England loosen grip on Lord’s Test within the face of short-ball barrage after Duckett 98
England 278 for 4 (Duckett 98, Crawley 48, Brook 45*, Lyon 1-35) path Australia 416 (Smith 110, Head 77, Warner 66, Tongue 3-98, Robinson 3-100) by 138 runs
You can’t win a Test match in an hour’s play on day two. Nor are you able to lose it. But as observers at Lord’s on Thursday can now attest to, you’ll be able to definitely loosen your grip on proceedings a lot to the aid of your opponents, as England did.
A collapse of 34 for 3 in 7.3 overs noticed the hosts cede management of the primary innings of this second Test. Having dismissed Australia outright for 416, taking the ultimate 5 wickets for the addition of simply 65 runs, England conspired amongst themselves to show 188 for one into 222 for 4.
This was removed from terminal. Stumps arrived with no additional losses, Harry Brook unbeaten on a flightly 45 and Ben Stokes enjoying the a part of the grownup within the room with a measured 17 not out off 57. Australia’s lead is now simply 138.
The pointless cascade was layered. Steven Smith had “only” made it to 110 for his thirty second Test hundred, 4 years after a bumper double on this very floor. Midway via the thirty seventh over of England’s response, Nathan Lyon pulled up with a calf injury that will probably be assessed in a single day however nearly definitely guidelines him out of bowling in the remainder of this match. And to have misplaced a dynamic trio of Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root – all to the hook shot – felt deeply pointless from England, particularly with their elongated tail.