England v Australia 4th Ashes Test match - 5 Talking points

England v Australia 4th Ashes Test match – 5 Talking points: When the day two commenced at the Trent Bridge, England was already far ahead in the game and firm on the path to bring back the beloved URN to the nation. Their batsmen were trying to stretch the lead as much as possible so as to inflict a huge defeat on the face of the touring party. Mitchell Starc was at his flawless best when England declared, the lead had already stretched to a mammoth figure of 331 runs. Australian’s started off brilliantly but by the time the day ended, they had lost 7 wickets while they were still trailing by 90 runs. England are now only few hours away from reclaiming the Ashes series.

CricTracker presents the 5 talking points of Day 2 of the 4^th Ashes Test match:

1. Ben Stokes Fifer:

After England declared the innings, Australian’s showed a lot of resistance before the brilliance of Ben Stokes halted their innings. Australia were 113 for no loss but just before the tea, Stokes put up an inspired performance as he claimed 3 wickets for 4 runs, to leave the tourists reeling once again. Then, in the last session he chipped in with two more wickets of Peter Nevill and Johnson en route to his maiden fifer of the series.

2. Fiery Mitchell Starc:

One of the best fast bowlers going around the world, Mitchell Starc was at his belligerent best in the morning session of the second day. Out of the 9 English wickets, he accumulated 6. Firstly, he got the prized scalp of Joe Root when he drew him into playing the drive, Root ended up nicking the ball. Starc then bowled his trademark ripping full deliveries to send back Mark Wood and Jos Butler.

4. Australian Openers:

The Aussie openers had a horrendous outing in the first innings as both of them had got out on duck, thereby exposing the whole batting line-up to the new ball. But, this time around both David Warner (64) and Chris Rogers (52) put up a solid opening stand of 113 runs for the first wicket. Warner who has been hot and cold in the series played briskly while Rogers played a characteristic, assured knock.

4. Australian middle-order’s failure:

This time around the Aussie openers had combated the difficult opening phase of the innings. But, the Australian middle-order again faltered which has been the story of their line-up, this summer. Steve Smith, Michael Clarke and Shaun Marsh combined for a mere total of 20 runs. Smith’s struggle against moving deliveries persisted while Clarke and Marsh once again got out edging to the slip.

5. Regaining the beloved Urn:

After Australia had put up a horrifying show on the first day when they got all-out on 60 runs, England had already made giant strides in the battle for the Urn. On day 2, they just had to back their first innings performance which they eventually did. Now, they are just steps away from winning back the Ashes after the dismaying whitewash in the previous series in Australia.