Australia cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win over England in the day-night second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Sunday for an ominous 2-0 lead in the series.
Set a paltry target of 65 for victory, Australia captain Steve Smith pulled Gus Atkinson for a huge six over square leg to get the job done in style. Although not as humiliating as the two-day loss in the first Test at Perth, England were comprehensively outplayed in every department. Australia are now overwhelming favourites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow.
‘First two days were even’
“Great day. First two days were pretty even, game turned when we were able to extend to get the new ball under lights, that was crucial for us,” said Smith. “It can be tricky with the pink ball, it changes really quickly and you have to adapt.”
For England it was more misery. Their batting, apart from Joe Root and Zak Crawley in the first innings and captain Ben Stokes and Will Jacks in the second, was just as rash as in Perth. They gave their wickets away with poor strokes on the bouncy Gabba surface. They also bowled poorly, pitching too short and wasting the new pink ball, in stark contrast to an Australian attack missing spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. To make matters worse, England dropped five catches in the first innings, whereas Australia’s fielders caught everything that came their way.
Very disappointing: Stokes
Josh Inglis’s brilliant run-out of Stokes in the first innings changed the course of the match. “Obviously very disappointing,” said Stokes. “A lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line.”
England were behind the game once they let Australia’s tail help the home side post 511 on Saturday, an overall lead of 177. They then lost six second-innings wickets under lights to end the third day 134-6, still 43 runs behind the Australian total. While many expected England to surrender meekly on Sunday, Stokes and Jacks defied the Australian pace attack on a fiercely hot day to edge their way past the initial deficit target and begin to set Australia something to chase.
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