Got it wrong.
LANGER: No-one wants to ever have
that feeling again that you had yesterday
or last night when
you're lying in your bed.
We're gonna stay together, we're gonna stick
together, we're gonna work hard together.
We're gonna get ready together
to be ready for Old Trafford together,
to win the fourth test match, OK?
After it, Painey says to me,
"I found that really confronting 'cause I
had to admit that I made some mistakes."
And I said, "It's not a weakness, mate,
that's a strength."
Because we're all human,
and it's good to admit weakness
or vulnerability in front of your mates
because then they'll go, "Oh, yeah, OK,
we actually did make some mistakes."
Usually on an Ashes tour, we have five guys
go away and have a rest and go to London.
I said, "You know what? Everyone's going
to Derbyshire. We're all going together."
PETER SIDDLE: It was a hard time, and I think
initially that probably annoyed a few blokes.
But he was adamant. "No,
we're gonna stay together as a team."
It was the first time that this group had
come back together and been tested again.
LANGER: When you're under pressure, you need -
whether it's in life or it's on a cricket field -
you need to have your friends or
your family to help you through it.
MAN: Guys, we're just going to introduce
ourselves to the morning.
It's a great opportunity to bring
some connection to your breathing.
The reason we're all together
is because for the next three weeks,
we're gonna have to stick together big-time
if we're gonna win the Ashes, right?
OK, today we're just gonna
have a game of touch footy.
Run around, have a sweat up,
ready for tomorrow, OK?
It gave us a time to actually relax
and not think about cricket.
It started a bit sluggishly, and then
within sort of two or three minutes,
there's a bit of stick flying around
and it gets competitive.
Whoo!
Nathan Lyon sprained his ankle
playing touch footy.
That's OK. There was competitive instinct.
We needed to get that fight back in,
otherwise, like I say, series over.
Painey was really good at just
making sure everyone stuck together.
We thought let's get everyone there,
let's have a really relaxed week.
[LAUGHTER]
LANGER: One thing I know is about teams.
We do things together, it has a big impact.
SIDDLE: It was one of our early meetings.
Mitch Marsh stood up in front of the boys,
he just said,
"Every morning of this tour I'm going to be
walking and we'll get a coffee."
MARSH: On a tour like this,
I know there's gonna be times
where we're all feeling pressure
or falling a bit down, missing home.
And if some guys wanna join me at any time
I'll be there.
I just wanted to get the ball rolling
about having care for your mates
and looking after each other on tour,
and it just sort of grew.
And I was like, "Wow, this is actually
pretty cool."
LANGER: All those little things
are so important.
What happens is you build
camaraderie together.
You can't fake it, you
gotta build it over time.
When the pressure comes on, it's like
the glue that keeps everything together.
[ALL LAUGH]
What happened next
was also really important.
That time we went to Derbyshire,
we're going to win in Derbyshire.
We're not gonna play it
as a three-day practice game,
we are going to get back into the attitude
of winning this game.
From where we were probably a week earlier,
it was a different group.
And we beat them in two days and an hour.
We've worked hard for 12 months, boys,
to win the prize.
We're one test match
off retaining the Ashes.
But they're not gonna give it to us.
We saw that last week.
They're not gonna give it to you.
You're not gonna get great prizes in your life,
you're not going to just get it given to you.
It's not how life works.
If you really want it - and it sounds like
a cliche, but I truly believe this -
the team who wants it more
will win this Ashes.
And only you guys can answer that.
MAN: Australia had Steve Smith back.
If there's any possible counter
to Ben Stokes, it is Steve Smith.
MAN: Get your Ben Stokes scarves now!
Cheap at 50! £8 each now!
Get your Ben Stokes scarves!
This is the fourth test match
and the teams are locked in at one each.
There will be some scars,
whatever debrief you've done.
At some stage, Australia will think,
"Crikey, we had that opportunity."
And that's the key for England.
If they start well here, some of those lads
in the Australian dressing-room
will be walking away thinking, "Crikey,
Headingley's hurting that little bit more."
LANGER: I know this week,
since this happened,
I know it's been the best coaching
week of my life, eh?
