Adelaide: Australia’s quest of winning the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval became stronger after taking out Haseeb Hameed for duck on day four of the match. At tea, England are 20/1 in eight overs with Rory Burns (batting 16) and Dawid Malan (batting 4) at the crease, still needing 448 for an improbable win.
After declaring with a lead of 467, Australia took only 12 balls to take out England’s first wicket. Hameed was the first to fall for a duck, gloving a ball behind to keeper Alex Carey that bounced off a length from Jhye Richardson. Burns and Malan survived till tea break but England still need to bat for four sessions to avoid Australia from going 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Earlier, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne notched up half-centuries to help Australia recover from 55/4 to reach 230/9 and swell the lead beyond 450 in the process. Head began by smashing past Chris Woakes for four and then pulled for two through mid-wicket to bring up a half-century at his home ground.
In the next over, Head went for a pull against Ollie Robinson, only for a brilliant diving effort from Ben Stokes at deep mid-wicket to send the left-hander back to the pavilion. Labuschagne continued to march and reached his half-century with a single through square leg off Robinson for the second time in the match. In the next over, Labuschagne fell as he slog-swept straight to deep mid-wicket off Malan.
Joe Root’s arm ball was chopped on the stumps by Alex Carey. Richardson and Mitchell slammed a six each but when the duo got out in successive overs, Australia declared their innings for the second time in the match, ending England’s agony on the field.
Brief Scores: Australia 473/9 dec in 150.4 overs and 230/9 dec in 61 overs (Travis Head 51, Marnus Labuschagne 51; Joe Root 2/27, Dawid Malan 2/33) vs England 236 all out in 84.1 overs and 20/1 in eight overs (Rory Burns 16 not out, Jhye Richardson 1/8). England need 448 runs to win.
(IANS)
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