Australia defeated England by eight wickets in the day-night second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Sunday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Australia captain Steve Smith pulled Gus Atkinson for a massive six over square leg to complete the task in style despite being given a pitiful target of 65 for win. England were thoroughly outplayed in every area, albeit it wasn’t as humiliating as the two-day defeat in the first Test at Perth.
With games in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney to come, Australia is now the clear favorite to win the Ashes again.
Smith, who clashed verbally with England bowler Jofra Archer as the hosts raced to victory, said, “Great day. First two days were pretty even, game turned when we were able to extend to get the new ball under lights, that was crucial for us. It can be tricky with the pink ball, it changes really quickly and you have to adapt.”
It was more suffering for England. With the exception of Joe Root and Zak Crawley in the first innings and skipper Ben Stokes and Will Jacks in the second, their batting was equally reckless as it was in Perth.
On the bumpy Gabba surface, their weak strokes cost them wickets. In sharp contrast to an Australian assault that was lacking key players Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, they too bowled poorly, pitched too short and squandering the new pink ball.
In the first innings, Australia’s fielders caught everything that came their way, while England dropped five catches. The game was changed by Josh Inglis’s outstanding run-out of Stokes in the first innings.
“Obviously very disappointing,” said Stokes. “I think a lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line.”
After allowing Australia’s tail to enable the host team post 511 on Saturday, an overall lead of 177, England fell behind in the match. They finished the third day at 134-6, remaining 43 runs behind the Australian total, after losing six wickets in the second innings under the lights.
Stokes and all-rounder Jacks led a valiant rearguard action to force Australia to bat a second time on Sunday, despite the expectations of many that England would capitulate meekly. On a scorching day, Stokes and Jacks overcame the Australian pace attack to move past the first deficit target and start giving Australia something to chase.
Despite a clatter of wickets from bad drives, England batting coach Marcus Trescothick stated on Saturday that his batsmen will not change their aggressive strategy. However, Stokes and Jacks were patient during Sunday’s opening session.
They appeared content to take their runs in singles rather than wide boundary shots and left balls they didn’t need to play. Only 28 runs were scored in the first hour, and after 96 minutes, they overcame the 43-run deficit with just 59 runs in the two hours.
Even if the wicket started to play some tricks on Sunday, the Australian bowlers, who were so successful with the pink ball under lights on Saturday, were much less productive. The only opportunity the English gave Stokes was when Scott Boland squared up to him, giving him a significant advantage over the slips cordon.
In the second session, they persisted in frustrating the Australians until, right before the drinks break, Jacks gave Michael Neser an advantage, and Smith made an incredible catch at slip by diving full length to his left and grabbing it low to the ground. After Stokes nibbled at a ball outside the off-stump and got a wonderful edge to keeper Alex Carey in the following over, Neser struck again, leaving England 227-8, a lead of precisely fifty.
Neser achieved career-best numbers of 5-42 with little opposition from Atkinson, Brydon Carse, or Archer.
Although Australia lost Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne in the chase, 65 was never going to be enough as Smith and Jake Weatherald led the home team to a comfortable victory.
“A great game of cricket, very clinical,” said Inglis, who was born in England. “Timing is a big thing in pink-ball cricket, when you’re batting and bowling.”