Because I had... because I knew
we're going to lift
or we get flat and let them steamroll us.
And it's been awesome.
How you come back from adversity
is what really counts.
Absolutely, mate. Absolutely.
True colours come out.
Absolutely, mate.
Gotta keep an eye on Painey.
STEVE WAUGH: Yeah, I just had a word
to him there, you know.
LANGER: Did you? I said to him last night,
"Make sure you wake up tomorrow morning.
"I promise you'll have that much fun,
no matter what."
The game is hard enough without
carrying the world on your shoulders.
What a series we're
witnessing at the moment.
Ashes 1-all. Nothing like it.
There's so many battles.
This is one of them.
Marcus Harris has gotta go.
Australia 28/2.
Here he is, the man back into
the Australian team.
Steven Smith makes his way out
to the middle of Old Trafford,
Australia in trouble.
Once again, Australia going to need
something very special from him today.
Both Archer and Steve Smith no doubt
have been thinking about this battle.
That's got to be in the back of your mind,
having taken a blow like that from Archer.
SMITH: I did read a lot of the reports
after that game.
People saying that Archer had had the wood
on me. It actually said it in the media.
Yeah, he hit me, but didn't get me out.
Great contest. Archer fired up,
Smith an absolute immovable force.
SMITH: I was like, "I just need to do more
"just to kind of prove people wrong."
I like doing that.
Full, wide and driven for four.
Ooh, four more. Twatted.
Well, we've got two eccentrics at
the crease right now. It should be fun.
I was waiting to bat with him.
You know, it was an exciting moment.
Well, here we go, let's get in the contest.
Nicely played.
He times it so well, Steven Smith.
Labuschagne moves
on to another half century.
Australia's two best batsmen
in the middle at the moment.
Labuschagne has been
outstanding in the series.
LALOR: Smith has got
centre stage in these Ashes,
but Marnus is the
revelation of this series.
This is the batsman that Australia
has been looking for.
115 runs, the partnership,
putting Australia in a
pretty strong position.
Oh, yes! Got his wicket.
Got through the gap.
Labuschagne goes for 67.
Frickin' beaten on the inside, you freak!
Australia at 170/3.
Day two at Old Trafford -
the series tied 1-all, with two to play.
Well, the Australian captain comes in
at number seven.
Hasn't got really any score of note
in this series so far.
But Australian need him now.
LANGER: So much talk
about Painey's batting.
I know how good a batter he is. I think he just
thinks too much about it. He tries too hard.
Batting was Steve Smith, who's on 91.
Good time for him to get some here.
225/5.
We knew we needed to get 400,
so it was just important to go with him.
Well, he's found a way through.
This time he does find the gap,
and Paine moves into double figures.
That will boost his confidence.
Good shot.
This man is incredible.
Yet another hundred for Steve Smith.
PAINE: I could sense how frustrated they were
getting 'cause they couldn't get him out.
What would happen then is they'd get me
on strike and they'd probably overattack.
Nice shot.
And to bat with him was pleasing.
It was what was needed to be done.
Gets to 50, the Australian captain.
His first half century for 11 test matches.
The former captain and the present captain have
led Australia into a very commanding position.
Ooh, edged to slip.
Edged straight to Stokes,
and finally they have their man.
Yes, they're going to check that.
No way. It looks like
a no ball to me, that.
- Seriously?
- Come on!
That is literally a magic moment.
Who would have thought?
Nicely played, that.
That's another boundary.
Steve Smith makes up for missing
the last test by a double century.
A world-class player
batting in a world of his own.
Being able to come out and do that and just
switch back onto beast mode was incredible.
What a freak.
MAN: Australia had to put
a stamp back on England,
and that was the punch in the nose,
is for all that England
had working for them,
they had no clue how
to get Steve Smith out.
Call 'em in.
So, Tim Paine makes the gesture
that declares this innings closed on 497/8.
Great work, lads.
England have had a tough day.
England 301.
Australia with a lead of 196 runs.
LALOR: Something of a fight-back
from England in the first innings,
but it wasn't enough.
Very powerful from Smith.
