With 178 runs to get and six wickets in the bank, England started their day searching for a series-levelling win with Je Root still at the wicket. What transpired in the first session and in the very fast hour of play was total domination from Australia.
Mitchell Starc and co made sure that England never got a start in the final day. Chris Woakes and Joe Root were dismissed on their identical overnight score. The England resistance ended there and then and Australia completed the formalities picking up the last four wickets in a giffy.
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Australia in the process thus took an unassailable 2-0 lead which will be very difficult for England to overhaul.Jonny Bairstow scored tried to provide some late resistance by scoring 36 but it was just not enough for an England fightback. Root’s dismissal proved to be the turning point in the Test match which provided Australia the opening for a late surge.
Australian bowlers led by Mitchell Starc were a handful for the England batting line-up which still looks feeble and brittle in the middle order. The match saw various turning points which tilted the match in Australia’s favor. Nathan Lyon dismissing Moeen Ali in the first innings was one of the key moments. It was him and Bairstow trying to resurrect the England innings which was then stopped by Lyon.
England had an upper hand in the second innings when they bundled out Australia for just 138.354 was just too much to chase for the England team as it turned out in the second innings. Seniors statesmen Cook and Root found it tough to score majority of the runs which was the need of the hour.
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At the end of it all, the England middle order proved to be inexperienced and substandard in front of an Australian attack which became lethal with pace and swing as the Test match went on.
Perth now awaits an Australian team leading 2-0 in the series and an England team trying to make a match and launch a fight back.
Brief Scores
England 227 and 233(Root 67, Starc 5 -88) lost by 120 runs against Australia 8 for 442 dec and 138 (Anderson 5-43)
