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Australia vs England: The Ashes cricket live scores, blog – 3rd Test, Day 2

15th December, 2017
First ball: 1:30pm (AEDT) - 10:30am (local)
Venue: WACA, Perth
TV: Live, Nine Network
Online: Cricket Australia Live Pass
Overall record: Played 343, Australia 142, England 108, drawn 93
Record in Australia: Played 164, Australia 84, England 56, drawn 24
Record at the WACA: Played 13, Australia 9, England 1, drawn 3
Umpires: Chris Gaffaney and Marais Erasmus

First Test: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test: Australia won by 120 runs

Australia
1. David Warner
2. Cameron Bancroft
3. Usman Khawaja
4. Steve Smith (c)
5. Shaun Marsh
6. Mitchell Marsh
7. Tim Paine (wk)
8. Mitchell Starc
9. Pat Cummins
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood

England
1. Alastair Cook
2. Mark Stoneman
3. James Vince
4. Joe Root (c)
5. Dawid Malan
6. Jonny Bairstow (wk)
7. Moeen Ali
8. Chris Woakes
9. Stuart Broad
10. Craig Overton
11. James Anderson
(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)
Expert
15th December, 2017
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England finally hold control of a match in the Ashes, but they need to drive home their advantage against Australia on Day 2 of the third Test at the WACA. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 1:30pm (AEDT).

It was almost like Day 1 saw a role reversal. Across the first two Tests, Australia have nearly always been the team to dominate whenever the going was tight.

The first half of yesterday was exactly that, although the hosts probably were on the front foot in the middle of the day when they had England sitting at 4 for 131 in the 38th over with Joe Root and the struggling Alastair Cook both back in the sheds.

It was then the unlikely combination of Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow who held things down, keeping the Australians at bay and putting on an unbeaten stand of 174 with England getting to stumps at 4 for 305.

Malan brought up his maiden Test century as the Australian bowling gradually dropped off in quality throughout the afternoon while Bairstow sits on 75 not out overnight.

While the pitch has been criticised for being flat, the hosts showed taking wickets is possible. They bowled expertly early in the day, having England on the ropes four down.

Yet, as is so often the case in Perth, once a batsman survives the early part of his innings, scoring is possible at quite a rate.

For the most part, Australia bowled too short during the afternoon with Nathan Lyon also struggling to make any impact. The under-use of all-rounder Mitchell Marsh was baffling, and some of the hosts bowling changes seemed to be poorly timed by Steve Smith.

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Put under pressure for the first time in the Ashes, they seemed to implode a little bit, running out of answers to stop Malan and Bairstow who will now look to push ahead tomorrow.

While England don’t neccessarily need a win in Perth to retain the urn, they will want to get on the scoreboard ahead of Melbourne and Sydney and therefore need to keep the game moving today with rain forecast on both Sunday and Monday.

The tourists must also learn from Australia and get their length right when they come out to bowl – if they don’t, David Warner has the potential to eat them alive.

Day 2 prediction
This is going to be a battle for the bowlers. It’s inevitable that Australia will bat at some point today, but England need to keep them in the field for two sessions and rack up 500.

Based on what we have seen throughout the series with their concentration lapses, that’s not going to happen.

It all comes down to how the tourists attack copes with the WACA wicket. I’d expect poorly given how well Australia bowled yesterday for their poor results, so the hosts should be in control of this one by the end of Day 2.

Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of Day 2 from 1:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to get involved by dropping a comment below.

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