This Boxing Day Test is moving on at the speed of sound as we already entered the fourth innings before Tea on Day 2.
England did well to bowl Australia out for 132, which was 20 short of their first innings total. Brydon Carse was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors, notching 4/34 from his 11 overs, bowling three maiden overs. Captain Ben Stokes picked up 3/24, Josh Tongue chipped in with his 2/44, and Gus Atkinson picked 1/20 from his five overs.
Chasing a total of 175 seemed like a mammoth task, given it would be the highest on the board in this Test if surmounted. England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett walked out to the middle with the immense weight of expectations on their shoulders. Despite a few hiccups with beautiful deliveries from Mitchell Starc and Michael Neser, the pair survived.
Together, Crawley and Duckett added 51 runs for the first wicket – the first time that has occurred in this Ashes series. That was all the relief they were to get as Duckett was cleaned up with a peach of a yorker from Starc who got the vital breakthrough for Australia.
The batter that walked in at three made most people rub their eyes in disbelief as Carse was sent out into the middle. It would be too soon to comment on the reason why, as only Stokes or the team management could unravel that mystery!
The experiment was short-lived as the seemingly hard-hitting batter was dismissed for a meagre six runs from eight deliveries. Jacob Bethell was the next man in and has looked good at the crease so far, hitting two boundaries to get to nine runs off as many deliveries.
England’s other opener Crawley will come out to bat at the other end and has been going well at 22 from 31 deliveries, hitting two fours and one six.
The upcoming session could very well be the last of this 4th Test at the MCG. One would think if England were to bat out the day, they would chase down 98 runs. On the other hand, those 25-odd overs also seem like plenty of time for the Australian bowlers to work their magic.
Only one way to find out – join us for the third and final session of Day 2, shortly.
