The Ashes 2023: 2nd Test (Day-3) Match Report (England vs Australia)

Day 3 of the England vs Australia’s second test of the Ashes 2023 series at Lord’s witnessed the dominance of the Aussies once again in the ongoing match. Australian bowlers quickly wrapped up England’s innings at 325 runs and finished the third day with 130/2 on the score board in their second innings by maintaining a lead of 221 runs. Usman Khawaja once again played a brilliant knock of unbeaten 58 runs. Since the match got interrupted by rain, the last session was cut shorted and the game had to be called off for the day.

The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-3): England’s 1st innings got wrapped up quickly

England’s third day started off on a low note as they lost their skipper, Stokes in the very second over of the day at a score of 279 runs. Stokes got caught out by Green at the third slip on a superb delivery by Starc. Jonny Bairstow joined Brook for the sixth wicket partnership but both could add only 14 runs to the total when Brook, who completed his half-century, played a short ball by Starc which was caught by Cummins in the deep cover.

Further, Bairstow added a bare 16 runs to the total when he chipped a bowl by Hazlewood to the mid-on where he was caught by Cummins at a score of 311 runs. The fall of three crucial wickets within a short span of 13 overs, wherein England scored a meagre 33 runs, had put the hosts on the back foot once again. From hereon, the tail-enders managed to add 14 runs to the total, taking it to 325 runs where England’s first innings ended up which gave a lead of 91 runs to Australia.

The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-3): How Australia dominated once again

The Australian side got a splendid start to their second innings where both Usman Khawaja & David Warner accumulated 63 runs for the first wicket before Warner, who scored 25 runs, got leg before on a delivery by Tongue. Afterwards, Labuschagne joined Khawaja and both the batters added another 60 runs to Australia’s total, taking it to 123 runs when Labuschagne gave away an easy catch towards the backward to Brook on a short and wide delivery by Anderson. Labuschagne departed for 30 runs off 51 balls and meanwhile Khawaja completed his yet another half-century which acted as an anchor for his team. He was further joined by Smith on the other end.

The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-3): Match Interrupted due to rain

During the day’s last session, Australia looked dominant at 130/2, along with a lead of 221 runs. But out of luck, the match got interrupted when it started drizzling and the Umpires had to decide to call off the play for the day. This was quite disheartening for the Aussies as they surely wanted to maintain the flow of the game in their favour as Khawaja & Smith were at the crease with their individual scores of 58* & 6* respectively, a big lead could have been expected from Australia once again.

Khawaja played a significant role in the second innings as he not only score a half-century but also built two 60-run partnerships with Warner & Labuschagne which helped the Aussies to achieve a 221-run lead over England at the end of day 3.

The Aussies would definitely want to continue their supremacy on the fourth day and be surely targeting a lead of 400+ runs before giving a chase to the hosts.

BRIEF SCORE: Day-3 (2nd Test), The Ashes 2023
Australia: 416 (Smith 110, Warner 66, Robinson 3/100, Tongue 3/98, Root 2/19)
England: 325 (Duckett 98, Brook 50, Starc 3/88, Head 2/17, Hazlewood 2/71) 
Australia: 130/2 (Khawaja 58*)
Australia leads by 221 runs

The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-3): Match Details

Venue: The Lord’s Cricket Stadium

Dates: 28 Jun to 02 Jul

Toss: Won by England, Chose to Bowl first

Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK) and Chris Gaffaney (NZ)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (SA)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

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