The Ashes 2015: Australia in the ascendancy as tourists build huge lead after dismissing England

 
Warner gets his way: The opener ended the day on top
Getty
Simon Haydon18 July 2015

Australia exerted total domination over England on day 3 of the second Ashes test on Saturday, building a huge lead by refusing to enforce the follow-on despite being 254 runs ahead after the first innings.

At the close, Australia was 108 for no wicket, an overall lead of 362 with two days still to play.

First on Saturday, England was dismissed for 312 in reply to Australia's imposing first innings score of 566-8 declared.

Australia could have asked England to bat again but instead opted to bat for a second time and have England bat last, chasing a big total.

Openers David Warner and Chris Rogers made batting look easy on a placid wicket and against a demoralized England attack. At the close, Warner was on 60 and Rogers on 44.

Australia captain Michael Clark is likely to bat until around lunchtime on Sunday and set England an unlikely 500 over five sessions.

While Australia bowled well, England's batsmen were often the cause of their own downfall. Several of them displayed technical deficiencies that will worry new coach Trevor Bayliss, the Australian briefed to try to regain the Ashes for England.

Victory for the tourists at Lord's would level the series 1-1, with three tests to play.

Rogers scored 173 in the first innings, with Steve Smith scoring 215 before Australia blew away England's top order on Friday evening, leaving the hosts on 85-4 at the close of day 2.

On Saturday, England put on a slightly better show, but only captain Alastair Cook and allrounder Ben Stokes were able to stick around. Cook was dismissed four runs short of his century and Stokes scored 87 as several England batsman displayed frailties against the aggressive and disciplined Australian pace attack.

Getty

Cook and Stokes shared a partnership of 145 but Australia's bowlers remained patient and grabbed the crucial wickets of Stokes just before lunch and then Cook shortly before tea — just short of what would have been his 50th first-class century.

Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the Australian bowlers, with 3-53 from 20.1 overs.

Cook was batting impressively and looking increasingly assured when he attempted to drive a wide delivery from Mitchell Marsh. The England captain was deceived by the pace and got a thick inside edge onto his stumps with the score on 266.

He batted for 233 balls and nine minutes short of six hours, hitting 13 fours.

Getty

Two wickets fell in the afternoon session. Wicketkeeper Jos Buttler never looked comfortable against the pace of Johnson and Mitchell Starc.

Australia wicketkeeper Peter Nevill was convinced he had held a diving catch with the score on 186-5, but Buttler did not budge and replays showed the ball touching the ground as Nevill caught it.

Buttler did not last long.

With the score on 210, he played and appeared to miss a delivery from spinner Nathan Lyon. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena did not initially give Buttler out and replays appeared to show there had been no contact, but Buttler walked voluntarily, effectively giving himself out.

Cook and Moeen Ali put on 56, with Ali playing some belligerent shots that included a straight six off Lyon, before the England opener was dismissed by Marsh. Ali scored 39 and his departure enabled Australia to wrap up the English tail.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT