Ashes | England resurrect Bazball at MCG to earn first victory on Australian soil since 2010

‌Resuming from an overnight score of 4/0 with a 42-run first innings lead to boast, Australia kicked off Day 2 contentiously with Travis Head and night watchman Scott Boland jumping around the crease against vicious seam movement and bounce. It was not until the fifth over that Gus Atkinson strayed full and wide to allow Head to hammer the first boundary of the morning, and before long the opening stand read 22. Atkinson eventually handed the tourists the first breakthrough by having Boland caught behind, but paid the price with a twinged hamstring in his following over and walked off the field with no further part to play in the encounter. However, the hosts earned little respite as skipper Ben Stokes took over from Atkinson in the attack, and needed just four deliveries to nip one back into Jake Weatherald with the Kookaburra sneaking under his shouldered arms to clip off-stump. Josh Tongue got his name on the board too shortly after by having Marnus Labuscchagne caught at first slip for the second time in the Test, bringing Steven Smith to the crease. The Australian skip could only watch as a filthy away seamer from Brydon Carse smashed into Head's stumps to send him packing for 46, three balls before a Tongue delivery climbed brutally on Usman Khawaja to have him caught in the deep for a silver duck. Carse compounded the misery with the scalp of Alex Carey through a thick outside edge that carried to Harry Brook at second slip as the hosts collapsed 88/6, with Cameron Green joining Smith at the stroke of Lunch as the last two specialist batters at the crease.

The second session began ominously when Green edged one through the cordon for four in the first over off Tongue, before clipping a wayward legside delivery for four more and seize momentum for the Kangaroos. The stand quietly grew to 31 even as the English seamers posed all sorts of question to their rivals, and a Green outside edge eventually found the slips to hand Stokes a crucial breakthrough. Carse made sure the tail did not nag them as they had done in the series so far by dispatching Michael Neser and Mitchell Starc with a jaffa and a ripping return catch respectively to leave Australia nine down with just 121 on the board. Resigned to his fate, Smith made no attempts to shephered last man Jhye Richardson as the duo added 11 before the later top-edged an attempted hoick to wrap up the innings for 132, setting a target of 175 for England.

England's Bazballing openers signalled their intentions early when Ben Duckett defiantly clipped away Starc for a boundary in the opening over before repeating the effort in the southpaw's ensuing effort. Zak Crawley at the other end joined the party by slamming Michael Neser straight over his head for a resounding maximum, before gloriously driving a ball on the up through the covers for four more. Duckett dialed up the audaciousness even further with a wild heave at Neser to earn four through a top-edge, making up for the lack of control with an exquisite ramp over the stood-up Carey for the second maximum of the innings. Another Duckett boundary thereafter brought up a rapid half-century stand but Starc ended their shenanigans the very next ball with a devastating yorker to end Duckett's knock for 34. With 20 minutes to go for Tea, England took the adventorous decision of promoting Brydon Carse to three with the license to swing, but the tailender could not execute the plans as he fell for single digits after a raucous eight-ball stay. Nevertheless, Crawley and Jacob Bethell ensured no further harm was done until the final session break of the encounter, as England's score read 77/2 with 98 required still for victory.

Bethell stamped home England's fearless approach with an attempted scoop first ball to begin the final session, and showed his orthodox chops with a gorgeous cover drive for four the very next ball. The partnership surged to 45 with breakneck tempo until Boland pinned Crawley plumb in front of the stumps to open up a window of hope for the Kangaroos with seven wickets to claim and 53 runs to defend. The home quick added further jeopardy by having Bethell caught at short cover for 40 towards the end of his spell, before Richardson had Root LBW with 17 still to get to keep the Barmy Army on the edge of their seats. The nerves jangled further when Stokes nicked behind off Starc in an attempt to hurry to the finish, but Brook put all doubts to bed by scoring the winning runs just five deliveries later to script history at MCG.

Yup

Horrendous

He can

It will sitng them

What a win

Exclusive

No clean sheets

Disappointing

Not too much

Crazy