AUS v ENG, 2nd Test, Day 4 Review: A dramatic turnaround keeps England in the hunt

It was an unbelievable day of Test cricket at Adelaide. James Anderson registering his first five-fer on Australian soil embarked a sensational fightback from England and the game is pretty much on. Practically, Australia might have their noses ahead at this juncture, but this is all set to provide some wonderful entertainment on the final day.

Adelaide Oval registered record attendance for a Test match throughout the course of the match, breaching the 170,000 mark in four days. All those people who turned up got perfect value for their money as the arch-rival went toe-to-toe on day 4. England showed some character and intent on day 4, something which was clearly lacking ever since Smith scored that century in the first Test.

Resuming at 53/4, Nathan Lyon was the first to walk back on Day 4. The Nightwatchman from the previous day stuck in for 9 overs, but Anderson is just too good a bowler to encourage his exploits. Almost immediately, Peter Handscomb plunged his bat at an excellent delivery, only to get a nick and ricochet the ball towards the third slip.

Woakes then played a crucial part in the innings, by sending the two best batters from the first innings in quick succession. Tim Paine’s half-century and Shaun Marsh’s century helped them post a big total and this time around, both fell prey to some outstanding bowling from the tall all-rounder.

Anderson then got rid of Mitchell Starc, which brought up his first five-fer down under. What a time that was to get there and Overton finished off the innings with Hazlewood’s wicket. Australia got bowled out for 138 in just 58 overs, but their first-innings lead helped them post a 354-run target.

Root slams a fifty; England lurking around the corner

The Three Lions needed a brilliant start, which they got from Mark Stoneman and Alastair Cook. The duo added 53 runs for the first wicket as Steve Smith got few tactics horribly wrong. Nevertheless, Nathan Lyon made the entire Adelaide Oval go nuts by picking up the first wicket and after a few overs, Mitchell Starc got Stoneman.

James Vince and Joe Rot had some rebuilding to do and the duo could only manage to stick together for 10 overs. Vince played a nothing shot, throwing his bat out of tentativeness and edged it straight to Handscomb in the slip cordon. But the skipper was well deterimined to take England to a good position and showed great amount of character in his innings.

He approached the innings just the way he does, positively. He didn’t back off when a scoring opportunity was there and kept the scoreboard ticking. Accompanying him at the other end was Dawid Malan, who kept seeing off the bowlers nervously, but played a good second-fiddle knock. This partnership of 78 runs for the 4th wicket kept the visitors in a decent position and Joe Root reached yet another half-century with a fierce square-cut off Starc.

Malan got dismissed just before the day finished and England finished the day at 176 for the loss of four wickets. Chris Woakes and Root are in the middle currently and they have two other established batters in Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali to come. 178 runs is what they need to stun the Adelaide crowd, but with just 6 wickets remaining, the odds favor the hosts.