Resuming on 343-7 overnight, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad strolled out to the middle in the morning with the weather a lot more pleasurable than it was 24 hours prior. With the game hanging in the balance at this early stage, both sides knew that they needed to produce early on, and quickly, if they were to seize the initiative in the Test.
Moeen Ali made sure that he put England on the front foot early with some cracking off-drives racing to his fifty. Stuart Broad, who was tested out with the short ball, numerous times by the Australian bowlers survived the early barrage and weighed in with a useful knock of 18 before having a slog sweep at Nathan Lyon’s first delivery of the day, catching a little under-edge to Brad Haddin behind the stumps.
Ali knew he had to kick on quickly, butting bat to ball on every occasional possible, and blasted his way through to 77 before edging Starc to slip for left-armer’s fourth of the innings. Starc, still hindered from his ankle injury the day before, came back and completed his five-for, bowling James Anderson after the number 11 decided to have a huge charge and swing, losing his off-stump in the process.
England ended on 430 all out and set the tone early on with the ball, the lack of pace from Anderson actually seeming to help the Lancastrian more as he got plenty of carry off the pitch. Chris Rogers looked in fine touch as he has been for most of his Test career thus far, picking Anderson’s in-swinger well and profiting from it. He and David Warner made a 50 partnership before the latter was removed with a sharp catch from Alastair Cook at first slip. The wicket could have come early, if it hadn’t been for DRS saving Warner from a ‘given’ on-field decision.
This then brought the new world number one ranked batsman Steve Smith to the crease and with his ‘far from textbook’ technique he managed to scratch together some runs before he settled slightly and decided to live up to the promise of taking the game to England’s spinner, Moeen Ali. Smith seemed to have started well against Ali, his timing and nimble footwork complementing his natural power play and aggression, taking Ali for three boundaries in one over. Unfortunately for Smith, his dominance was short-lived as his suspect technique outdid him on this occasion, guiding a leading edge straight to Cook at silly mid-off.
Aussie skipper Michael Clarke was ready for some short stuff of his own, England looking to take advantage of the aging batsman’s recurring back injuries. Except he settled well and began to look dangerous, but similarly to Smith, his aggression towards Ali was his downfall, chipping the ball straight back to the bowler for his second scalp of the day.
Now in the nervous nineties, Rogers had played well all day, before Mark Wood got in on the action with his first ashes wicket, having Rogers caught behind, cutting at a ball that wasn’t really there to be cut. The veteran pair of Adam Voges and Shane Watson had looked to have shut up shop for the night, keeping the up-beat England attack on the down for a while, only for Ben Stokes to have Voges caught at short-cover, driving at a ball that got stuck in the pitch, much to the batsman’s dismay.
Nightwatchman Lyon and Watson did eventually manage to survive till the close on a pitch that was getting drier as well as slower. Momentum is much in the same place as it started the day, with England having plugged away for valuable wickets, but also for Australian batsmen whom a number had played themselves in, only to get out in a fairly cheap manor. Either way, Day 3 is set to be another cracker, as both teams continue to try and renounce their ashes dominance over the other.
