1.59pm The players are out there. Australia need one wicket to get stuck into batting. Root and Archer will try and add as many as they can. Doggett to bowl to Root with the field spread far and wide.
1.50pm Boomerang : “Can we have some clarity on this over rates topic? Simon Taufel said on 7 that penalties are only calculated at the end of the match and only apply if opposite team aren’t bowled out twice in under 160 overs, making all this talk of ‘6 more overs for a penalty’ completely untrue???” Simon has answered your question Boomerang.
Mark Waugh was critical of Australia’s tactics on Fox Cricket, albeit he was also critical of the umpires for stepping in:
“I don’t think it was acceptable at the end of the day with Steve Smith, and we all know what he was trying to do,” Waugh said on Kayo Sports’ live Ashes coverage.
“He didn’t want any overs with the bat if (Jofra) Archer got out, but the umpires have to step in there. When you’re deliberately slowing the game down, and anyone with half a brain can see that happening, the umpires have to step in. Before that I didn’t have too many problems with how the day unfolded as it was a hot day and there was a lot of quick bowling so they weren’t deliberately slowing the game down. But they were in that last half hour and that’s where the umpires have got to step in.”
Glenn: “I just can’t believe how poorly the Australians bowled to Archer and Root. I can understand they Aussies didn’t want to go in to bat for the last 30 minutes of the game, but putting virtually all the fielders back on the fence and continually bowling down the leg side or short enough so the ball would sit up to be pulled away, basically gave the Poms an extra 50-60 runs. It’s like they knew how to contain the run rate and take wickets throughout the day, then completely forgot it.”
1.40pm Vish is running the Live Report today.
Gnasher sends in his first dispatch from the Gabba: “Another day of clear blue skies at the Gabba, which Australia’s top order will be pleased out. England have one wicket left, but how they go with the new ball is the next key stage of this game. This time Travis Head will need to set up a game rather than have a target to chase down to win one. If England don’t make significant early inroads, the ability of Ben Stokes to ‘make things happen’ could be vital. It’s a big day for Australia. They will be facing a total that means they need to bat or they will be behind in the contest.”
Stephen: “full credit to Joe Root and a lesser extent Crawley, but take out their contributions, next highest scorer is Archer, would have been another dire England batting performance.”
Waugh Fair: “When Steve Waugh said the Aussie selectors didn’t have the appetite to make tough calls, I don’t think he meant leaving out the most prolific finger spinner in the country’s history on a ground where spinners have a long history torturing England!” Here is what both George Bailey and Nathan Lyon had to say yesterday after the latter was omitted for the second time in Australia’s last three Tests.
1.30pm Hello and welcome to day two of this second Test between Australia and England at the Gabba in Birsbane. The sun is shining. It’s going to be a warm afternoon. Alex Malcolm and Andrew Miller in commentary today. Andrew McGlashan, Vithushan Ehantharajah and Matt Roller are all at the Gabba. Tristan Lavalette is on the end of day report. Here is Tristan’s report from day one where Joe Root made a sensational unbeaten century and Mitchell Starc took six wickets.
Vish had the pleasure of writing about Root’s drought-breaking ton down under.
It was another day and another six-wicket haul for Starc. Gnasher detailed his lone ranger performance.
England were 264 for 9 and looked set to be bowled out for well under 300. But Root and Jofra Arsher had other ideas. Matt pondered how important that hour of batting might be in the context of the Test match and the series.
Meanwhile, Zak Crawley’s 76 earlier in the day proved very valuable and he was pleased to bounce back after a pair in Perth.
