Ashes 2021, Third Test, MCG: Australia winning the toss and inviting England to bat first at Melbourne. They dominated by getting England all out for just 185.
The visitors made several changes to their team as Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, and Mark Wood returned to the team. Burns, Broad, and Ollie Pope have to sit, unfortunately.
That, however, didn’t change the end result as their batting slump continues. The opening was changed as Crawley opened with Haseeb Hameed.
For the hosts, Pat Cummins made an impactful return to the team. His three wickets for just 26 runs took the top order by surprise.
Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser after an outstanding debut were dropped and Scott Boland was given the opportunity. The batting remained the same for the hosts.
The opening trouble is haunting England for a long time now. This time it was the Australian skipper destroying the top three single-handedly.
Instead of dropping Burns, Haseeb should have been dropped instead. He had a 10 ball duck and was caught behind in the second over only.
The middle-order consisted of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jonny Bairstow fought hard to save England. Root brought his fifty while Stokes and Bairstow could not convert their low scores.
The middle-order was cracked by Mitchell Starc’s two wickets and Cameron Green’s one wicket. While the tail was cleaned up by Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland taking three and one wickets respectively.
Nothing seems to work for England and everything seems right for Australia. The home turf advantage as they say. Also, the COVID is a bit worrisome.
Ashes 2021, Australia vs England, 3rd Test Day 1, highlights.
Pingback: Aus vs Eng: Boland gives Australia the Ashes 2021. - The Sports Habit