Vikrant Shekhawat : Dec 18, 2021, 11:10 AM
Cricket Desk: On the first day, Australia dominated England throughout the day and ended up making 221 runs for the loss of two wickets. David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne had a partnership of 172 runs for the second wicket.On the second day, Australia lost eight wickets and managed to add 252 runs before declaring the innings. Labuschagne made his sixth century in Test cricket. England lost two wickets and scored only 17 runs on the second day. Mitchell Starc dismissed Rory Burns for four runs. Michael Neser, who made his debut, picked up the wicket of Haseeb Hameed on his second ball.In the ninth over, there was a big flash of lightning that created an illusion of dawn. It completely stopped the game, and players were back into the pavilion. Due to the threat of a lightning strike, covers were brought in, and the pitch was covered. The match didn’t start after this, and umpires called stumps on day 2.7Cricket posted a photo depicting the lightning on Twitter along with the caption, “Lightning and thunder Off we go.”The match will start half an hour earlier than the usual time on day three to compensate for the lost time.Australia post a mammoth total of 473 runs in the first inningsEngland lost the first Ashes Test after allowing the Australian batters to score runs at their own wish. The English team that came into the second Test with an all-pace attack didn’t learn a single lesson from the first game. On the first day, Warner and Labuschagne assaulted the bowlers.On the second day, Steven Smith and the lower middle-order made a mockery out of England’s bowling. Smith missed his century by a mere margin of seven runs after James Anderson dismissed him. Alex Carey made a half-century before getting dismissed.Starc and Neser made sure that Australia posts a total that will be way beyond the reach of England. Starc made 39 runs, and Neser made 35. While bowling, the duo didn’t allow the batters to settle in and picked one wicket each.