Beautiful hands through the ball.
He's doing it again.
LALOR: And when Australia get to 6/186,
Tim Paine calls his side in.
Yeah, they're coming off.
A surprise declaration.
Tim Paine, spur of the moment,
has said, "Right, that's enough."
186/6. The lead is 382.
And after the drama of Headingley,
where they saw a chance for victory
snatched away by the
brilliance of Ben Stokes,
are we posing the question,
can lightning strike twice?
Catch!
And that is the worst
possible start for England.
CUMMINS: This is where
we win the test match.
You know, I wasn't able to do it last game.
Here, I feel I'm more in control
of what I'm trying to do.
- Clean bowled!
- Bowled him!
This is Pat Cummins, this is Australia
absolutely at their best.
And the England captain is gone first ball.
It's 0/2.
To get two early wickets was just like,
"Alright, we're on our way."
Morning. Good morning.
LANGER: The job's not done yet.
We've still got eight wickets to get.
But let's just stay nice and patient, stay calm.
We talk about it, let's make sure we do it.
If you're tired or struggling as a fielder,
or if the bowling, you're tired and sore,
think about when we were sitting in that
changing room last week, push through it.
[CROWD ROARS]
The crowd now on its feet. The salute
is for none other than Ben Stokes.
Brings a tingle to the spine, doesn't it?
To get a welcome like that.
Come on, just get a wicket.
Tim Paine is adamant.
And Ben Stokes is walking.
Caught behind!
That is a massive wicket for Australia.
Just six more wickets to retain
the Ashes.
Yeah, we were still pretty confident.
We knew the wicket was starting to wear.
We had foot marks either side, because of
my big hoofs, through the middle for Gazza.
And then it was going about our work
and not trying to overdo it,
we had plenty of time.
[AUSTRALIANS APPEAL]
Close. On the angle. The finger goes up!
You can see what it means
to this Australian team.
Overs left 41.
Australia need four wickets.
Great sesh. Well done, mate.
Great catch. Well done. Great catch.
OK, let's stay nice and calm.
Gaz, when you're bowling out into that...
...you look like you're
getting a wicket every ball.
Gaz, you're the best bowler in the world.
Stay calm, alright?
Best get Gazza Bon Jovi
up singing the song for us, eh?
And let's take the Ashes home, eh?
PAINE: Come on, boys.
Come on, everyone up. Up, let's go.
Let's be up. Everyone up.
GROUND ANNOUNCER: To bowl
from James Anderson End, Nathan Lyon.
Ooh, big appeal, and gone!
We bloody deserve this.
No such thing, Dene.
We've earned the right, however you...
Hard work deserves success.
Leach comes in at 10. 173/8.
29 overs are left.
And he's got a defence
and he's got character.
It's all about time. Plenty of
overs left, but time is ticking away.
The lights are on. It's
getting a little darker.
Well, Australia were
so close at Headingley,
and they are so close here.
Another block, another
over goes by. 21 left.
194/8.
England hanging on.
The speeds are dropping off a
little bit too. I guess they're tired.
Those gloves out the way. And a stare.
That's the first time we've seen
real words from Cummins.
It's alright. We're nearly there.
This can't happen again.
Not twice in a series.
Another solid block,
another over goes by.
20 left.
And another one goes by.
Just saying that the glasses
had steamed up again.
STEVE WAUGH: Oh, for God's sake,
he's wiping his glasses again.
There's all this shit that's gonna happen
for the next hour.
LANGER: Does it get easier? No, not really.
I've been doing this a long time.
It doesn't, no. No, it doesn't get easier.
[SIGHS]
Two wickets away from retaining the Ashes
for the first time in 18 years.
SMITH: Painey just said, "Right,
we're gonna give Marnus a go.
You can call it a punt, I guess, in a way.
He's a part-time bowler.
What do you think of this change?
Surprising.
PAINE: I've always had a lot of faith,
probably more faith than others,
in Marnus because I played in his first
test tour and he bowled unbelievably well.
Ashes on the line and
fresh bowler at the crease.
MAN: Alright, Marnie boy!
