David Warner endures a Test match to forget

A riveting day of Test cricket filled with plenty of ebbs and flows that enthralled fans. Australia and England battled hard on the second day of the final Ashes Test at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. 

After starting on the overnight score of 241/6, Australia's lower-order scraped past the 300-run mark to a massive first innings total on a surface conducive for bowling. 

One of the concerns for the England team in this series has been the lack of partnerships from openers. With Haseeb Hameed failing to consolidate his place in the side, the team management drafted Rory Burns in the playing XI for this game. 

However, the southpaw endured a dismal outing with the bat as he was dismissed for a duck courtesy of a direct hit from Marnus Labuschagne at covers, making it his third dismissal via a similar mode in his Test career. 

The last time an England opener was caught inches short of the crease was also Burns, in November 2019 against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2019. 

With the openers dismissed cheaply, England were reeling at 29 runs when Joe Root walked in to take centre stage. The onus yet again was on the right-handed batter to assure his back to safety. 

The 31-year old consolidated the innings and stitched a 49-run partnership for the third wicket with Dawid Malan before the southpaw was undone by a faint edge down the leg-side. 

Despite the stutter, Root continued to hold one end and accumulate the ones, and the twos before a beauty from his opposite number Pat Cummins accounted for his massive wicket. 

En route to his valuable contribution of 34 runs, Root became the fourth player to score 1000 runs in the Ashes as a captain of the England side. 

With 1014 runs in 28 innings, Root is the latest entrant in the list of players to smash 1000 runs in the oldest rivalry. Archie MacLaren is on top of the list with 1156 runs in 36 innings. 

The visitors' middle-order side crumbled under pressure as they were bundled out for 188 runs in the first innings, giving Australia a lead to 115 runs and a chance to seal the game. 

However, the new ball attack of England had different ideas as Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes started the innings in a commanding fashion, scalping the wickets of David Warner and Labuschagne in the first four overs with only five runs on the board. 

After a 22-ball duck in the first innings, Warner stepped onto the field with an aim to avoid the pair and help Australia score some handy runs in the final hour of play. However, the southpaw, while attempting a cut to get off the mark managed to hand Ollie Pope a catch at backward point, making him the first Australian opener to record a duck in both the innings at home in this century. 

The last time as Aussie opener registered a pair in the longest format at home was Graeme Wood back in November 1980 against New Zealand at Perth. 

The dismissal also resulted in Stuart Broad accounting for his wicket for the record 14th time, the most by any bowler in Test matches.

The pacer was one of the standout performers for the side in the first innings and continued to impress with his nagging line and length. 

In the six overs he has bowled thus far in the second innings, he conceded nine runs and picked up the vital wicket to Warner, making him the second bowler after Ian Botham to scalp most wickets against Australia in Tests. 

While Botham has 148 wickets in 66 innings, Broad has 129 dismissals to his name in 64 innings.