England Fightback and Find Themselves in the Game but Barely After Some Bad Phases

Coming into the second Day, England were left at the mercy of Steve Smith, who once again looked like he was set to give England a long day in the sun. He was at his characteristic best with his mannerisms on show, and with Steve Smith in the zone, taking on whatever England through at him. An hour into the first session though saw the game turn. By the end of the first session, England were batting with a score of 416 ahead of them.

England though, after coming back in the morning threatened to bite their own toes again as they went from a commanding 176-1 to 240-4. They finished though in a pretty good position with a 138 run difference. To add to their good performance England will now have a slight advantage with Australia losing their best spinner Nathan Lyon, who looks highly unlikely to take further part in this Test, leaving Australia with a considerable gap in experience and without a spinner coming into the back end of the Test.

England though could not push forward on the third day. With their spinner gone, Australia resorted to bowling short, and attacked the batters chests frequently. England though did not want the Australians to settled and decided to fightback as they consistently looked to pull the bowlers. Taking on the shortball though did not serve to be as effective as England quickly found themselves holing out to the fielders and were soon back on the field bowling with a deficit close to three figures.

By the end of the second day England for all their aggressive play had Ben Stokes batting patiently, in traditional Test match fashion. His approach though did not work long with Mitchell Starc cleaning him up early on the third day to trigger a collapse that squandered a good position for England. In the end, despite losing their spinner, Australia after allowing a brief fight back find themselves ahead.

England though will be left kicking themselves after allowing Australia in the game with some poor shots. The poor shots though remain questionable. After all, England got this far playing some aggressive cricket, and they are likely to continue the same way. Another aspect note worthing is the true strength in this English side. Last year, when Ben Stokes announced himself as the captain of the side, England went on to confidently chase down 300+ scores consecutively against both India and New Zealand.

Now with Australia leading by 170 odd, England could well get another target in the same range. Without Nathan Lyon, defending will be a little challenging and that will be something England will target as they wait for the Final innings to see if they can make stage another fightback in this Test.