Tugger said since this morning,
he reckons he'll win the game.
Catch!
Nothing on that, no.
Are you sure? Into the rough, mate.
- Catch!
- Oh, yeah, boy.
Come on. Come on, little Marn.
What is he even thinking here?
Bowl into the fucking rough -
it's that simple, mate.
Just one good one is all they need.
That's the way they've gotta think
about it as well, the Australians.
Just know they're one good ball away.
- LANGER: He's straight, eh?
- Yeah.
Is he being stubborn or
has he just got his radar off?
It's like, "Righto, just spin it
and just try and hit the rough."
They bounce! And he's gone!
Superb captaincy. What a change.
Labuschagne with the bat all series,
it's Labuschagne with the ball!
Well, there's the
breakthrough they were after.
Australia one wicket away.
LANGER: Little Marn!
You beauty, Marnie!
Captain's move.
Australia need one
wicket to retain the Ashes.
Every time the skipper,
when they've needed something special,
has gone Cummins-Hazlewood,
Cummins-Hazlewood.
Has he got enough in the tank?
Oh, a big shout, big
shout. What's he think?
- Gone!
- [BOTH CHEER]
He'll review it obviously.
But I don't think it will matter.
The end is nigh. A desperate review.
- They've got a review.
- They've got a review.
Come on, Dene, tell me something.
Come on!
That's out. It's definitely out.
Has to be out.
Come on.
THIRD UMPIRE: It's a fair delivery.
Go to front-on vision please.
MAN: It's gotta be out.
That's out. That's out.
THIRD UMPIRE: OK.
Can you just give me the outrights
to see whether any bat involved?
Come on, please be out.
THIRD UMPIRE: OK, roll forward,
roll forward, roll forward.
OK. No bat involved.
Flat line when the ball passes the bat.
Give me the whole cover when
you're ready, please. Ball tracker.
LANGER: Please be out.
Here we go. Up on the screen.
THIRD UMPIRE: Come on,
ball tracker coming up.
Impact outside the off, impact in line.
[CROWD ROARS]
COMMENTATOR: Great joy for Australia.
Whoo!
It's all worth it. It's all worth it.
[ALL SHOUT]
The feeling in that change room was like
nothing I've ever experienced in my life.
That was unbelievable.
I don't know what to feel like, eh?
SMITH: I'd been to England in 2013 and 2015
and with some pretty good teams.
We weren't able to bring that urn home.
Apparently I look like Craig Overton, so...
which I was fuming about.
No disrespect to him.
But the boys were calling me Overs, so
obviously I had to re-enact the decision.
[ALL APPEAL]
ALL: Yeah!
That's why you play.
[ALL CHEER]
MARSH: And I just hope that
people can relate to us.
We're just normal blokes playing cricket.
It was so much fun in that change room.
But this is what the relentless nature
of the job...
Even if you retain the Ashes,
you still go to bed that night
and you know, "Who am I going to select
for the next test?
"How am I going to get them back up?"
300-plus for the first innings. Let's be
ruthless on our lengths, 'cause we know it works.
Skill over emotion.
Let's switch back into game mode tomorrow.
I think the moment we get there tomorrow,
the minute we walk out that front door
onto the ground,
we show these blokes with our body language
and our attitude, we're back.
Nothing better than go home 3-1,
stand on the podium at the end
winning the test match
and winning the series outright.
Australia want to become the first
team to win here for 18 years.
So lots to play for.
MARSH: There was definitely
a little bit of exhaustion,
but at the same time there was
still the hunger to win 3-1.
Australia calls heads.
And Australia win the toss.
- What are you doing?
- PAINE: We're going to have a bowl first, sir.
It looked as though it was a bat-first day.
By looking at the pitch,
they should be batting.
Painey won the toss and bowled first, it was
like, oh, there's a surprise to everyone.
All the questions on Australia after
winning the toss and electing to bowl.
I suppose the only way to look at it is,
just assume we lost the toss.
Move on.
It's a good shot from Burns.
Shot. That will be four.
Brings up England's hundred.
LABUSCHAGNE: We just didn't start
like we did every other test.
