BAZBALL UNDER A CLOUD

Bad luck in foul weather and a fired-up Aussie attack just put a halt to England’s Test plans but Stokes will still attack today

- DEAN WILSON

ENGLAND’S first Test ambitions were pegged back by a combination of bad luck and fired-up Aussie bowlers who put Bazball back in its shell. 

With the game now effectively a one-innings match after England held on to a first innings lead by the barest of margins, the loss of two early wickets checked their progress before rain wiped out most of the afternoon.

Australia registered 386 all out, just seven runs shy of England, as their tail were shot out in a barrage of short-pitched bowling.

But there was no early third-innings onslaught against the harder new ball to push England’s slender lead off into the distance at a rate of knots.

Instead it was a traditional, watchful and sedate start that encouraged Australia’s bowlers and got them going. After an initial deluge, England were unlucky in the sense that Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were both accounted for – both caught off edges – in the 22 balls possible between rain showers.