Twitter Reactions: Lord’s Test ends in a draw as Australia survives the final phase of play

As many of us had already anticipated, the second Test between England and Australia finished in a draw. There were no miracles on the final day of play. The overs that were lost early on in the game and through various other phases affected a possible outcome. Even though the Brits tried hard to put their foot on the pedal and put the Kangaroos under pressure, they didn’t just have enough time.

The first session of play completely belonged to the home team. England didn’t lose a single wicket and went from strength to strength. Thus, it gave them the liberty to go hard in the post-lunch session. Jos Buttler was the first to fall on the day after scoring 31 runs. Ben Stokes, however, took the onus and batted beautifully. He put the pressure back on the visitors with his unbeaten 115 which came off 165 deliveries.

Jonny Bairstow also played a handy cameo towards the end where he scored 30 runs off 37 deliveries. After batting for 71 overs in the second innings, Joe Root and England decided that they’d declare at 258/5. For Australia, Pat Cummins picked up three wickets while Peter Siddle got two.

Concussion substitute Marnus Labuschange does well at number four

Australia was set a slightly improbable target of 267 runs from 48 overs. While it was quite tough for them to get there, England had an opportunity if they could pick a couple of early wickets. They did the same dismissing both David Warner and Usman Khawaja early in the innings. Jofra Archer bowled an excellent spell and got these two batsmen out. Furthermore, Cameron Bancroft was also dismissed for 16 runs.

With Australia at 47/3, England had a great opportunity. However, Marnus Labuschange and Travis Head ensured that they didn’t let things get out of hand in the absence of Steve Smith. But, the former, after getting 59 runs, fell to Jack Leach when 12 overs were left in the day. Furthermore, with Matthew Wade and Tim Paine falling for single-digit scores, things seemed to have opened up.

Though, Head held one end tight and did a great job. While he was unbeaten on 42 runs, Australia finished with a score of 154/6 before the game ended in a draw. Twitterati was all praise for Ben Stokes for his knock. They also praised the English bowlers for their efforts to make the game interesting.

Here is how Twitterati reacted: