As England let Australia off the hook on Day 2 after being bundled out for a paltry first-innings score, former skipper Michael Atherton said the team would be ruing the number of missed chances after allowing Australia to stretch their lead past 200.
England dropped catches and bowled no-balls, one of them when a dismissal was inflicted, in the pre-lunch session on Day 2 of the Gabba opener when Australia were still finding their feet as a batting unit.
Australia were 10/1 but raced to 166 in just over 40 overs via a partnership between David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, entering the lead. But the visitors got a glimmer of hope after tea when Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood’s impressive bursts left the hosts under huge pressure at 195/5.
From there, however, England soon started losing steam as a bowling unit and failed to carry their good work with few of their bowlers, including allrounder Ben Stokes and Robinson carrying niggles. It was then that left-hander Travis Head grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck and played a fantastic counterattacking hand. Head went on to score a century in just over 80 balls and eventually finished with 152 off 148 balls on Day 3.
Head’s magnificent innings and lower-order support took Australia’s lead to a giant 278, which Atherton said he doesn’t see England comeback from.
“It really highlights the chances England missed earlier in the day because those chances meant it elongated the day. England became really weary in the last session,”
he told Sky Sports.
Atherton, though, didn’t blame skipper Joe Root for all of England’s struggles, pointing out how Stokes’ fitness issues piled on Root’s troubles as he had to go to left-arm spinner Jack Leach (1/102 off 13 overs) a lot more. From the outset, Australia went after Leach and never allowed him to settle, which meant no control and more overs for the pacers to bowl.
“Couple of issues that made it a very difficult day for Joe Root. There was a lot of pressure on Woakes, Robinson, and Wood because during the 5-over spell Ben Stokes bowled, he chased a ball to the boundary when Jack Leach was bowling from the other end and seemed to pull up.
He didn’t bowl throughout the afternoon session and was basically limping after that,”
Atherton mentioned.
