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England claimed the advantage on Day 1 of the third Ashes Test against Australia and will now need to cement their place in the driver’s seat on the second day at Edgbaston. You can follow live scores and a blog of Day 2 of this second Ashes Test from 8:00pm AEST.
LOOKING FOR DAY 3? DAY 3 LIVE BLOG
Rain had its say on the opening day of the game but it was the England bowling that did all the talking. And it did not elicit the kind of response that Australia would have liked to dish out after having won the previous Test by a whopping 405-run margin.
Michael Clarke’s decision to bat first after winning the toss was castigated in some quarters but it wasn’t the toss but the poor batting that followed which laid the side low. On a track that admittedly assisted the English brand of bowling, Australia were no match.
Playing against swing has been an Achilles Heel for the Aussie batsmen in the past as well, but the carnage that followed might not have been an expected one. David Warner fell to an in-swinger that was followed by a ridiculous review, while Steve Smith’s unorthodox technique saw him nick one to the slips.
Michael Clarke’s poor run of form continued as he played all over a Steven Finn delivery and when Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Peter Nevill fell in reasonable succession, Australia were staring down the wrong end of the barrel.
Chris Rogers’s continuing form helped for a bit but James Anderson and Stuart Broad ran through the Aussie lower order to flatten them for a paltry 136.
What made things worse for Australia was their bowlers failed to get as much assistance as the English seamers had from the pitch.
More accurately, they didn’t get their lines and lengths right, not consistently enough to trouble the England batsmen and had been for the two wickets that Nathan Lyon managed to eke out through some strange plays, Australia might have been in a deeper hole.
As things stand, England are just three behind Australia and are just three wickets down. England’s task will be to bat two sessions from here on and they would have gotten themselves a big enough lead.
The pitch might ease out over the next couple of days, especially if the weather remains as good as the forecast has pointed out.
A lead of 200 will make it improbable for Australia to come back into the Test. On the other hand, Australia will be gunning for a collapse come Day 2, but the question is whether they have the arsenal in these conditions to get that going.
More vitally, they need their fast bowling troika to become more consistent when the conditions are so helpful. Restricting the England lead to 100 will be a must if they want to remain within touching distance of their opponent, failing to do so could just hasten the end.
Follow the live scores and blog of this second day of the third Ashes 2015 Test between England and Australia from 8:00pm AEDT on Thursday and post your comments in the section below.
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