Brutal blunder comes back to haunt Aussies as debutant blasts century
The spirit of 2005 will be powering Rory Burns on day three of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, where he will resume on 125 with England already on the cusp of a first-innings lead at 4-267.
Australia, having fought back on day one thanks to Steve Smith's epic 144 that dragged his team from 8-122 to 284, held a 17-run lead at stumps on day two.
The tourists bowled reasonably tidily for limited reward on Friday, when Tim Paine was left to lament a missed chance to dismiss Burns on 21.
Paine opted against reviewing an lbw shout from Nathan Lyon early on day two; ball-tracking replays confirmed the on-field decision would have been overturned if he did.
The fact Burns was still batting when Matthew Wade delivered the 76th over of England's innings was confirmation the cost has been immense.
Burns battled through what felt like an eternity in the nervous 90s, during which Joe Denly and Jos Buttler both departed amid an Australian fightback, and faced some 10 balls on 99.
Surrey's skipper is now keen to extend his maiden Test century deep into day three.
"Hopefully I've still got a few more left in me," the opener said, having started the series under pressure to retain his spot in the XI.
"Hopefully we've still got a few more left in us."
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Burns and Ben Stokes, unbeaten on 38, survived Australia's nine-over burst with the second new ball and their partnership is already worth 73 runs.
Pep talk inspires Burns
Burns revealed a pep talk with members of England's 2005 Ashes squad - which defeated Australia in a contest widely regarded as one of the best Test series ever - fired him up ahead of his first taste of the sport's greatest rivalry.
"It (scoring an Ashes century) is quite hard to put into words, to be an Ashes cricketer in the first place is a wonderful thing," he said.
"We connected with some past players, some of the 2005 winners, the night before and I was literally ready to run through a brick wall at that stage.
"The night before I probably played my first ball a few times and probably celebrated a hundred a few times."
Australia's hopes of a 1-0 series lead are a long way from being scuppered, especially given injured veteran Jimmy Anderson is unlikely to bowl again in the match, but they were left to lament what Steve Waugh dubbed "one of those days".
"It just wasn't our day. We beat the bat on quite a number of occasions, a couple of half-chances of run-outs, maybe a referral that we could've done better," Waugh said.
"One of those tough days of Test match cricket."
James Pattinson snared two key wickets in his Test comeback that was three-and-a-half years in the making.
Peter Siddle proved Paine's most economical option and single-handedly captured the prized scalp of Joe Root, holding a sharp one-handed return catch offered by the captain on 57.
