England won the toss and elected to bowl under overcast skies at Lords.
Absolute jaffa by Starc
Pretty evenly poised after the second day I would say. ENG have done well to get back into the game. Lyon’s potential injury is quite worrying, is this the McGrath-rolling-his-ankle moment?? 😬
Great effort to bowl out the Poms. They didn’t like the old chin music too much, and some of their shot selection was horrendous. Just let it go!
Not sure what Warner was trying to achieve. All his timing and movements looked off. Meanwhile, Khwaja is our rock. The rain helped the Poms more than us.
With the ability of teams to score quickly nowadays, it makes it tricky to work out when & what you need to declare at. The main variable - the pitch - seems ok seeing as it looks like Lyon is out anyways. Though Head looked handy…
I’ll be jumpy as hell if we don’t have at least a 450 lead on the last day. The only way the Poms should win this is if we give them a chance with our declaration.
It would nice to bat with the sun out for once. Feel like it’s been gloomy every time we’ve batted this series
Yeah eng have definitely had the pick of the conditions. A real testament to the aussies that we’re still in a dominant position
Mmmmmmm. Begun, the Bouncer Wars have.
Gutsy by Lyon. Those 15 runs with Starc might be critical yet. And a couple of peaches from Starc, then Cummins.
Unless weather is bad, seems a result will happen. England still in with a chance. First session is gonna be critical, so hope the Aussies can grab some early wickets.
Also, are there any rules about a player using crutches? We could prop Lyon up at the crease, and have him roll his arm over 🤣
Gary Lyon. Respect.
Well. The second session was completely absurd. While you can’t deny the results, it felt like Bodyline V2. For a team that say they are there to “entertain”, I was very much not entertained. I really hope this doesn’t become the go-to strategy when things aren’t going your way, but you get the feeling that it will become much more common after the “success” of day 4. It doesn’t feel like a contest between bat and ball, the batsmen either constantly duck and score nothing, or take it on and inevitably hole out. I’m sure there are much smarter cricketing brains out there, but I can’t see how you combat it 🙁
On a more positive note, aus heavily in favour after the 3rd session. Though I won’t feel entirely comfortable until Stokes is out. Shame about the Starc catch, but I think it was a fair call. Just feels like the umpires haven’t been very consistent in how they apply the rules resulting in confusion everywhere.
I think the Starc catch gets given 9 times out of 10. He clearly had control of the ball, and his slide was not out of control. Badly worded law, and I can’t imagine too many Poms would actually complain if it was given.
Just stop it!
Great game. Fell asleep in a feverish dream with (I think?) England needing about 100 and Australia needing 4 wickets. And it seemed like Stokes could get that in about 4 overs…
Just couldn’t keep the eyes open, but amped to see we’ve gone up 2-0!
3 more tests like the first two, please and thank you!
Same, fell asleep with Stokes having just reached 150 and it looking like he would seal the win in a few overs time. Woke up to a pleasant (for an Aussie supporter) surprise!
I’m nervous 😬
Not as many runs for the Aussies as I would have liked, but looks to be another pretty even battle. Hope we can have a good 1st session for day 3 and get a lead.
Still hoping the pitch might crumble, and Lyon spins us to victory on day 5!
I was hoping for 450+ but can’t complain after being sent in. You’re right, we need a good first session. Lyon injury a worry, gonna need him in the 4th innings.
Can we please try to bowl to anyone but Stokes?
Pretty decent first session despite Ussie leaving one that nipped back on the stroke of lunch. Given the conditions would take 1/73 after being sent in
I thought it was a dead ball but 🤣
Nice to see the ball moving in the air and off the deck after that 1st test.
Despite that, the Aussies have done pretty well. Head/Smith partnership was crucial. Hope we can add at least another 100-150, then apply the pressure to England’s bats.
yeah smudge just looked ‘on’ from the get go, hope he can get a ton. Head was magnificent once again, passed Smith’s score at one point
A scintillating second session yesterday! The aussie batters did incredibly well to only be 2 down (courtesy of some Marnus luck). Uzzie a rock as usual. Warner may not have scored many, but soaked up a lot of balls, so not unhappy with that.
What do we reckon? A lead of 450 and put them in 10 minutes before tea?
450 would be ideal but might not get there now. The games turned a bit into bodyline.
Regardless, 350+ is a hard chase in the fourth innings of a test match whatever the conditions. Bazball doesn’t change that. Not saying it can’t happen, Headingley showed that, but we just have squeeze out as many runs as we can and not worry about the mind games of England thinking they can’t chase down anything.
Just gotta focus on working out how to get 10 wickets.
