MATCH REPORT
Follow UsFor the second day in a row, the Blundstone arena was witness to some unbelievable cricket as a scarcely-believable Day 2 saw 17 wickets fall in Hobart. Australia were bowled out for 303 in their first innings, but in response, England lasted just 47.4 overs as they were rolled over for 188. The visitors then bowled 19 overs in the final session, and were able to claim three key wickets. Crucially for Australia, however, Steve Smith remained unbeaten at stumps. The hosts have a 152-run lead with three full days left in the contest.
England lose 2 after bowling Australia out for 303
With Australia resuming the day on 241/6, England, who began proceedings with Stuart Broad and Mark Wood, got off to the near-perfect start. Both the bowlers were on the money from the get go, giving away no free runs, and Wood bounced Starc out in just the fifth over of the day. By then, the visitors had also conceded just 5 runs.
In walked Pat Cummins, and he endured the same fate as Starc. Once again it was Mark Wood with the bouncer, and once again an Aussie batter fell for the bait. 241/6 became 252/8 inside the first 30 minutes.
Alex Carey began the day on 10, but he was only able to add 14 more runs to his overnight tally before being castled by Chris Woakes. An inside-edge resulted in the undoing of the Aussie wicket-keeper. Suddenly, 300 seemed a long way away.
But just when England thought they were in line for a perfect session with the ball, their mood was spoiled by the pair of Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon. The duo added 23 runs together and the show-stealer was Lyon, who in his knock of 31 hit Mark Wood for three sixes.
Australia crawled towards the 300 run mark before being bowled out for 303.
Rory Burns and Zak Crawley kick-started proceedings with an hour left, and disaster struck in the very second over as Burns, following a miscommunication, was run-out via a smart direct hit from Marnus Labuschagne. It was yet another duck for the southpaw, who has had a torrid tour.
Crawley started his innings off fluently, but Cummins got the better of him in the final 30 minutes of the session, getting one to bounce and take the inside-edge. Travis Head at bat-pad took a sharp reflex catch.
England ended the first session 34/2, crucially with Joe Root and Dawid Malan both unbeaten.
Relentless Australia roll England over for 188
England began the second session on 34/2, and the first 45 minutes went in their favour, with both Root and Malan enduring plenty of luck. The scoreboard kept ticking and at one point, the visitors were 75/2, fighting it out on a Hobart wicket that had plenty to offer for the seamers.
However, what then followed was a rather predictable collapse that ended up bringing England to their knees.
Malan perished for 25 via a tame fine-leg tickle, and his wicket ended up opening the floodgates. 78/2 soon became 110/6, with all of Root, Stokes and Pope perishing. The ball was hooping around, at which point the Aussie seamers were unplayable.
England, at this point, looked like they would get rolled over for 150, but some resistance from the pair of Chris Woakes and debutant Sam Billings took the total to 188. Woakes, after being dropped on 0, made full use of the reprieve to score 36, while Billings scored a well-made 29.
Pat Cummins was the destroyer-in-chief for Australia, picking the 13th four-wicket haul of his career.
England make full use of favorable conditions to rattle Australia
England, with the bat, lasted only 47.4 overs, but the flip side of that was that they got to bowl nearly 20 overs under lights, with the ball swinging and seaming extremely. And the tourists made full use of favorable conditions as they picked 3 wickets to rattle the Aussies.
Stuart Broad took the new ball, and it took him just three balls to see the back of his arch nemesis David Warner. Warner tried to cut one uppishly, but all he could do was find the hands of Ollie Pope, who took a stunning catch.
Labuschagne was undone by a fine tickle, while Khawaja got bamboozled by a venomous short one by Mark Wood. Australia, at this point, were reeling at 33/3, 148 runs ahead of England.
But the hosts lost no more wickets as nightwatchman Scott Boland did a fine job, facing 25 balls. He did the job of protecting Steve Smith, who went to stumps unbeaten on 17.
