Tag:

Dawid Malan

How good is it to end Day 2 with four early wickets on hand from the Aussies at the MCG where Mitchell Starc bowled two stunning back to back wickets, he produced a brilliant straight line that executed well with speed which made Zak Crawley hesitate with the edge before he strapped Dawid Malan first ball LBW. We also saw Scott Boland pick up two wickets as well having targeted a great area off Haseeb Hameed without that off-stump protection including a peach of a delivery two balls later which punished Jack Leach straight into the stumps. And hats off to Alex Carey with two stunning catches off both England’s openers behind the gloves as these fielders gotta be on their toes tomorrow & not make up dropped/unlucky catches.

Meanwhile, England have lost it when they lost both openers, Malan out first ball at 3 & a nightwatchman (Jack Leach) got sent back really quickly despite a brilliant 1st innings spell with the ball for the majority of Day 2 today. Crawley and Hameed just couldn’t kick on before they were held accountable by the Australian quicks as it’s probably the last time we’ve seen Hameed at Test level for now before the 4th Test in Sydney, it’s best if Jos Buttler hands over the keeping gloves to Jonny Bairstow or Ben Foakes and be a makeshift opener with Crawley who knows how to defend & take his time.

Stumps at Day 2: England 31-4 and trails by 51 runs.

Australia gotta keep that strong start and inflict more damage on Joe Root (12) & Ben Stokes (2) before they can finish up the job on the middle and lower end & retain the Series Urn once again for the third straight time that goes back from their last Ashes tour at home in 2017-18, while England needs Root & Stokes to build a huge partnership that could determine their stance towards the next three days of this test or else it’s too late.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #Cricket #TestCricket #Australia #England #MelbourneCricketGround #ScottBoland #MitchellStarc #ZakCrawley #HaseebHameed #DawidMalan #JoeRoot #BenStokes #JackLeach #AlexCarey

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Great start by the Aussies at the MCG with skipper Pat Cummins back on the field after a short time in quarantine and smashing it with all three of England’s wickets so far this morning, love the way he produced some brilliant speed that matches with the line & areas which knicked the opposition straight into the slips & keeper.

Meanwhile, Joe Root needs his help to turn England’s poor AM start around after lunch when both openers (Haseeb Hameed & Zak Crawley) were gone cheaply with no idea to stop Cummins as well as Dawid Malan who was out a while ago on 14 as he was disappointed not to make up a big score in this 1st innings run.

All eyes on Ben Stokes to smash it big including Jonny Bairstow & Jos Buttler next in-line for England, while Australia let’s hope that Cummins continues his strong start alongside some support from the other quicks and spinner Nathan Lyon.

Score: England 61/3

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

England made four changes to their XI ahead of the third test today at the Melbourne Cricket Ground v Australia.

Happy to see Rory Burns replaced by Zak Crawley after an unfortunate first two tests, it’s not just the mediocre batting numbers but he also paid the price for poor fielding too. Meanwhile, Haseeb Hameed stayed on despite plenty of fans suggesting that he should be joining Burns towards the chop, but at least Hameed scored a couple of okay double-digit scores & deserves to be tested with a different opening partnership of Crawley.

No need to change the top-order pair that worked so well in skipper Joe Root & Dawid Malan as they hope to make up damage to the Aussies, but hopefully the promotion of Ben Stokes at 5 would help England at least deliver them a century or two in order to stay in contention.

Jonny Bairstow in for Ollie Pope at 6, who hopes to be an upgrade to help stretch England’s run chase as Pope may have fired off well in the 1st Test at The Gabba but couldn’t keep it consistent ever since which saw him walk out the door. And let’s hope that Jos Buttler continues where he left off from the 2nd innings in Adelaide last week by hanging in there & blocking out these good balls but he’s also under pressure to improve his catching behind the keeping gloves too.

Ollie Robinson stays at No.8 who continues to shine with the ball and can bat a bit, while Stuart Broad’s return last week in Adelaide didn’t help much for England despite a fantastic 1st innings v Australia’s batting so they got Mark Wood back in his place at 9. Now it’s kinda harsh to pull the plug on Chris Woakes on this one when he too showed some late form with the bat on 44 & should’ve replaced Robinson at 8 but he hasn’t done much with the ball though as England opted for a frontline spinner in Jack Leach & James Anderson retains his spot at No.11.

Both openers are unfortunately gone early just a while ago with Root & Malan up to the task to turn England’s poor start around as they are 35-2.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

England may have been given a free run at the Australian batting attack with a few wickets earlier in the 3rd innings yesterday, but it doesn’t mean they are back in contention when being way behind as England are required to chase down 468 after Australia declared 230-9 not long before tea. Going into Day 5 & England now 82-4 with 386 runs needed to on the fifth & final day today at Adelaide Oval.

Gotta say that Rory Burns may have batted slightly better this time on 34 but he’s yet to find any decent numbers so far this Ashes tour + his fielding hasn’t helped much either as it’s most likely that he’ll be replaced by Zak Crawley for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, while Joe Root & Dawid Malan did the heavy lifting both as part-time spinners with support from the quicks including Ollie Robinson who picked up two wickets in Australia’s 2nd innings run.

And great to see Jhye Richardson snatch up a six during his short time batting at the tail end as well as pile up two early wickets that would hopefully see Australia reach the finish line first later today, it’s also wonderful to see Marnus Labuschagne & Travis Head secure their 50s while Cameron Green scored a handy 33 runs as the quickie all-rounder that extended Australia’s lead further in this test match.

