Ashes 2013-14, Test 3 Day 2.

Australia 385 runs/10 wickets – 1^st Innings

England 180 runs/4 wickets – 1^st Innings

            The Ashes fever continues as the 3^rd Ashes Test Match proceeds into the 2^nd Day today. Remember that Australia holds the lead 2-0 in the previous matches during the series, the Aussies, yet again with a good batting performance will be now eyeing towards to wrap up the series in the 3^rd Test Match in order to regain what had been lost in the past 5 years.

      The 2^nd day started with Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson on the crease with 4 batsmen still to come. England looks once again down and out as they allow the Aussies to make a strong come-back with Steve Smith scoring a Century and Brad Haddin with a Half-Century which clearly marked the Dominance of the Home Team.

     Australia started up the day with Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson on the pitch. The start looked disastrous as the Kangaroos lost Mitchell Johnson(39 runs) who was dismissed by Stuart Broad right in the day’s 2^nd Over. He went back to the pavilion without scoring a single run further on. Pretty soon it was Steve Smith’s turn to leave the ground after playing a great innings off 111 runs. He was undone by James Anderson. This marked the end of the Australian innings as Peter Siddle was soon dismissed by Tim Bresnan. He played well for his 21 runs. Finally the things ended up for the home team as Ryan Harris was also undone by James Anderson adding 12 runs to his team total. Nathan Lyon remained Not Out at the end of the day with his 17* runs. Australia made a good total of 385 runs at the end of their turn.

   

  England had a huge task upfront if they had to stay alive in the series. England once again started with the skipper Alastair Cook and Michael Carberry and this time it would work. This time the opening looked a different story for the visitors as they passed a 50 run stand 1^st time in the current series. Meanwhile the English skipper answered all the questions that were being asked about his technique of play. Both the openers put together an 85 runs opening stand which ended up with the departure of Michael Carberry who played well for his 43 runs(8x4s,1x6s) as he was Bowled out by Ryan Harris. After adding just 4 runs to the total , Joe Root was also uprooted from the crease by Shane Watson.

                Meanwhile the English skipper another 50 after a long time. There was another 46 runs partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook but like all good things, it also came to an end as the English skipper made his way back to the dressing room as he simply threw his wicket away to Nathan Lyon after playing well-set innings of 72 runs(10x4s). Soon it was Kevin Pietersen’s(19 runs) turn to leave the crease as Peter Siddle out-foxed him with a slowish short delivery. Now Ian Bell and Ben Stokes stand on the pitch at the END OF THE DAY 2 with their respective 9 and 14 runs taking their team to a total of 180 runs/4 wickets. Still a mighty task in front of the visitors with 3 days to come. Let’s see if they can pull it of or the Kangaroos pounce back in the match. Let’s wait and watch.