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MELBOURNE. — England suffered another batting collapse to undo the excellent work of their bowlers as Australia edged closer to winning the Ashes on a dramatic second day of the third Test cricket in Melbourne yesterday.
James Anderson claimed 4-33 as England fought back admirably in the first two sessions of the day, dismissing Australia for 267, to trail by 82 after the first innings.
But in a hostile final hour on a difficult pitch, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Scott Boland produced a devastating spell of fast bowling as England stumbled to 31-4 at stumps.
Starc had Zak Crawley caught behind and Dawid Malan lbw in consecutive balls to leave England reeling at 7-2.
Haseeb Hameed, who battled to overcome the opening burst from Starc and Cummins, edged behind off debutant Boland.
Jack Leach came in as nightwatchman but was bowled by Boland without offering a shot two balls later.
England captain Joe Root played and missed and saw a couple of edges fall short of the slips but he survived to reach the close on 12 not out and his fifth-wicket partnership with Ben Stokes on day three will be crucial.
However, while another top order failure will take up much of the conversation, this was more a reflection of phenomenal, at times unplayable, Australian bowling.
The day had started almost as dramatically as it ended. The England players were forced to wait before travelling to the ground because of positive Covid-19 tests in their travelling party.
Both sets of teams will do PCR tests before the start of the third day’s play on Monday.
A victory, or draw, for Australia will see them retain the Ashes given they lead the best-of-five series 2-0.
England’s batting has come under scrutiny in every innings of the series so far. But while their first-innings 185 all out was woeful, with several batters gifting their wickets away, Monday’s late collapse was very different.
Starc and Cummins were a gladiatorial presence — the Melbourne Cricket Ground their coliseum.
They had the ball swinging, bouncing and seaming and the inexperienced Hameed and newly-recalled Crawley stood little chance. — AFP.
Online Reporter