Day-5 of 2nd test of England vs Australia in the ongoing test series of the Ashes 2023 witnessed Australia registering an astonishing win against England in a thriller match by 43 runs on . Despite Ben Stokes’ marvellous 155-run knock, England succumbed to Australia’s bowling attack & got wrapped up at a total of 327 on the scoreboard. With this Australia has taken a lead of 2-0 against England in the Ashes 2023.
The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-5): How the day started off for England
England resumed their second innings from where they left the previous day, that is, 114/4 with Duckett & Stokes on the crease. Both the batters started off pretty well by building a strong partnership & added 63 more runs to reach a score of 177 when Duckett fell prey to Hazlewood while attempting a short ball which got him caught behind. This was quite disheartening for the left-handed batters as he missed his century for the second time in the ongoing match.
Moving forward, Stokes who meanwhile completed his half-century, was joined by the Jonny Bairstow as the new batter. Hardly 16 runs were added by both batters when Bairstow faced a controversial stumping out by Carey & he had to walk back to the pavillion.
The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-5): Controversial stumping of Bairstow
On the last delivery of 52th over, Bairstow ducked a short delivery by Green & walked out of the crease to talk to Stokes as he considered the ball to be dead. But meanwhile, Carey threw the ball on the stumps & the whole Australian side started celebrating the assumed dismissal of Bairstow. As the third umpire’s decision was referred for, Bairstow was given out considering the fact that although he didn’t try to take a run on the delivery but the ball wasn’t dead as the on-field had not declared the end of the over.
However, the third umpire, Marais Erasmus gave a clear decision about this dismissal, but it derived a strong for & against reaction to this decision from many including the crowd which started chanting “Same old Aussies always cheating”.
The Ashes 2023, 2nd Test (Day-5): Stokes’ 150-run knock
After the controversial dismissal Bairstow, England were under pressure as they lost 6 wickets at a score of 193 and at this stage, they still required 178 runs to win the game. From hereon, Stokes launched a direct attack on the Aussies by building a 108-run along with Stuart Broad, in the next 21 overs. Stokes single handed dealt with the Aussies bowling attack & completed his first century of the ongoing series. The ace batter hit so far the second highest individual total of the series, that is, 155 runs off 214 balls which included 9 boundaries & 9 sixes. At this stage, England reached much closer to their target and seemed to register the win easily.
After drinks break, tables turned in the 73th over, when at a score of 301, Stokes got a top edge on a delivery by Hazlewood which got him caught behind. His dismissal gave a big dent to England’s hopes of winning the game as 70 more runs were required to reach the target with only 3 tail-ender wickets in hands. Within a frame of next 10 overs, the Aussies wrapped up England’s innings at 327 wherein all the three tail-enders managed to add only 26 more runs to the total.
The Aussies bowlers performed tremendously during this match where Starc, Cummins & Hazlewood claimed 3 wickets each in the second innings. Where at one stage, Stokes seemed staring in the Aussies’ eyes to snatch away the win for England single-handedly, his wicket at the right time proved to be the turning point of the match. Before that, Carey’s smart act of dismissing Bairstow paid off well to the Australian side which surely has saved them from a margin of 43 runs.
Australia would definitely be on the seventh sky as they are dominating this series with 2-0 by defeating the England at their home. If England wants to make a strong come back, they somehow need to make a more reliable strategy at all costs to be on the winning side.
BRIEF SCORE: Day-5 (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: 279/10 (Khawaja 77, Broad 4/65, Robinson 2/48, Tongue 2/53) England: 327/10 (Stokes 155, Duckett 83, Starc 3/29, Cummins 3/69) Australia defeated England by 43 runs