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Australia took the game by the scruff of its neck on the second day of the Lord’s Test and it will require a huge effort from England to try and escape unscathed into the third Test of the series. You can follow live scores and a blog of the third day of this second Ashes Test from 8pm AEDT.
LOOKING FOR DAY 4? DAY 4 LIVE BLOG HERE
If winning the toss was an advantage, it was well-taken by the Australian batsmen over the first two days. First the batsmen ground the English attack on what looked like a very flat pitch to pile up 566 in their first dig before a spell of 29 overs was enough to blast out four English batsmen.
Going into the third day, England will know they need to dig themselves out of a huge hole to escape with a lead by the end of this Test.
Chris Rogers and Steven Smith resumed on their century-run scores on day two while the opener fell soon after being smacked on his head, Smith went on to complete his first ever Test match double-century. He had come close once before, getting out on 199 against the West Indies.
At the other end, he had enough support from the middle and lower order to help them capitalise on the start Australia had on the opening day. Debutant Peter Nevill’s 59-ball 45 sealed the deal for Australia after a couple of quick wickets seemed to have derailed Australia’s quest to get as close as possible to 600.
England had about a session to survive and to be frank, it was always going to be a difficult one. Tired minds and bodies up against a fresh Australian pace attack for a condensed period of time was always going to make for tough cricket and the England batsmen failed to rise to the levels they would have liked.
Three of their top five batsmen, Adam Lyth, Ian Bell and Joe Root, fell for 0, 1 and 1, the first time in 160 home Ashes Tests that England have suffered that fate.
Gary Ballance was the only other wicket which was snapped up after he had gotten off to a start, leaving England struggling at 4/30 at one stage. They ended the day at 4-85 thanks to a counter-attacking 50-ball 38 from Ben Stokes but there’s still a proverbial mile to go before they can heave a sigh of relief.
The good news for England is their captain Alastair Cook is still at the crease. Even as wickets kept tumbling around him, Cook’s effort at the crease was in a stark contrast to how he had gone in the first Test.
Then, he was aggressive and almost played against his natural game. Here, he looked to have gone to the other extreme of the spectrum but the situation probably demanded the same out of him.
The other plus for England is their batting depth. Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali occupy the number seven and eight position in the line-up and as has been the case throughout the careers, they can more than bat.
Thirdly, what’s also in England’s favour is the pitch itself. It’s an easy-paced one and once the ball gets older, batting should become easier for England.
Can they try and bat out the day? Can they edge past the follow-on mark, only if to gain some psychological points? Or will the Australian bowler scythe through the rest of the English batting and make it improbable for the hosts to save this Test?
Follow the live scores & blog of the third day of this England versus Australia second Ashes Test match from 8:00pm AEST on Saturday and post your comments in the section below.
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