England v Australia 4th Ashes Test day 2 Review : England on verge of regaining the Ashes

England v Australia 4th Ashes Test day 2 Review : England on verge of regaining the Ashes: Much of the crucial moments of the 4^th Test in the ongoing Ashes were already over by the end of the first day with Australia being bundled for 60. For England, it was about not withdrawing their foot from the pedal and driving home the advantage, when the second day of the Trent Bridge Test commenced on Friday. Australia were hoping for some respite in the form of early wickets. Much to their disappointment England started well early on Day 2 with night watchman Mark Wood looking assured in dispatching Mitchell Johnson to the cover boundary a couple of times.

The real threat, however, was posed by Mitchell Starc who has been the only Aussie to hit the correct lines and lengths on the Nottingham surface. The sustained pressure bore fruit when Root edged one angling away from him to the keeper to be dismissed for a fabulous 130.

Mitchell Starc completed a six wicket haul when he bowled Mark Wood and Jos Buttler with fast inswingers to give Australia a hope of bowling the hosts before lunch.

England, on the other hand scored freely on the second morning with boundaries coming at regular intervals. Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad shared an entertaining stand for the ninth wicket and frustrated the Australian bowlers with their ploy of hitting over the infield. The duo brought up the 50-run stand as England’s lead went past the 320 mark. Moeen Ali’s entertaining innings, a 24-ball 38 came to an end after Steven Smith pulled off a stunning catch at slips off Mitchell Johnson.

An over after Ali’s dismissal, Cook declared the innings at 391/9 with a lead of 331. It was a clever declaration as it meant the Australian openers had to face Broad and company before Lunch which they would have least liked.

Warner and Rogers looked more assured after Lunch as they put up 50. Broad’s persistence with that round-the-wicket strategy to Warner paid off when he had the batsman nicking one to first slip, but Cook dropped a comfortable catch. The Aussie openers continued to make merry as Alastair Cook set about shuffling his bowlers around. Minutes after the 100-run stand was put up, Mark Wood had Rogers fending to a snorter and Joe Root completed a fine catch at third slip before replays adjudged the bowler to have overstepped. But the very next over Stokes got him caught superbly in the slips off Root again.

England enjoyed a dream half-an-hour before tea as Australia continued to shoot themselves in the foot with some appalling shot-selection. Shaun Marsh was the third to go when he pushed hard at a delivery outside off stump and was caught in the slip-cordon to become the Stokes’ third victim.

Australia had a quiet start to the post Tea session with Michael Clarke and Adam Voges playing circumspectly. But the dismal form of Clarke came back to haunt him as he edged a Mark Wood delivery to the slips. Cook fumbled but Bell hung on to the catch. Surely the ploy of coming at number 5 has not worked for the skipper. Adam Voges looked to be playing his first confident innings of the Ashes summer and a timely one at that. Peter Nevill and Voges were looking secure with a 40 run stand but Nevill’s vigil at the crease came to an end when Ben Stokes got a ball to jag back off the seam and struck the batsman’s pads with Nevill not offering a shot. Stokes completed a superb fifer when he had Mitchell Johnson nicking one to first slip. The day belonged to Stokes as he strengthened his case as a genuine all-rounder.

Soon after Johnson’s dismissal, any hope of England completing a win in two days was over as umpires offered light to the batsmen and called stumps. Australia are seven down and need to score 90 more runs to make England bat again. The English would love to dismiss the visitors within an hour on Saturday morning and regain the coveted Urn.

Brief Scores :

England 1^st innings – 391/9 (dec.) (Root 130, Bairstow 74; Starc 6-111)

Australia 2^nd innings – 241/7  (Warner 64, Rogers 52; Stokes 5-35)