DAY 2 REPORT
Follow UsNew day but same England. It was like watching the same Test match all over again. The tourists looked threatening in patches but for a major part of the day, they were too flat to make a decisive move in the Test match. Consequently, Australia recovered from 242/5 to declare at 416/8. If anything, they jogged to that total, riding on Usman Khawaja’s comeback century, 137 off 260 deliveries.
For England, Stuart Broad picked a five-wicket haul. Prior to the Test, the lanky pacer stated his disappointment on conceding the Ashes despite featuring in only one of the three matches. Stats were thrown to underline his bowling average of 39.5 in 2021. Broad left all the white noise and the disappointment behind him, claiming 5/101. Unfortunately, he did not get much support from his teammates, except Mark Wood whose figures of 1/76 speak little for the effort he put in. James Anderson conceded only 54 runs in his 30 overs but his false-shot percentage of 12.7 was the least among the four England seamers.
The headline of the day, however, was Khawaja. Returning to Test cricket after 29 months, the southpaw batted for nearly seven hours to notch up his ninth Test century. It was adorned with patience and restraint as he used 201 balls to get there. But the story lies in the first fifty runs which took 134 balls. It was a combination of nerves, various rain interruptions demanding him to reset the innings and the top three batters squandering their starts.
Even the morning session today had three rain breaks before the weather settled for good. Khawaja built a strong fourth-wicket stand with Steve Smith. The duo added 115 runs for the fourth wicket where Smith was the senior scorer. Broad broke the partnership post lunch. Bowling with the second new ball, he got Smith into a tangle, edging him to the wicketkeeper for 67.
Smith missed his hundred but Khawaja carried on. He was lucky to receive a reprieve early in the day. On 28, Khawaja edged Jack Leach. But Joe Root was not able to react in time to the ricochet opportunity off Jos Buttler’s left leg. That was the only blemish in an otherwise flawless knock from Khawaja. Alongside a lot of running between the wickets, it was composed of silky drives through covers and imperious cuts and pull strokes.
England still stood a great chance to wrap up Australia within 350. But for the nth time in the series, they failed to run through the lower-order. Pat Cummins (24) added 46 runs for the seventh wicket with Khawaja. Mitchell Starc, who averaged 58.5 in the series before this Test, added 67 for the eighth wicket. With everyone else deemed ineffective, Broad returned for a sixth spell to halt Khawaja’s effort and complete his five-for. Starc himself had an unbeaten 34 against his name when Australia declared.
The visitors also missed Ben Stokes’ services as a bowler. The all-rounder left the field in the middle of his 14th over clutching his left side. Stokes returned to the field a few overs later but it was clear that he was unavailable as a bowler. Consequently, there were times when England had to bowl Joe Root and even Dawid Malan. Leach and Root bowled three over in tandem during which Khawaja and Alex Carey milked 21 runs. Although Root dismissed Alex Carey, their pairing eased Australia’s task.
Declaring at 418/6, Australia gave themselves five overs at England openers to make some inroads. They came quite close when Mitchell Starc got Zak Crawley to defend loosely outside the off-stump. The edge was taken safely in the slip cordon but the replays suggested Starc had overstepped by a fine margin. Unscathed at stumps, the visitors are 403 runs behind.