LEEDS, FRIDAY: Australia’s Josh Hazlewood took five wickets as England collapsed to just 67 all out on the second day of the third Ashes Test at Headingley on Friday.
Australia, who will retain the Ashes with victory in this Test, then strengthened their grip by reaching tea in their second innings on 82-3 -- a lead of 194.
Marnus Labuschagne, whose first-innings 74 was seven more than England managed between them, was 13 not out and Travis Head 17 not out.
England, 1-0 down in the five-Test series, had dismissed Australia for a seemingly modest 179, with fast bowler Jofra Archer taking 6-45 on Thursday.
But thanks mainly to Australia quick Hazlewood’s figures of 5-30, England were bowled out inside 28 overs.
Joe Denly, with 12, was the only England batsman to reach double figures. But whereas Labuschagne, in for concussed star batsman Steve Smith, and David Warner (61) fought hard during their first-innings partnership of 111, few England batsmen were as prepared to sell their wickets as dearly.
Indeed, several played key roles in their own dismissals, for all that Australia bowled well.
By staging both the World Cup and the Ashes with a short turnaround between the two showpiece events, England had denied several batsmen proper first-class preparation for the very different demands of Test cricket.
By contrast, a number of Australians had played for English county sides -- Labuschagne, the only batsman to so far score 1,000 first-class runs this season was with Glamorgan -- or featured on the Australia A tour of England that preceded the Ashes.
But England’s batting woes predate this season.
Friday’s slump was the latest in a line of recent Test collapses that have seen England dismissed for 58 by New Zealand (Auckland 2018), 77 by the West Indies (Bridgetown 2019) and 85 by Ireland at Lord’s last month.
But what made this woeful display all the more troubling was that the blue and sunny skies above Headingley on Friday ought to have made conditions for batting easier than the gloom of Thursday, when England captain Joe Root won the toss.
Opener Jason Roy took guard having made just 40 runs in four innings this series.
He fell for nine in familiar fashion when he edged a drive off a wide Hazlewood ball to Warner, holding the first of four catches at first slip.
Root walked out to applause from his Yorkshire home crowd but was out for a second ball nought -- his second straight zero after a golden duck in the second innings of the drawn second Test at Lord’s -- when nicking a straighter Hazlewood delivery that seamed away to Warner. - AFP
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