England are on the brink of a crushing defeat in the second Ashes Test after another batting collapse, and another chastening day at the Gabba.
Replying to Australia’s imposing 511, Ben Stokes’s side staggered to 134 for six by stumps, still 43 behind, and face a near-impossible task to avoid going 2–0 down with three to play. This Ashes series feels over almost before it has begun – and after just five days of cricket.
Only twice before have England overcome a bigger first-innings deficit to win a Test against Australia than the 177 they conceded here, and they were in games where they followed on – at Sydney in 1894-95 and the Headingley miracle of 1981. There will be no third instance here in Brisbane.
Gallingly for England, their second innings had reached the heights of 90 for one, with the sole wicket that of Ben Duckett, who fell victim for 15 to a shooter from Scott Boland that deflected off the toe off his bat into the turf.
But from there England went into freefall, with Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley driving carelessly on the up to provide return catches to Michael Neser – the stroke that has got them into so much trouble in these first two Tests.
And when Joe Root, their first-innings hero, edged an unwise drive at Mitchell Starc and was given out caught behind on review for 15, England were 121 for four, still 56 behind. It was the moment which seemed to confirm their fate.
If Duckett was unfortunate, Pope and Crawley – the two most indulged batsmen of the Bazball era – brought about their own demise, when England needed to replicate the discipline shown earlier in the day by Australia’s lower order.
Pope had been skittish from the start, eager to feel bat on ball after his first-innings duck. Somehow, he reached 26, only to aim an uppish drive at Neser, who clung on high to his left. It was a woeful stroke from a player who is 63 Tests into his career but shows little sign of graduating to the next level.
His Ashes average is now 18 from 14 innings, with no half-century, yet England continue to tolerate him in the crucial position of No 3, having wasted the summer series against India by failing to blood Jacob Bethell.
Crawley had played some classy strokes en route to 44, and looked good for his second half-century of the game before he too drove on the up against Neser, with the same result. It was mind-numbing stuff, and England were 97 for three, still 80 short of avoiding an innings defeat.
If Root and Harry Brook could stay together until stumps, all was not lost. But Starc, whose first seven overs had gone for 41, tempted Root with a fraction of width, and the bait proved too strong. Umpire Holdstock missed the edge, but DRS did not, and England had lost yet another batsman to an indiscretion outside off stump.
Brook lasted little longer. Having overturned umpire Saikat’s decision to give him out caught behind off Boland, he edged the next one, though this time Saikat gave him not out and it was Australia’s turn to use the technology to their advantage.
Perhaps chastened by his first-innings dismissal, Brook had played within himself. Was his defensive dismissal really preferable to the aggression that had cost him his wicket on day one? The Bazball debate will probably never end.
Before long, Jamie Smith’s horrible tour had continued, as he edged Starc to provide Alex Carey with his third catch of the innings. At that point, Australia probably needed only one more wicket in the 15 minutes before the scheduled close to ask for the extra half hour and raise the possibility of a three-day finish. Stokes and Will Jacks survived, but it’s a forlorn task from here.
Earlier, Australia effortlessly added 133 to their overnight 378 for six, with Starc top-scoring from No 9 with 77, and all 11 players reaching double figures.
Stokes removed Neser in the day’s third over with a delivery that bounced and caught the edge, and England had hopes of a swift finish when Carey was caught behind for 63, giving Gus Atkinson his first wicket of the series after nearly 41 overs.
At that stage, Australia were 416 for eight, and the lead was 83, which was handy, if not decisive. But Starc and Boland played the situation beautifully, opting to bat time rather than chase runs, and push the start of England’s second innings ever closer towards dusk.
They were helped by some one-dimensional English tactics, with the seamers going short more often than not, and Stokes apparently unsure whether to attack Starc, or get Boland on strike.
The upshot was a harmless halfway house in which Australia were content to pick off the runs at their own tempo. By the first interval, they had 450 for eight. And when Starc miscued Brydon Carse towards mid-off, where Stokes held on despite nearly colliding with Duckett, the total had swelled to 491 for nine.
The ninth-wicket stand had lasted 27.2 overs, the longest of the series. Starc, meanwhile, had become the highest-scoring No 9 in Test history, overhauling Stuart Broad’s tally of 1,389. More to the point, England looked bedraggled.
Brendan Doggett brought up Australia’s 500 by cover-driving Will Jacks for four, and the innings had extended to 6.02pm, with the lights now on, by the time he edged Jacks to Harry Brook at slip.
Might Stokes have turned to Jacks sooner? The odd ball turned, and the seamers were cooking in the Brisbane humidity. The 146 runs conceded by Carse, at more than five an over, were the most by an England quick in Australia since 1954-55. Under the captaincy of Len Hutton, England won that series 3–1, having lost the first Test.
You were hard-pressed to find anyone at the Gabba expecting a repeat.
Read more
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- Will Ben Stokes and England shatter decades of misfortune at The Gabba, or will the Aussies maintain their unyielding dominance in Brisbane?
- Did Ben Stokes’ England squad crumble under pressure as brainless batting led to a humiliating Ashes defeat?
- Can England overcome their Ashes drought Down Under with a controversial new approach spearheaded by captain Stokes?
- Can Ben Stokes’s heroics turn the Ashes tide for England past their Down Under rivals?
