England‘s overnight batters
Joe Root and
Dawid Malan started the
third day of the ongoing second Test against Australia in Adelaide with many hopes upon them. The duo didn’t disappoint English fans as they inspired a splendid fightback, disallowing the hosts to take even a single wicket in the first session.
Root and Malan took the team’s total to 140/2 at Dinner. Both stood tall, played close to their bodies, and did not miss any boundary opportunities. However, a major twist was waiting to greet the visitors when the second session began. After adding 138 runs for the third wicket, captain Root (62) was again stopped short of his maiden Test ton in Australia by
Cameron Green, who dismissed him for the second time this series.
Shortly after,
Mitchell Starc joined the party and removed set batter Malan (80), who played a cut shot only to get caught by stand-in skipper
Steve Smith in the slips. The wicket of Root and Malan opened flood gates as England saw another batting collapse. From 150/2, the tourists got bundled out for 236, with their last eight wickets falling for just 86 runs.
Starc and
Nathan Lyon send the shockwaves to the English unit with sensational bowling. While Starc picked up a four-wicket haul, Lyon bagged three scalps. Apart from
Rory Burns and Malan, Starc got rid of
Jos Buttler (0) and
Stuart Broad (9) to take his all-time day-night Test wicket tally to 50.
Even after taking a huge lead, the hosts didn’t enforce the follow-on and reached stumps at 45/1 with
Marcus Harris (21 no) and nightwatchman
Michael Neser (2 no). A miscommunication between
David Warner (13) and Harris resulted in the former being run out. At stumps, Australia lead England by 282 runs.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Will raise a glass of? tonight for Mitch. Well on his way to 300+ test wickets. He’s bowled very nicely. Always love watching him bowl. Congratulations mate! ????
#Starc #TheAshes pic.twitter.com/mxdCh61deC — Jason Gillespie ? (@dizzy259)
December 18, 2021
Mitch Starc with the pink ball:
50 wickets at 18.1, SR 35.1
#Ashes — Adam Burnett (@AdamBurnett09)
December 18, 2021
The honest facts are that Australia are a better cricket team in all facets of Test cricket .. No point in making excuses,the Aussies are just a lot better ..
#Ashes — Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)
December 18, 2021
This is painful…again
#ashes — Isa Guha (@isaguha)
December 18, 2021
He’s too busy smacking your boys tbh ?
#Ashes https://t.co/PrdB7BmjxC — Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB)
December 18, 2021
Most Test fifties in Australia without a century:
9 – Bruce Laird (AUS)
8 – Tom Hayward (ENG), Nasser Hussain (ENG), Shane Warne (AUS), Mitchell Johnson (AUS), JOE ROOT (ENG)
#Ashes — Nic Savage (@nic_savage1)
December 18, 2021
Shades of Bumrah to Anderson in this little Starc spell. He's had practice, our Jimmy.
#ashes — Isabelle Westbury (@izzywestbury)
December 18, 2021
50 wickets for Mitchel Starc in pink-ball Tests!
The next best: just 32 wickets each by Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon
#AusvEng #AusvsEng#EngvAus #EngvsAus#Ashes #Ashes2021#PinkBallTest — Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
December 18, 2021
We’ve seen this one before …
After two sessions on Day 3 of the 2017 Ade Test, England were 8-219 in reply to Australia’s 8d-442
After two sessions on Day 3 of the 2021 Ade Test, England are 6-197 in reply to Australia’s 9d-473
#AUSvENG — Martin Smith (@martinsmith9994)
December 18, 2021
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