Staggered Poms arrive at gutting conclusion

2 years ago 555

England media is staggered astatine the melodramatic events of day 2 of the Boxing Day Test and concedes the Ashes are each but decided.

Led by champion speedy James Anderson, England had resuscitated their spluttering Ashes hopes astatine the MCG, bowling Australia retired for 267 and taking to the mediate for their 2nd excavation trailing by 82.

But left-arm accelerated Mitchell Starc and Test debutant Scott Boland obliterated the warring occupation England had carried out, taking a brace of wickets each to person the tourists reeling astatine 4-31 astatine stumps.

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Already facing a 2-0 bid shortage and inactive needing 52 runs to unit Australia to bat again, England's hopes of winning backmost the urn look each but dashed.

"England's bowlers did a fantastic occupation of getting England backmost successful the game. All they needed and wanted was for England's batters to basal up. But they didn't – they fell implicit again," said BBC cricket analogous Jonathan Agnew.

"What an hr that was. I'm inactive coming down from it. It was Test cricket astatine its implicit champion and brutal."

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan added: "Test cricket is by acold the hardest and toughest format … That past hr tested each facet of a player's game! Also hard to replicate that ambiance successful different formats".

Nick Hoult of The Telegraph marvelled astatine the electrifying show of Australia's quicks.

"It was an hr of adrenaline-fuelled Test cricket astatine its astir captivating arsenic Australia's accelerated bowlers hurled their broadside to wrong touching region of retaining the Ashes," Hoult wrote.

"It near England reeling astatine 31 for four, 51 down Australia and each the spade enactment by James Anderson undone successful 12 overs of blood-letting that captivated an MCG assemblage banging connected the advertisement boards and integrative chairs, roaring Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc each measurement of the way."

Perhaps England's 2 astir accomplished batters, skipper Joe Root and all-rounder Ben Stokes, volition instrumentality stance astatine the commencement of time three.

But Lawrence Booth of The Daily Mail admitted that adjacent a duo of that people couldn't rescue England.

"Thanks to a blistering new-ball spell from Starc, and a melodramatic penultimate implicit of the time from Boland, the section hero, the Australians reached stumps a measurement person to their objective," Booth wrote.

"England were 31 for 4 and – contempt the beingness of Joe Root and Ben Stokes – each but gone."

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