(Cricket news) England started day 2 on 68/3 with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow at the crease. Captain Pat Cummins once again gave his side the perfect start by getting rid of Root early on. Mitchell Starc came into the attack shortly to dismiss Jonny Bairstow. England were in deep trouble on 87/5 but Ben Stokes, like he always seems to do, produced the goods to get his side out of jail.
Initially batting with Moeen Ali and later with the tail he added some invaluable runs. Stokes scored 80 off 108 balls in classic Stokes fashion with 6 fours and 5 sixes. There wasn’t much support from the other end but he still did some damage before being dismissed by Todd Murphy.
The most astonishing part is that Ben Stokes did all that while carrying an injury. He was visibly in a lot of pain but England desperately needed him to do the job which he did. Moeen Ali’s dismissal was a big talking point as he played a clumsy shot of Pat Cummins after being frustrated by Australia’s short ball barrage.
Mark Wood’s Test return became even more impactful as he scored 24 runs in just 8 balls which ended up being very useful. England were bowled out for 237 which was 26 less than Australia. Cummins led from the front with 6 wickets as he was by far the best bowler on display. Mitchell Starc got 2 scalps while Todd Murphy and Mitchell Marsh chipped in with 1 wicket each.
Australia came out to bat with a lead of 26 runs which was looking very handy. David Warner was once again troubled by Stuart Broad as he was dismissed on 1. It was the 17th time Broad had gotten the wicket of Warner in Test match cricket which is just astonishing. Marnus Labuschagne got off to a good start like he has for most of the series but he again failed to build on it.
Labuschagne tried to slog sweep Moeen Ali but it went straight to deep mid-wicket. Moeen wasn’t done there as he got rid of Steve Smith shortly after. Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh who were Australia’s best batters in the 1st innings are at the crease now as Australia have a lead of 142 runs with 6 wickets in hand.
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