England fought hard on Day 2 of the third Ashes Test to pull themselves back in the game and potentially the series, only for Australia to come roaring back with a valiant tailend batting act and an excellent final hour with the ball.
The three lions bowled superbly for the better part of two and a half sessions on December 27 to keep the Aussies down to 267 after posting a paltry 185. But a collapse near the close of play left them precariously placed again at 31/4, hanging on a thin rope in the Test and the series.
It was, once again, the maestro James Anderson who led England’s fight with the ball in the first couple of sessions. The ace swing bowler enjoyed late seam movement on offer from the MCG track and went on to bag an important four-fer (4/33), which kept the Test and the series alive for some time on a day when Australia could easily have run away. Ollie Robinson (2/64) and Mark Wood (2/71) also chipped in with two wickets apiece.
At one stage, when Australia started losing their middle-order cheaply, it seemed that England may just get up with a lead. But an incredibly important half-century from opener Marcus Harris (76) and handy contributions from players down the order allowed Australia to keep their noses ahead and build an important lead of 82.
Harris’ innings was not only personally important to the left-hander, who had struggled in his previous innings of the series. But from the team’s point of view, it was a knock that kept Australia floating when they could’ve been drowned by Anderson & co on a spicy wicket. 27 from Travis Head was the next highest score for the day from the Aussie camp. But useful twenties from skipper Pat Cummins (21) and Mitchell Starc (24*) did their team no harm.
England will be a touch disappointed to have let go a position of strength to Australia’s lower-order, where Cummins and Starc piled on the lead and made their own task with the ball slightly easier.
Following the change of innings, the pace duo showcased what makes them such alarming threats in Australian conditions as they ran into the vulnerable England top-order. While Cummins beat the outside and the inside edge a number of times, Starc got amongst the wickets. He dismissed opener Zak Crawley (7) and in-form Dawid Malan (0) on successive balls to leave the visitors tottering at 7/2.
Crawley’s opening partner Haseeb Hameed was joined in by Root and that little passage, with the two batters really struggling for survival, summed up the difficulty of England’s task. Hameed was done in by first-change Scott Boland for seven off 31 balls, which continued his painful maiden Ashes tour to Australia.
Boland then also got nightwatchman Jack Leach out shouldering arms for a duck in the same over and reduced England to 22/4, which could only balloon up to 31/4 by stumps, with Root (12*) and Ben Stokes (2*) standing not out overnight.
Australia would’ve felt worried at one point during their innings, but a recovery led by the tailenders and a mighty burst with the ball would’ve brought about a sense of reassurance of their grip over the Test match. They are six wickets away from retaining the urn.
Brief scores
England 185/10 in 65.1 overs & 31/4 in 12 overs (Root 12*; Boland 1/2, Starc 2/11) trail Australia 267/10 in 87.5 overs (Harris 76, Warner 38; Anderson 4/33) by 51 runs