We were unbelievable with the ball
the whole series,
and we were probably just 1% off, really.
Short.
- And again.
- It's just way too short and way too wide.
This opening spell wasn't what we'd
expected from this fast-bowling brigade.
MAN: We just dropped
catches, we misfielded.
Oh, down it goes.
We just gave England
way too many opportunities.
Oh, down again! Down again.
Sloppy from Australia.
England 271/8 off 82 overs.
Do you reckon we were ruthless?
MAN: No.
What do you reckon?
Nah.
I know we got some
fatigue, we respect that.
But we've got an opportunity that's
not gonna come around very often.
Come on.
Maybe it was the emotional
high of Manchester.
Edged. Yes, gone.
Australia in all sorts of trouble.
So much build-up and
so much stress and anxiety
put into retaining the Ashes.
The whole test match,
we were just slightly off.
Oh, no. Oh, he's given it.
LANGER: The end of a long tour,
we had some really inexperienced
players in there,
we had some senior players, but one of
them, Steve Smith, was completely cooked.
Ooh, what a catch!
What a great tour this man's had, though.
Appreciation for Steve Smith.
The cricketing public have
acknowledged greatness.
You know, it was nice of them to,
I guess, stand and applaud.
And, yeah, I guess I'd
shifted them perhaps.
Catch! Yeah!
That's it. That finishes the game off.
It squares the series 2-all.
Australia still haven't won a test series
in England for 18 years.
Australia nonetheless will take the urn.
It certainly put a bit of a downer
on it for that day and that test.
It was a really strange feeling
because we hadn't won the game,
but the most interesting thing for me
was after the game,
and my daughter was there.
I went down and all the
wives and the girlfriends
and they're all giving us,
"Oh, well done, it's awesome.
"You know, great stuff.
You've retained the Ashes."
Good job.
I thought, "Yeah, we did that last week.
We didn't finish it off like we should."
But if you had have said to me
before we got on the plane,
"You're gonna make the
semifinal of the World Cup
"and then you're gonna retain the Ashes,"
yeah, I would have taken that.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
to retain the Ashes in 2019, Australia.
[CROWD ROARS]
I think in a few years' time
and for the rest of our lives,
we're going to remember going to England
and being the first team
to bring it home in 20 years.
It's such a difficult thing to do.
LANGER: We're a bit closer. Like,
we lost it for a long time in England.
We now drew the series
and retained the Ashes,
and then hopefully next time we go there
we'll win the Ashes.
Be nice, wouldn't it?
What I'm most proud about though
is that Australians are proud of us again.
From the deepest scandal
where people were repelled
by the national cricket team,
to the collective embrace of accomplishment
when the Ashes were retained,
that's the journey of redemption in sport.
[ALL CHEER]
MAN: The defining figure of the 2019 Ashes
was Steve Smith.
LANGER: From the moment where
he gets abused everywhere he goes,
to him getting a standing
ovation at the end,
summed up where Australian cricket, to me,
where we've been, where we're going.
People think it's a war.
People think that we all hate each other.
I hate to disappoint...
Sorry, I hate to disappoint you,
but it's not a war, it's a game of cricket.
Oh, shit.
LALOR: A few years back, teams didn't want
to drink with the Australians.
The Aussies won respect back.
People wanted to have a drink
with them again.
I just think what we've seen has been a
team of respectful Australian cricketers.
And that's actually all that you want
of a cricket team,
to respect the game
and to respect their opponents.
SIDDLE: We've definitely played
some good cricket.
We haven't played great cricket yet,
but we're trending in the right direction.
- Enjoy it?
- Yeah, it was good, man.
Cape Town was so traumatic
that it was possible for the game
to have really fragmented.
But in some respects I think Australian
fans have kind of enjoyed the fight.
We like them more than we used to,
and I think that's almost more important
than being proud of them.
PAINE: It's been a real roller-coaster,
but I'm just so lucky
to be doing what I'm doing.
And, yeah, I'm looking forward to
doing it for a little bit longer.
Keep making our country proud
of their cricket team.
[SIGHS]
Now I've gotta start again.
I've gotta start again.