Warner out, the crowd right behind England. Fascinating test cricket.
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Warner out, the crowd right behind England. Fascinating test cricket.
Aus 19-2!
Labusagne fails to duck a bouncer. Looks in a spot of bother.
Well, such drama!
Two Tests in and both, for different reasons have provided so much entertainment!
Today was fantastic cricket, a pleasure to watch.
England went for the draw, fair enough. Australia bowled well but were never going to win.
As far as the Ashes go, it is surely advantage Australia now
It’s definitely advantage Australia now I’d say, one win in the final three tests is enough to retain the Ashes. One thing I would say though is that spell Archer bowled on Saturday to Smith and Cummings was a real game changer for England. I can’t ever recall seeing anyone in an English shirt bowl like that, it was absolutely brutal stuff. The Aussie batsmen won’t be looking forward to facing that sort bowling.
England will have derived some confidence from the way the momentum was with them towards the close yesterday - and with Smith potentially missing for Australia they'll fancy their chances of making a contest of the series. However, with just three Tests left it's surely too tall an order for England to win at least two of them.
I think it's a tad unfair to say England "went for the draw". It's a difficult balance, you couldn't say they had nothing to lose. 1-0 is difficult, but 2-0 would've been practically impossible to overturn. If they hadn't lost that 10 overs in the morning it would've been mighty close.
There's been a wee bit of momentum shift. If Smith is out for Headingley and Archer can bowl as well again (tall order for his second test!), and then Jimmy makes it back for Old Trafford. Lots of "ifs" but we could be in for a hell of a finale.
Yeah, I should have been clearer. I don’t think they set out from the start for a draw but I thought they batted too long in the third innings and essentially were accepting a draw with the outside chance of a win. They lost bowling time as a consequence and a slightly lower total might have been more enticing for the Australians and given England a victory.
As it stands Australia only need to win one from three to retain the Ashes now. Bowlers win matches and Australia have so much depth that Mitchell Starc hasn’t even been used yet, while England are really light in that department.
Re Smiths injury, his replacement certainly seized his opportunity! Warner and Bancroft have both been very disappointing so far but are obviously very talented players and it seems inconceivable that they won’t come good soon.
Smith out for the third test. Huge boost for England.
Overcast and a threat of rain here in Leeds. Fingers crossed!
Australia are 25/2 a wicket each for Broad and Archer. Warner is hanging on grimly.
Take a bow Jofra Archer. Superb stuff.
Great day’s play from Jofra Archer today.
I think what is interesting is that he can bowl with real pace but with accuracy too. Steve Harmison and Mark Wood have bowled just as fast for England, but for me Archer keeps a better line and length.
It is also interesting that any Australian batsman used to be relatively comfortable with pace, having regular Sheffield Shield games (Aussie version of the County Championship) at the WACA in Perth. The WACA was basically a fast bowling alley, which also took a bit of swing from the coastal atmosphere and winds. You had to quickly learn to play deliveries in the low nineties or be skittled out. The current crop of Australian batsmen don’t play a lot of Shield cricket, they play international matches in the various formats and look for the vastly rewarding T20 contracts in the various leagues. They simply don’t have the experience of hostile, very fast bowling in the way their predecessors did.
Of course, a number of the Australian squad took what seemed the eminently sensible decision of playing County Championship cricket this summer to acclimatise with England conditions. That didn’t seem like a bad call but....... because of the World Cup and the Ashes, the Championship season started earlier than usual, suiting pitches that were all about a bit of swing in moist conditions. They certainly weren’t about furious pace and aggressive balls at chest and head height.
My only fear for Archer is that he is over-bowled by his captain. It must be impossible not to ask him to front up again and again but fast bowling is a big ask on the body and while his efforts have been outstanding he is only human. England are already depleted in the pace department and they can’t afford to lose this guy.
For Australia, a difficult day and a bit of a collapse to say the least. On the plus side, Warner finally got a knock that might boost his confidence. And Labuschagne had a splendid innings, safe and full of technique but putting on runs. If Smith is able to return for the next Test then it raises questions for Australia. Much like England had to push Root up, Australia might find themselves pushing Smith up to accommodate Labuschagne and dropping the ineffectual Khawaja.
Not checked the weather forecast for tomorrow yet. Hopefully there will be a full day’s play. It is a low total from Australia but they have three fantastic quicks and the absolutely reliable Nathan Lyon and have every chance of making inroads. As ever, morning session feels crucial :greengrin
Another great "This us how it feels" report MA. Summing up in a few sentences all the toing and froing of yet another great day for the game of cricket.
I'm probably out of order with this but I can't stop feeling irked at the way ECB changed the residency rules to allow Archer to qualify this year, a coincidence of course. Having said that, it's a delight watching him bowl though time will tell how his body stands up to the stresses a la Mark Wood
Roy out for 9, such a talented player but, never going to have a career as an opening batsman in the Test side.
Root gone for a duck, 10-2.
What was Roy thinking? As tempting as that shot may have been surely that early you just leave it.
I think Root will be moving back to number 4 soon. It won’t make much difference if the openers can’t hang around a bit. Denly also out for a duck.
edit he appeals it and it’s going over the top.
20-3, what a mess.
Some of these shots that the batsmen are trying to play are ridiculous, 34-4.
This is painful. England have lost the plot.
5 down now. They're going to be about 100 behind.