Chalk it up to fate, fortune, or a oddity of chance, whatever your inclination. Should Australia's first day in Adelaide was a jigsaw puzzle hurled into the air, the majority of the pieces came to rest the right way up and in the correct place. This has been a familiar pattern for the hosts in this series: monstered by England's bowlers in Perth, only to engineer an more dramatic collapse; stumbling in Brisbane, saved by the tail.
Once again, the trend persisted: whether it was dodgy catching or dodgy equipment, things keep falling into place for the Australians.
The tourists, meanwhile, brought a gameplan founded on the belief that they couldn't win in Australia with pace bowlers and a keeper up to the stumps, then proceeded to be defeated by that very attack with a keeper up to the stumps. England was handed the advantage of no Pat Cummins, an absent Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon's unavailability and still proceeded to lose twice in six days. Their next match delivered the next gift: Steve Smith missing with an inner-ear problem, their very own Ghost of Ashes Past replaced in the middle order by a aging, struggling top-order batter whom Australia had previously attempted to drop.
Out of politeness, England felt compelled to drop him too. In the cordon, on just five, when the score would have been 50 for three. Just a few hours earlier, Usman Khawaja's career had been as good as over, with selectors unveiling a new option called the Travis Head Dashing Opener™. Two hours later, Khawaja had been twice reprieved, initially by Smith's balance issues, then by Harry Brook's lack of balance at slip.
A Unshackled Innings from the Middle Order
The demotion the order had merely saved him a brief period at the top, but that meant he almost entirely dodged Jofra Archer's intense opening burst, a potentially critical non-matchup given Khawaja's poor recent years against high-speed bowling. Unshackled, with little on the line, Khawaja produced his most fluent and composed innings since his last comeback through the middle of the batling order in 2022.
The other seamer was only slightly less rapid than Archer, but Khawaja picked off his errors while exploiting Ben Stokes's bouncer to get his trademark hook going. He saw Will Jacks's vulnerability as a part-time bowler and thumped him relentlessly. There was a fifty after lunch, amid a vital partnership with Alex Carey after some Christmas giveaways.
While Steve Smith is Australia's best bat in historical context, Carey might be their most convincing one at present, after his second century this year.
A Chance Gone, but Impact Secured
This is still a good chance of this being Khawaja's final match, with Smith to come back and the rest of the order not guaranteed to be shifted, so a century that could have been both redemption and send-off would have been one hell of a story. But straining against the constraints of age left it just out of reach. Steve Waugh in his final appearance was raging against the end, hoping for one final century, out instead slog-sweeping a spinner to deep midwicket. Khawaja, older still, was out playing the same shot a spinner to the same fielder for 82.
Nevertheless, it was defining for the side, and another example of how discombobulation hasn't bothered these Australians. Misplace your top batter minutes before the match? The replacement has it covered. A unorthodox lineup to follow? No problem either.
Carey's Hometown Heroics
The gloveman would usually bat at No 7, while the original idea at the outset was to bed in Cameron Green at No 6. The spot opened up by Travis Head's move was at No 5. And yet, instead of using Josh Inglis there, Australia inserted Inglis at No 7 and promoted Green and Carey a place.
It seems conventional about positioning an current keeper ahead of an off-duty one, but on this occasion it proved effective, maybe because Carey was unburdened in the initial batting effort. He did get the century that Khawaja missed, accumulating runs in his usual positive way, producing a huge Adelaide occasion as local supporters filled the standing room areas.
In the end, he shepherded Australia's total from 85 when he came in to 321 when he was out, and further runs are possible for the tail on the next day. Smith wasn't there, five of the top seven made insignificant contributions, but Australia are still on top, with a significantly larger total than looked likely at multiple points.
England's only path to alter this dynamic is a brute-force reset: take two wickets, bat for a long time in the scorching conditions. Anything else relies on the fates, or luck, or a twist of statistics. Don't trust any of them.
