England 278 for 4 (Duckett 98, Crawley 48, Brook 45*, Lyon 1-35) trail Australia 416 (Smith 110, Head 77, Warner 66, Tongue 3-98, Robinson 3-100) by 138 runs
You cannot win a Test match in an hour’s play on day two. Nor can you lose it. But as observers at Lord’s on Thursday can now attest to, you can certainly loosen your grip on proceedings much to the relief of your opponents, as England did.
A collapse of 34 for 3 in 7.3 overs saw the hosts cede control of the first innings of this second Test. Having dismissed Australia outright for 416, taking the final five wickets for the addition of just 65 runs, England conspired amongst themselves to turn 188 for one into 222 for four.
This was far from terminal. Stumps arrived with no further losses, Harry Brook unbeaten on a flightly 45 and Ben Stokes playing the part of the adult in the room with a measured 17 not out off 57. Australia’s lead is now just 138.
The unnecessary cascade was layered. Steven Smith had “only” made it to 110 for his 32nd Test hundred, four years after a bumper double on this very ground. Midway through the 37th over of England’s response, Nathan Lyon pulled up with a calf injury that will be assessed overnight but almost certainly rules him out of bowling in the rest of this match. And to have lost a dynamic trio of Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root – all to the hook shot – felt deeply unnecessary from England, especially with their elongated tail.
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