Joe Root survived a full second session alongside captain Ben Stokes to guide the visitors to a competitive 196/4 after 47 overs. On the other end, Mitchell Starc has consistently chipped away at the English batting order, picking up three wickets, with the important wicket of Harry Brook falling after Tea.
Just before that, Zak Crawley only managed an inside edge from an innocuous delivery from Doggett and fell in the 28th over. In an interesting turn of events, the English batting contingent put up exactly 98 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in each of the first two sessions on Day 1 of this second Test match in Brisbane.
Stokes played a few clean drives as he slowly settled into a batting rhythm and remained unbeaten on 14 from 23 deliveries. His presence at the crease will be crucial for partner Root, as the pair will look to take England closer to the 300-run mark in order to be competitive.
With Jamie Smith and Will Jacks the only remaining recognized batters in the dugout, the pair in the middle will look to add at least 75-odd runs, to set the innings up perfectly for the bottom order. In case they collapse, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer will need to play handy cameos that could propel the visitors to a respectable total.
The question remains – can Australia take some crucial wickets in quick succession to gain a foothold in the game? Or can England preserve the wickets of arguably their two most important batters and put up a formidable total at the Gabba?
All the questions will be answered shortly as Root has taken guard and Starc is ready to steam in to bowl his 13th and Australia’s 48th over of the match. Here we go, final session of Day 1!