England have begun solidly and with a positive frame of mind as they raced away to 45/0 in 6 overs at the Dinner Break after Australia were bowled out for 511 with Mitchell Starc scoring a fiery 77 and the others around him also contributing and scoring well. Australia are ahead but England are fighting hard and have started well now.
Mitchell Starc falls after fiery half-century as Australia drive home the advantage
Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland came out to resume for Australia while Will Jacks had ball in hand for England. Starc hit Jacks by going down on one knee and slog sweeping it to midwicket region for a boundary as he got to his 12th Test fifty in 100 balls. Gus Atkinson had ball in hand from the other end. Starc hit him straight back past the bowler for a boundary as the bowler overstepped as well. Jacks delivered a maiden.
Atkinson continued as Boland threw his hands at it and got an inside edge past the stumps for a boundary. Jacks continued as Boland neatly drove through the covers for a boundary. Atkinson continued as Starc took him on by hitting him for back-to-back boundaries first through mid-off and extra cover and then the push through covers as well. Jacks continued and bowled a maiden. Atkinson bowled another tight over. Jacks too kept things under check.
Starc then launched Atkinson by playing a lofted drive over the bowler’s head for a boundary. Starc lifted it effortlessly over mid-on for a boundary. Jacks bowled a miserly over. Brydon Carse came back into the attack. He finally removed Starc for 77 off 141 balls with 13 fours to his name as the batter miscued it towards extra cover and mid-off as Stokes took a very good catch. Brendan Doggett came out to bat next. He got off the mark with a brace.
Jacks continued and bowled a decent over. Carse continued and bowled a probing over. Australia were 496/9 in 113 overs with Boland on 16* off 57 balls while Brendan Doggett was with him on 4* off 9 balls. The lead was 162 runs with one wicket in hand at this stage.
Brendan Doggett finally falls to Will Jacks as Australia are bowled out for 511; England get off to a solid start
Will Jacks continued after the break as Doggett got his first boundary by cutting it through cover point for a boundary as the 500 came up for Australia in 113.5 overs. Carse continued and bowled a good over. Jacks continued and bowled another decent over. Carse continued and bowled another decent over. Jacks continued and ended the innings as well as he dismissed Doggett for 13 off 21 balls with one four to his name as the batter edged to Harry Brook at first slip. Australia were finally bowled out for 511 in 117.3 overs with Boland remaining unbeaten on 21 off 72 balls with 3 fours to his name. 22 extras given by the fielding side.
It was a hard toil for the English bowlers with Brydon Carse picking up 4/152 in 29 overs. Ben Stokes picked up 3/113 in 24 overs. Jofra Archer picked up 1/87 in 25 overs. Gus Atkinson picked up 1/114 in 28 overs. Will Jacks finished with 1/34 in 11.3 overs. Australia had a first innings lead of 177 runs and England now had to come out to bat for around 28 minutes before Dinner Break.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett came out to bat for England in their second innings while Mitchell Starc had ball in hand for Australia. Crawley got off the mark while Duckett got off the mark with a triple. Michael Neser had ball in hand from the other end. Crawley clipped the bowler off the pads through square leg for a boundary. Starc continued as Duckett got a triple while Crawley whipped the ball through square leg for a boundary. Neser continued as Duckett was dropped by Neser of his own bowling. A tough chance went down. He gave away 4 byes to the batting side as well.
Duckett flicked the next ball through midwicket for a boundary. Starc continued as Crawley took him on by driving past the non-striker for a boundary and then hit another glorious drive through covers for a boundary. Neser came to bowl the final over before Dinner as Crawley hit him for a triple. Duckett hit him for a triple as well. England raced away to 45/0 in 6 overs with Crawley on 26* off 23 balls and Duckett on 13* off 13 balls when the players walked off the field for Dinner Break.
Just two bowlers used by Australia with Mitchell Starc going for 25 runs in 3 overs and Michael Neser going for 14 runs in 3 overs. A lot of hard work awaits the Australians post Dinner. England trail by 132 runs with 10 second innings wickets in hand at Dinner on Day 3.
What Lies Ahead In Night Session
England have begun well in their second innings and would like to continue their rich vein of form and start they have got as the deficit is quite a bit. The next challenge will be batting under lights for 2.5 hours and Australia will fancy their chances of making inroads in this next session. Australia still ahead but England have begun well in second innings.
An intriguing last session comes our way soon.
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