ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA, First Ashes Test, Edgbaston, Day Two on Saturday.
SCORE: Australia (5-311 ) path England (8-393 declared) by 82 runs.
SUMMARY: It was time to recollect there’s one other strategy to play Test cricket. Following the first-day brilliance and barminess of Bazball got here a second-day throwback, with Usman Khawaja batting all day for an unbeaten 126 to maintain Australia on a degree footing, if not nudging in direction of the driving seat. After a little bit of rain and below cloud cowl, a Test match of beloved reminiscence out of the blue broke out. Stuart Broad removed his outdated ‘bunny’ David Warner, had the world’s No.1-ranked batter Marnus Labuschagne caught behind however bowled a stinker down legside to Steve Smith on the hat-trick ball amid an early frenzy. Smith received trapped lbw by Ben Stokes earlier than lunch too because the skipper sealed the morning honours for England. But a sturdy 50 off 63 balls from Travis Head, a helpful Ashes debut 38 from Cameron Green and a advantageous unbeaten 52 from Alex Carey offered invaluable assist for Khawaja, who had one post-ton escape when bowled by a Broad no-ball. Broad received two wickets as did comeback man Moeen Ali, who additionally received tonked for 124, whereas Jonny Bairstow made three errors behind the stumps. Definitely Australia’s day.
PLAYER OF THE MOMENT: Khawaja had struggled in Tests on English soil, averaging 17.78 in 14 earlier innings, so it was little surprise he felt this hundred, a mannequin of grace below stress, was value hailing with a most novel celebration. Hurling the cricket bat, although, is unlikely to develop into an Olympic occasion.
KEY MOMENT: England might need fancied their probabilities of rattling via Australia late on and actually grabbing management if not for Broad, together with his second supply with the brand new ball, fractionally overstepping when clear bowling Khawaja on 112 with a magnificence that nipped again. The no-ball sign took the wind proper out of England sails.
STAT OF THE DAY: 15 – the variety of instances that Broad has now dismissed Warner within the warmth of Ashes battle, together with 9 instances when the Aussie opener did not even get into double figures.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Two unbelievable days of cricket so far and it’s set the tone for the next six weeks. Every Ashes series is ramped up; we knew how England were going to go into it, we had to stay calm. It’s been fascinating and interesting as a Test cricketer.” – Travis Head on the breathtaking Ashes begin.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
