3rd Ashes Test- Day 2 review: England continues dominance

3rd Ashes Test- Day 2 review: England continues dominance: After an eventful first day of the test, the second day lacked no drama, as further amount of excitement and thrill was experienced. In fact, we are almost done with 3 innings of the test and just a single innings remains with the fate of the match weighing on the side of the English team. After bundling the Australian side for a score of just 136 runs, the English team looked pretty much settled after they were poised at 133/3 at stumps of the first day.

On the second day, the English team resumed with their batting pair, Joe Root and Bairstow at the crease. Right at the start of the day, after surpassing Australia’s score of the first innings, England lost their first wicket in the form of Bairstow and the breakthrough was brought in by Mitchell Johnson. This dismissal was immediately followed by the dismissal of Ben Stokes in the same over and these successive blows brought England into some spots of bother with 142/5 on the scoreboard.

Meanwhile Root completed his half century. And England were progressing reasonably well after losing quick wickets. After being down at the score of 190/7, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad steadied the English innings quite well and they imposed an elongated lead in the first innings. At lunch, England were poised at 221/7.

In the second session, the eighth wicket completed its half century stand and both were looking quite settled. Moeen Ali went on to score a half century. The partnership was being broken by Hazlewood when he dismissed Broad. The final two wickets fell in quick succession and finally England were bundled at the score 281 runs. They had 145 runs lead over the Australians in the first innings.

Australians were onto the back foot and needed to fire in their second innings to reach to a zone of comfort. But things went against the Aussies for yet another time. Chris Rogers, the man in form for them was dismissed right in the fourth over of the innings. Things were looking a bit unsettled but Warner made a counter attack by going on for full aggression. In fact, Warner reached to his half century in almost no time. The dismissal of Smith made things into a spot of bother for Australian and at tea, Australia were poised at the score of 73/2 with Warner batting at 56.

In the crease, there were Warner and Clarke at the crease. For yet another time, the Australian middle order shivered and kept on losing constant wickets. This worsened things for them. They were still on a trail and had lost a bunch of their wickets. Just as Anderson was deadly in the first innings, it was Finn in the second innings for England. His deadly bowling in the final session was enough to dismantle the Australian middle order. Batsmen like Clarke, Voges and Marsh were dismissed at single figures.

Finally, at stumps of the second day, Australia were poised at the score of 168/7 with Peter Nevill batting at 37 for them. And they lead England’s first innings score by a margin of just 23 runs with 3 wickets to spare. Defeat at the moment seem quite much obvious for the Aussies, provided if something extraordinary happens in the third day.

Match Summary:

Australia, 1^st innings: 136/10 (Rogers 52, Anderson 6/47)
England, 1^st innings: 281/10 (Root 63, Lyon 3/36)
Australia, 2^nd innings: 168/7 (Warner 77, Finn 5/45)