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Australia failed to capitalise on the starts their batsmen got and ended the second day of the first Ashes 2015 Test just behind England in the favourites chart. You can follow the live scores of the third day of this opening Ashes Test from 8pm AEST.
With Chris Rogers scoring a positive 95, he probably needed support from just one of the other batsmen and Australia might have been better placed than they were at stumps. They have lost half their side and are still 166 runs behind the England total on a pitch which could progressively become more difficult to bat on.
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After David Warner’s circumspect start ended on 17, there were three 30s from the Australian batsmen but neither could push forward. Interestingly, Shane Watson, one of those who is usually responsible for getting off to a few runs and then throwing it away, wasn’t one of those three – he was still at the crease on 29.
Steven Smith’s dismissal for 33 will raise eyebrows. It was one of the strangest shots one would have seen, not least because it came from the world number one Test batsman. A shimmy down the track in an attempt to deposit Moeen Ali over the fence was met by the shortening of length and a thoroughly bamboozled Smith decided to go through with his shot.
He could have tried to pad it away, but there are no guarantees he wouldn’t have missed it and got out stumps. Instead, he got himself into a bizarre square-on position and only edged it to the short mid-on fielder.
Michael Clarke survived a burst from his nemesis in Stuart Broad but went on to fall to Moeen – again, an attempt to smash it down the ground went straight to the bowler’s hand.
Adam Voges was the third of those 30-scorers, before he became the fifth and the final victim of the day’s play for England. After having frustrated him into scoring just 31 from 74, a slower ball was mistimed straight to short-cover.
Amid all this, Alastair Cook’s fielding position was praiseworthy, as was the bowling of all their bowlers.
Earlier, England had resumed at 7/343 and plundered 87 runs thanks to Moeen’s half-century. He was his aggressive self – he opens the innings for Worcestershire in t20 cricket – and smashed an 88-ball 77 to propel the side to beyond 400.
Going into the third day, Australia need to bat long into it. And it won’t be easy because while the pitch is still docile, it’s getting slower by the minute and England seem to have the bowling to exploit it. If not to get wickets, they do look like they can build the pressure and eke out wickets out of that.
Batting on the final day might not get easy and Australia need to be mindful of that fact too, which means their first task it to get as close to the English score as possible. A lot will depend on how Watson goes and given how his position in the side going into this Test wasn’t quite tenable, it will be a good time to get a big one.
Follow the live scores and blog of the third day of this England versus Australia first Ashes Test match from 8pm AEST on Friday and post your comments in the section below.
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