THE ASHES NOTEBOOK: Khawaja wins his battle against Robinson
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Ollie Robinson v Usman Khawaja 2.0 unanimously went the way of the Australian.
Following the first-innings F bomb send-off that plunged that virtuous land sobremas down under into meltdown, the pair were involved in another verbal confrontation on Tuesday when Khawaja's refusal to play in attacking manner at deliveries was questioned by the England seamer.
Robinson was perplexed as to why the left-hander was not taking advantage of freebie half-volleys with the field up.
‘That's why you're not a batsman,' retorted Khawaja.
Jimmy Anderson then shepherded Robinson away from his opponent when the players took a drinks break, and umpire Marais Erasmus had words soon afterwards.
Khawaja's disciplined vigil that so got under England's skin occupied 518 balls - the most faced by an Australian opener in a Test match since Bobby Simpson's 749 in the 1964 Ashes clash in Manchester.
Usman Khawaja got the better of Ollie Robinson again as the two were involved in a long war of words
Robinson triggered their latest disagreement when he expressed his frustrations at the Australian batter's unwillingness to play an attacking shot
James Anderson had to guide his team-mate away from Khawaja during a drinks break
Bazball gets the thumbs up from one of the greats
Bazball got a ringing endorsement on Tuesday from a kindred spirit in AB de Villiers.
The South African was named a Wisden cricketer of the previous decade for his revolutionary, 360 degree white-ball batting and offered his admiration for the way England captain Ben Stokes made the rain interruptions irrelevant by pressing the fast forward button at the start of the game.
‘The best teams are prepared to adapt and play situations in a way that'll ultimately put them in a winning position more often than the rest, whether that's by making bold declarations or playing reverse sweeps a lot, whatever it takes,' de Villiers tweeted.
‘The only way to make it impactful is to have a complete buy in from every individual, no egos, no stats driven players, just a full-on buy in to be the best team in the world.
That's how I see the England team play at the moment.'
Cricket great AB de Villiers (left) gave the thumbs up to England's Bazball style
Some spectators caught out
Despite the dramatic final day being a 25,000 sell-out, there were a large number of empty seats when play resumed at 2.15pm on Tuesday.
The one-hour turnaround between the inspection and the re-start courtesy of an outstanding mopping-up job by Gary Barwell and his Edgbaston ground staff clearly caught out those who believed the morning deluge would cause greater delays.
One youngster who was present on time held up a sign that read: I skipped school to watch the Ashes!
Slow for the slips
It was not until the 33rd dismissal of the match that the first slip catch was taken.
Moeen Ali took the edge of Travis Head's bat in his opening over of the fifth day, having warmed up by vigorously rubbing his cut spinning finger in the soil in the bowlers' footholes.
But the state of the wound was not only a hinderance to the recalled off-spinner's bowling, but his chances of being able to play in the second Test at Lord's next week.
Moeen Ali's wicket of Travis Head - the 33rd of the game - was the first slip catch of the game
Bucket hats in high demand
The Ben Stokes effect undoubtedly contributed to Warwickshire selling out of England bucket hats during this first Test of the summer.
Stokes has rocked the look this month, donning the bucket when doing pre-match interviews and even as he signalled England's declaration on the first evening.
Chilly for the Aussies
Meanwhile, two of the five Australians that warmed up with a bout of keepie-ups sported woollen bobble hats in the coolest temperatures of the match.
Traditionally, the Australians have kicked an Aussie Rules ball around the field pre-play but appear to have adopted at least one practice championed by their opponents on this tour.
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