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[VIDEO] Ashes: England vs Australia 4th Test - Day 2 cricket highlights, scores, blog

7th August, 2015
Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Start Time: 8pm AEST (1100 BST)
TV: GEM (live from 19:30 AEST)
Radio: ABC Grandstand Digital (live from 19:30 AEST)
Online: Cricket Australia Digital Pass

Head to Head: Played 339, England 107, Australia 139, Draws 93
In England: Played 164, England 50, Australia 48, Draws 66
England: Adam Lyth, Alastair Cook ©, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (w), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Mark Wood

Australia: Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Peter Nevill (w), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Michael Clarke is ready to come out of retirement. Anyone keen to ask him? (AFP PHOTO/Lindsey Parnaby)
Roar Guru
7th August, 2015
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29075 Reads

It was a first day Australia would love to forget in a hurry but the ramifications it could have on this series might make it improbable for them to do that. You can follow the live scores and a blog of the second day of this fourth Ashes Test from 8:00pm (AEST).

On a day when Australia were bowled out for a paltry 60, England almost ran away with the game by taking a lead of 214 runs for the loss of just four.

The contrast in the two scores can be attributed in part to the difference in the conditions – when Australia batted there was a cloud cover almost throughout while England had no such worries. But it made for only a very small part of the reason.

The rest of it was down to Stuart Broad’s bowling, some poor stroke-play and then a counter-attacking century from Joe Root. In partnership with Jonny Bairstow, who was coming off a failure at Edgbaston, the pair added 173 and took the game beyond the Aussie grasp.

England’s decision to field first could well have back-fired but despite showing a tentativeness at the toss, Alastair Cook had had a fair glimpse of how Australia had caved in when the pitch at Edgbaston swung. Not in his wildest fantasy would he have thought he would be walking back out from the pavillion with batting pads on, less than 19 overs after having put the Aussies in.

Chris Rogers pushed at Broad and was caught in the slips. Steven Smith played a mirror image of that stroke and perished in the same manner to leave Australia two down in the first over.

David Warner was one of two who didn’t fall to Broad on the day but he lasted all of two balls.

Shaun Marsh’s fortunes early in his innings have never been the best and he registered another duck to his name while Michael Clarke’s poor form continued yet again. Clarke, however, had no-one else to blame but himself as he flashed at a wide delivery that he should have left alone.

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And with the ball continuing to swing and the Aussie batsmen clearly fish out of water in the conditions, Adam Voges, Peter Nevills and the rest of the tail fell away to Broad in a jiffy.

As if getting bowled out for 60 wasn’t enough, the England batsmen played like there was absolutely nothing wrong with the track.

The early moisture had obviously dried out and the cloud cover had disappeared, but it wasn’t as if Australia bowled too well. Josh Hazlewood’s consistency had gone missing last Test and he failed to discover it on the first day here and Mitchell Johnson’s length did not help him too much on such a track.

It was only Mitchell Starc’s three-for that kept Australia in the game for starters but once he was off, probably exhausted by extra spells because of the absence of Mitchell Marsh, Root and Bairstow made hay.

They were quick to latch on to anything remotely loose and very soon, started making good balls look bad.

Root’s century, his third in Ashes cricket, came from just 128 deliveries and ensured England had not only gotten themselves to the driver’s seat but had also begun to race ahead in full gear.

From here we’ll wait to see if something very special can be produced off the Aussie bats in their second dig or if the elements can bail them out of a possible thrashing and a series defeat.

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You can follow the live scores and a blog of this second day of the fourth Ashes Test between England and Australia from ​8:00pm (AEST) on Friday and post your comments ​in the section ​below.

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