Ashes 2017 Third Test Day 2 :Smith's 92 leads Australian fightback

Smith is unbeaten on 92.

Perth is a must win for England to stay in the series. (Getty)

Before the start of second days play, England pulled themselves ahead with a magnificent partnership between centurion Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow. But. They'll only solidify their upper hand if they win the first session this morning. The pitch had dried out in just the one day's cricket, there was good even bounce, and Australia is expected to bat well here, especially with the absence of the kind of swing there was in Adelaide. So it's was important for England not to throw all their good work away. As for Australia, we knew what their bowlers could achieve when they hit their strides, given that they hold onto their chances. They were pretty good in the first two sessions of yesterday.

The second day resumed with Malan and Bairstow stay solid at the crease with a vital partnership at Day 1, Starc for Australia started the proceeding with three slips and gully hoping to provide his team an early breakthrough. Australian bowlers were quite impressive in the attack restricting the visitors to score runs for first 21 deliveries.

England main motive of the first innings was to give Australia a 400 plus lead so that the bowlers can come heavily on the batting of the host. Malan and Bairstow slowly and gradually started to shift gears and start gathering runs for the team and moreover, both registered the highest 5th wicket test partnership for England of 237 runs with the visitors riding on the last gear.

 

Jonny Bairstow of England became 4th wicketkeeper-batsman to score a century in Australia after 6 years, previously it was Matt Prior to scoring a ton in Sydney in 2011. Both the players were well enough applauded for their fighting performance on such bouncy surface.

Malan scored 140. (Getty)

Dawid Malan gave his wicket to Nathan Lyon delivery that drifted across the left-handed batsman, beautiful slowed down the delivery that made Malan's way back to the pavilion and great catch by the substitute, Malan went back after a great knock of 140 runs.

Malan's wicket did not only broke the well-settled partnership but also entire England's lower order. Australian bowlers were right back in the game with taking last six wickets for just only 35 runs. 

Bairstow's 119 took England over 400. (Getty)

England was all out on 403 runs with no other batsman scoring par 20 runs. They had the match in control at 368/4 but giving six wickets away for only 35 runs was a serious disaster, Moeen Ali had also disappointed his fans.

Australia bowlers were quite impressive after Malan's breakthrough with Starc taking 4 wickets Cummings and Hazlewood joined the party with grabbing 5 wickets in total and Lyon with the crucial wicket of Malan had England team on toes.

Australian opening batsmen came to bat in the middle of the day 2, with an extreme task on their head Warner and Bancroft had to stimulate the second innings. Their session started off well but Anderson and company were trying to put in pressure over the opening pair of Australia.

The opening pair were seen to be under total pressure by Anderson leading with his swing bowling but it was young Overton who departed Warner and Bancroft despite having a wonderful start. Overton totally outplayed the opening pair with his fast pace, he already made an impact after performing good and enough to be on the side for the rest of Ashes matches.

The second session of the second day proved to be great for England after a barren opening hour. Bancroft and Warner had no trouble against Anderson and Broad but it was the introduction of Overton which has provided the tonic for the visitors. He hit a crack to get Warner out caught behind from around the wicket and then trapped Bancroft plumb in front. Has had Smith in trouble as well with balls jumping from a short of length and causing the Aussie skipper discomfort. To Khawaja, he is bowling with that crack near the good length spot in mind and has been the best England bowler on view.

Smith is unbeaten on 92. (Getty)

The third and the last session of 2nd Day resumed with Captain Smith and Khawaja finding Australia's lost rhythm and give their side a back up with a solid partnership together. Smith and Khawaja played sensibly with putting loose deliveries to boundaries and ticking off the scoreboard with one and twos.
Together they had scored and registered 124 runs for 3rd wicket partnership when Chris Woakes round the wicket trapped Khawaja on his delivery, out! Chris Woakes had a sigh of relief with pleased Captain Root the partnership was finally broken.

The second day of the third Ashes test ended with Steven Smith standing tall on 92 runs and Shaun Marsh playing on 7runs with Australia in control till now, as per England bowlers are concern Overton and Woakes were the one take wickets.

After the end of day's play, Australia was 203 for 3 wickets down with still trailing from  200 runs, the third day will have the same amount of intense cricket.

Brief Scores

Australia 3 for 203 (Smith 92*, S Marsh 7*) trail England 403 (Malan 140, Bairstow 119, Stoneman 56, Starc 4-91, Hazlewood 3-92) by 200 runs.

This article is originally written by Kunal Kataria

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 15 Dec, 2017

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