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A fighting England bowling pulled the handbrakes on Australia before Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh brought the opening Ashes Test to parity on day two.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of day three at the Gabba from 11am (AEDT).
In a game of fluctuating fortunes, it’s difficult to discern who is on top at the moment.
Not that it matters a lot even if one or the other team is ahead after day two because the difference between the two sides isn’t too much anyway.
What would be significant is if either side can make day three count for a lot more than the other but by the looks of it, rain could play spoilsport throughout the day.
If one were to ignore the weather, the two teams would have their strategies marked out and hope they come off well in the end. Because neither side probably can predict how the surface might play going into the final two days of the Test – the crucial, business-end of the game.
Because, rather surprisingly, the Gabba surface, which usually ends up becoming quicker as the Test match progresses, was seen to have gotten slower on day two. That made run-scoring tougher and a run-rate of 2.5 was on display.
The Aussie top-order failed to adapt to the surface as nicely as Smith and Marsh did. There was a phase in their partnership – which is already 89 runs old – they made just 10 runs from 10 overs but they did not let that bog them down and when the scoring opportunities arrived, they did capitalise.
What also could have pushed the Aussies back was the loss of those four early wickets.
Cameron Bancroft had a forgetful first effort at the crease, Usman Khawaja’s issues against spin still need sorting, David Warner got out to that dink pull he often gets into trouble with while Peter Handscomb’s back-foot play proved to be fatal for a change as Australia fell to 4/76 at one stage in reply to England’s 302.
Thereafter it became a battle of attrition and that could well continue into the third day as the two teams look to fight it out for top honours by the time the day ends.
Prediction
Australia will look to bat on and on and tire the opposition bowlers much like how England tried and succeeded to an extent. On such a surface it would behoove them not to lose their patience in search for quick runs, and if they can get through to the tea interval with wickets still in hand, they would be mighty pleased.
England’s primary target will be picking early wickets but in the absence of that, they will continue to aim at choking the run-flow with funky fields and stump to stump bowling. The question then would be, who blinks first.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of Day 3 of the 2017-18 Ashes series from 11am (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
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