The second test of the Ashes has officially wrapped up and things are beginning to look bleak for the visitors. Catch up on all the action and drama from the pink ball test below!
After an unexpected defeat in Perth, the English team had a watchful eye on them from all media outlets on both sides of the pond. The discussion was around how they would turn this defeat into fuel to ensure a 4-1 victory to reclaim the Ashes over the home turf Aussies. Especially so as the next game would be a day-night pink ball test, a format in which England had never played and one that Australia is known to dominate. However, criticism quickly grew when it was revealed the entire team would opt out from playing a warm up game in Canberra against the PMXI’s, an exhibition match, that was also a pink ball test. Both fans and foes of the team shared their disagreement in this decision. Notably though, after the second test was completed last night, England Head Coach Brendan McCullum expressed that he genuinely thought the English side over trained for the test and came in “over prepared”.
“Leading into this Test match, I actually felt like we over-prepared, to be honest,… I think the boys just need a few days off, and probably need to just change up a few of the training methods a little bit. I’m a horse-racing man, and you wouldn’t just keep doing the same thing with your horse, you’d send it around in figure-eights or over the little jumps, just to try and switch it on a bit. We’ll look at some alternative methods over the next few days.” – Brendan McCullum (England Head Coach)
England – First Batting Innings
At 2pm local time at the Gabba, the English won the toss and smartly elected to bat. Mitchell Starc continued his trend of taking first over wickets and knocked off Ben Duckett with a golden duck on the fifth ball of the over. Shortly there after, Starc also claimed the wicket of Ollie Pope, after Pope accidentally chopped the ball onto the stumps. Zak Crawley and Joe Root would then go on to be a formidable batting pair. Crawley would go on to score 76 off 93 balls before Michael Neser sends him off. Joe Root, as the legendary batter he is, would continue to play out the rest of the innings without falling, instead seeing the rest of his side by him as much time as he needed to finally secure his first test century in Australia, finishing on 138 not out. After an amazing run out by Josh Inglis, some incredible glove work with Alex Carey and the regularly scheduled dominance by Mitchell Starc, the England side were all out with an impressive 334 in the first hour of day two.
Australia – First Batting Innings
Australia’s newest opening pair Travis Head and Jake Weatherald went out to bat for the second time after their innings in Perth. Unlike the England side where Joe Root went to put on a century, no one player in the Australian team would earn triple figures. However, the Aussies had a better consistency between all of their lineup with every player at least scoring double digits. Most notably are Marnus Labuschagne with 65, Jake Weatherald with 72, and his continued Ashes dominance, Mitchell Starc with 77. Some infighting boiled between the English after frustration amounted with the struggle to collapse the Australian batting side. Late in the second day of play when Captain Ben Stokes was visibly worn out, frustrated, and appeared to brining down the team morale, Joe Root confronted the captain and instructed him to “get off the ****ing pitch!”. When the Aussies final wicket fell, they finished their innings all out for 511, placing them 177 runs ahead of England.
England – Second Batting Innings
With a chase set of 177 runs before piling on more, when England went out to bat at day three, the Englands usual plan of Bazball aggressive play seemed like the correct tactic. With the runs required, and the time remaining, if England wanted to equal the Ashes series score to 1-1, a win was the goal. After a solid start to their innings England managed to reach 1-89 after 17 overs. Then England hit a brick wall, England would then go on to be 6-128 after 32 overs, grinding to a serious halt in momentum. Thankfully for the English the day concluded and when they would come out to bat the next morning, Captain Ben Stokes was able to plant himself in the pitch and defend the English side. Surviving a near 40 overs since the last fall of wicket, Will Jacks and Ben Stokes were able to add another 99-runs to their total, getting them over the 177 runs required. But now was the setting the final chase score phase. Sadly, both Jacks and Stokes fell, and when they did, the rest of the side collapsed. Concluding their last innings on 241 runs. Australia with a day and half of play remaining, needed 64 runs to secure victory.
Australia – Second Batting Innings
Head and Weatherald went out to bat as the sun was setting in Brisbane on the fourth day of play. The game though would conclude in the next 10 overs. Travis Head departed for 22 after chopping the ball onto the stumps, and Marnus Labuschagne followed shortly after. Steve Smith went out to bat with Jake Weatherald and that’s when the drama started to rise. With the game all but done, it seems English bowler Jofra Archer had some fire in him and begun a battle of words with Steve Smith. This however, did not have the desired effect. After some back and forth chirping the only sentence that the mics could pick up from the discussion was a line by Steve Smith in which he said to Jofra Archer “You bowl fast when there’s nothing going on champion”. To then add insult to injury, Smith would then hit Archer over the boundary line for six, only to then do it once more to secure the victory for Australia.
The game concluded and the English side seemed physically and mentally worn out. As mentioned before, Brendan McCullum was confident that his side was over-prepared for this test, a sentence that has garnered much criticism. The England side have already this series been told they appear overly arrogant of their own abilities, and underestimating the Aussie side. If the English aren’t careful and readjust they might see an unfortunate 5-0 series. The Aussies however need to stay level headed, right about now it’d be easy to find overconfidence, especially with Lyon and Cummins expected to return for Adelaide. But the English side including Ben Stokes and Joe Root are rarely ones to go down without a fight, and more often than not, thrive when backed into a corner. I suspect Adelaide won’t go as smoothly for the Aussies as they might expect, and as long as England can do some serious reshaping in the coming days, Adelaide is set to be an epic clash that could very well be the decider on who wins this series or the turning point for the English comeback.
