Twitter Reactions: Australia in cruise control of the game yet again

Australia ended day 2 at 193/2 with Khawaja approaching his hundred, unbeaten on 91 and Smith batting on 44*.

By Ankit Mishra

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4 Min Read

Usman Khawaja
info
Usman Khawaja of Australia bats during day two of the Fifth Test match. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

England started the day at 233/5 with Dawid Malan unbeaten on 55 and would’ve expected him to carry on, add as many runs as they can with the lower order to post a challenging total. They had lost both the skipper Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow in the last phase of day 1 and that hurt them much. Though the tail did wag but having bowled them out for 346 still kept Australia ahead.

Stuart Broad struck in his very first over but David Warner and Usman Khawaja then churned out an 85-run stand and the latter continued after losing his partner to forge another partnership with skipper Steve Smith. They took Australia into stumps at 193/2 with Khawaja approaching his hundred, unbeaten on 91 and Smith batting 44*.

Earlier in the day, Moeen Ali gave Malan decent company but as the partnership was just starting to build up Mitchell Starc sent the latter back to the hut for 62. Ali then put up a resistance with Tom Curran but Pat Cummins claimed the all-rounder as he was caught behind for 30. Tom Curran also batted well for his 39 but couldn’t continue longer. Stuart Broad also made a valuable contribution worth 31 from 32 balls and took the English total close to the 350-run mark.

Cummins ended up with four wickets while Starc and Josh Hazlewood shared a couple each and Nathan Lyon got the lone wicket.

Australia in their innings suffered an early blow as Cameron Bancroft was cleaned up by Broad on the first ball he darted at him in the morning. Warner continued to display his patient game and took the responsibility to ensure there were no further hiccups at least until the score of 86 when he eventually got out having scored his 27th Test fifty.

Usman Khawaja also joined the party and looks set to convert his fifty into a much bigger knock. He has scored a couple of half centuries in this Ashes but wasn’t able to stretch it beyond the fifties. Steve Smith is at his best and is relishing the chance to milk the English bowlers each time. He is once again on the verge of a half century as a patient Khawaja went back to the dressing room unbeaten on 91 from 204 balls.

Here is how Twitterati reacted during the course of the day’s play:

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