Although Australia hasn’t officially won the Ashes yet, it appears to be a question of “when” rather than “if” after England’s challenge faded in the heat on day two in Adelaide. Ben Stokes put up a valiant fight, batting for more than four hours and facing 151 balls for his undefeated 45, but the skipper had few supporters on the searing deck as England faced a large first-innings deficit and dwindling prospects of extending the series till Christmas.
Despite the absence of Josh Hazlewood and Steven Smith, Stokes had urged his team to “show a bit of dog” in an attempt to pull off an unlikely comeback from a 2-0 deficit, but an Australia team with more than enough experience easily defeated England. On what appeared to be the ideal day for batting, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon both made a quick impression on their return to the starting lineup. Cummins took 3 for 54 in his first competitive appearance since the Caribbean tour in July, and England was easily defeated.
Although Mitchell Starc began the series with a barrage of fours to reach his second half-century in as many games, their one minor victory came from keeping him wicketless for the first time. However, Australia cheerfully added 45 runs to their overnight 326 for 8, so that could only be considered a partial success.
Additionally, there was additional Snicko aggression as both parties expressed their annoyance with the technology. Following the controversy over Alex Carey’s non-dismissal on day one, England was upset with Chris Gaffaney, the third umpire, for awarding Jamie Smith out when he was caught behind Cummins based on Real-Time Snickometer data. As Australia contended, Smith had survived under strange circumstances just moments earlier, with Gaffaney concluding that the ball had detached from his helmet despite TV images indicating touch with the glove (albeit it was debatable whether the ball had passed to Usman Khawaja at slip or not).
Gaffaney was not sure that an inside edge on to pad had touched Carey’s gloves on the full, so Joe Root was also given a reprieve. That didn’t change the fact that, as Adelaide’s temperatures rose close to 40 degrees Celsius, England appeared to have dashed their own aspirations once more with another poor batting performance.
The fact that England lost their top three in 15 balls before lunch added to Stokes’ poor start with the ball, which resulted in a furious argument with Jofra Archer as the latter was headed for his first Test five-for since 2019. After Stokes and Harry Brook had a 56-run partnership for the fifth wicket, Root was removed by Cummins for the 12th time in Tests—no one has been more successful against England’s main batsman. The innings thereafter collapsed.
Although Australia’s lead was still over 150 and England would have to bat last on a surface that is likely to break up in the heat, Archer did manage to stay with Stokes until the very end, creating the second-longest partnership of the innings.
Even though Carey’s first Ashes hundred put Australia over 300, there was a perception at the close of the first day that they had left many runs on the table. As Australia’s tail wagged successfully, Starc hit five boundaries in 12 balls, heightening the expectation that England would deliver on the promise of runs. Despite being leaky, Archer got rid of Lyon and Starc en route to his third five-wicket haul against Australia.
Although Ben Duckett had a bad start, England’s openers got off to a respectable start.
Australia was already shown a stronger tendency to bowl with the discipline needed on a hot morning, and Cummins made the breakthrough with a delicate ball that bounced and straightened, grazing Zak Crawley’s bat shoulder before reaching Carey.
After bowling just two overs in the triumph at Perth, Lyon’s absence in Brisbane had been the subject of much discussion. He had been sitting behind Glenn McGrath’s 563 for Australia since July, when he was also left out of the Jamaica Test against the West Indies. He entered this match one wicket behind McGrath. However, after just six balls, he tied McGrath and then surpassed him to grab second place on Australia’s all-time record.
Before Duckett was dismissed by a jaffa that pitched on middle and turned past a defensive prod to strike the top of off, Ollie Pope’s terrible record against Australia only became worse when he chipped tamely to midwicket.
England was already feeling the brightness of the southern sun at 42 for 3. When Australia was reviewing for a caught-behind of Scott Boland, they also believed they had Root early. Gaffaney came to the conclusion that the ball had bounced on its way into the gloves, even though replays showed that he had edged it through to Carey via his pads.
However, Cummins enticed Root to poke defensively at one in the channel, thus Root did not survive long after lunch. After his “shocking” dismissals in the first two Test matches, Brook was more composed, but he still shown moments of aggression, lashing Starc to deep backward point to bring up the fifty stand with Stokes and jumping down to lamp Boland all the way for six over cover.
He only added one to his score before being dislodged by Cameron Green’s second legitimate delivery, another pearler that reversed just enough to catch the outside edge, but he managed to survive being given out caught behind off Lyon on 44. This time, technology supported his belief that he hadn’t hit the ball.
In an innings of monastic self-abnegation that at least saw England fight to the end, Stokes had buckled down at the other end, facing 35 balls before hitting his first boundary and adding just two more. Even though there was additional doubt about the Real-Time Snickometer’s synching, he frowned angrily from under his helmet peak when Smith was instructed to go. His mood only became worse when Boland quickly dismissed Will Jacks and Brydon Carse. In an England shirt, Stokes has performed a number of miracles; it might require another to sustain this Ashes campaign.
India
