England’s luckless start to the Ashes continued, as clear skies, no balls and missed opportunities saw the Australian batting order charge into to a commanding 196 run lead.
Following Marcus Harris’ early dismissal, a 156-run partnership from David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne saw the Aussies go ahead of the 147 total the English amassed in the previous day, before Travis Head came in and smashed an 85-ball century.
Ollie Robinson was England’s stand out bowler, taking three wickets for 48 runs with eight maidens, but spinner Jack Leach was targeted, conceding 95 runs off 11 overs.
The day will be remembered however for a multitude of missed wicket opportunities during Warner’s 94-run innings, notably an unfortunate no ball from Ben Stokes and a dropped catch in the slips from Rory Burns.
Joe Root must have been disheartened this morning when he opened his curtains this morning to see clear skies and beaming sunshine, a complete contrast to the difficult overcast conditions the England batsmen faced yesterday.
But when Chris Woakes and Robinson opened the bowling, England looked like they had Australia on the back foot.
Following a maiden opening over from Robinson, he drew an outside edge from Harris that fell gratefully into the hands of Dawid Malan.
That early breakthrough was the only shining moment in the morning session, and Labuschagne quickly set about building a partnership with Warner, after the latter escaped a wicket when Stokes bowled him on 17 but overstepped in his run up.
Once settled down, Warner and Labuschagne started to be more aggressive, and Leach’s introduction to the English attack provided an opportunity for them to score boundaries.
Labuschagne had his half century before lunch, and before Warner could reach his, England were rueing another missed opportunity.
Robinson’s eyes lit up as an edge from Warner’s bat flew towards the open hands of Burns, but his look quickly turned to disgust when England’s opening batsman inexplicably fumbled the ball.
Warner was living a charmed life, and was very nearly run out by Haseeb Hameed, but the 24-year-old narrowly missed the stumps with the Australian flailing for his crease.
It was Leach that eventually managed to break the partnership when Labuschagne wildly cut the ball away for a simple catch for Mark Wood, ending the Queenslander’s innings on 74.
More cricket news: https://uogjmag.co.uk/all-rounder-tom-price-extends-gloucestershire-contract-until-2023/
That brought Australia’s talisman Steve Smith to the crease, but the leading run-scorer from the previous Ashes series was dismissed relatively quickly as he was caught behind for just 12.
In the second over after tea, Warner was left stranded just shy of his century when he chipped the ball to Stokes, giving Robinson his second wicket of the match.
Cameron Green then fell for a duck after a misjudged leave, putting Robinson on a hat-trick.
But after that, Head took command, reaching his half-century in just 51 balls.
A worrying moment came when Wood’s ball ricocheted off the South Australian’s gloves and into his chin at 110mph, but he remained unfazed and 34 balls after making his 50, Head had his third test century – only Adam Gilchrist and Gilbert Jessop have made faster centuries in previous Ashes series.
Australia ended the day with Head still at the crease on 112*, and Mitchell Starc on 10*, with the first Test slipping further and further out of England’s hands.
Tomorrow…
With thunderstorms due overnight, the morning session of the third day has a question mark over it, but with a short window of overcast weather, England will have a good opportunity to minimize the damage, before sunnier skies should aid the batsmen in the second innings.