All eyes now on the England middle-order of Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope & Jos Buttler to turn this unlikely challenge around if they can, the same goes for the Australian bowling attack to finish the job & go 2-0 up in the 2021-22 Ashes series with three more test matches left.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Nice seeing Joe Root & Dawid Malan pick up the pieces for England where they made up some lost time as this partnership continued to work like the previous test at the Gabba last week during the opening session, however, they weren’t unable to hold on that momentum after the dinner break even though it’s a long way away to chase that run trail down with England lost four wickets for 57 towards tea (197-6) before they were all out for 236 (237 runs behind Australia).

Australia on the other hand fought back after a slow start earlier in the afternoon (140-2 at dinner) as they still maintain a healthy run lead ahead of the change of innings with the option of enforcing the follow-on, but they instead not to do so & batted once again where Australia will resume at 45-1 alongside a 282 run lead on Day 4 tomorrow.

Credit from stand-in skipper Steve Smith, who picked up two catches off the dangerous Root & Malan pair, while Mitchell Starc continued to shine with four wickets on hand after a brilliant quickfire batting spell last night including some support from Cameron Green (2 wickets) & Nathan Lyon made England regret not bringing a dedicated spinner in this test.

With the bat during such a short time tonight, Marcus Harris would be disappointed when he didn’t communicate well that ran David Warner out but he’s fine right now at 21* with more to come & Michael Neser hopes to secure a debut Test 50 having been jettisoned to the crease as the nightwatchman before Australia can declare within 100-150 runs more so their bowlers are rested up to finish the job.

Going to back to England now apart from Root & Malan, it’s great to see Ben Stokes & Chris Woakes pick up handy runs as they can while Stuart Broad added just a few against a tiring Australian bowling attack plus a six off an unlucky mis-catch from Mitchell Starc before he was spot on the field via direct hit to Warner. There’s nothing else to say at this stage when England still need to try and limit Australia’s 2nd innings spell ASAP before going all-in for whatever run total they require with two days left at Adelaide Oval.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #Australia #England #TestCricket #Cricket #AdelaideOval

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Australia continued to pile up more runs on Day 2 where they’ve set up a good batting total in the first innings of 473-9 via declaration not long after tea before they finished their hard day’s of work a bit early due to lightning & rain with the ball at 17-2.

Plenty of good moments that began from Marnus Labuschagne who secured his sixth Test 100 after he was fortunate to escape Jos Buttler’s sloppy catch of his gloves & cashed into runs, although Travis Head & Cameron Green were clean bowled for low scores but it doesn’t mean Australia regressed when Steve Smith batted superbly as stand-in skipper even though he was gutted not to escape the nervous 90s on 93 & we also saw Alex Carey score his 50 on his 2nd Test match.

We also cannot forget Michael Neser & Mitchell Starc, who not only scored quick fire spells in the mid 30s run mark, but they also shared two early wickets with the ball that gave another advantage going into Day 3 tomorrow for Australia & make more damage on England’s best remaining batting card as Neser is settling really well at Test level after waiting his debut for a very long time even though he’s 31 now.

England on the other hand may have caught up with a few wickets on hand with great areas around the stumps including an excellent late spell from James Anderson (2 wickets) not long before tea, however, they continued to leak runs when the fielding continued to flop such as Ollie Pope at the back & Jos Buttler with the hit and miss catches behind the keeping gloves.

But the one player who disappointed everyone so far this Ashes series is Rory Burns having miscommunicated that overthrow for four as well as still being vulnerable to the Australian quicks & not delivering these numbers as required at Test level, nothing to say right now as if he continues that poor start later in this game then it’s time to go by the Melbourne Boxing Day Test.

England need Dawid Malan & Joe Root to rekindle that spark tomorrow which worked so well in their 2nd innings run last week as it’s going to take a lot of time.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #Cricket #MarnusLabuschagne #SteveSmith #AlexCarey #MichaelNeser #MitchellStarc #JamesAnderson #Australia #England

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Credit to Nathan Lyon who finally ended the partnership of Dawid Malan & Joe Root this morning with his 400th Test wicket on Malan (82) + 4 wicket haul, it’s also great to see Australia’s fielding improve with a few successful catches as well as some support to their frontline bowling options from Cameron Green where he got rid of Root for 89.

It gave time for Australia’s frontline quicks (Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood) to get back up to speed & made good use of that 2nd new ball where they cleared the remaining England batting card with Green & Lyon for 299 & a 19 run trail before Australia finished the game easily with winning runs by 9 wickets, well done to the Aussies as they lead the five-match Ashes series 1-0.

England have kept it simple during their 2nd innings resurgence yesterday afternoon with Root & Malan despite the openers still being sub-par after a poor first two days, but they just couldn’t keep that momentum going when they returned this AM with potential hundreds & a bigger run stand stolen by Australia before a small lead wasn’t enough to stay in contention.

What Australia will focus now is continue their strong start going into Adelaide & hope that David Warner recovers in time for Thursday’s next test, England needs to at least revisit their opening options if they are to fight back as these guys like Rory Burns who weren’t up to the challenge while they would greatly benefit from James Anderson’s return & maybe Stuart Broad with the ball.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #Australia #England #Cricket #InternationalCricket #TestCricket #NathanLyon #JoeRoot #DawidMalan #CameronGreen

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Hats off to Travis Head who produced a test quality knock of 152 for Australia which a little more than what England scored in the 1st innings (147), although Australia left an acceptable lead of 278 when they were all out for 425 but they haven’t found it much ever since after their strong start off England’s openers especially with the partnership of David Malan & Joe Root that halted their progress.

Meanwhile, Mark Wood did a great finishing up with the ball earlier on Day 3 for England, now these openers (Rory Burns & Haseeb Hameed) were slapped again with respective sub-par scores after lunch but gotta say the top-order partnership of Joe Root & David Malan have rescued their day going into Day 4 where they both batted simply down the ground, hung in there & earned their own 50s off the bat while building a big partnership at the same time.

What Australia has to do is make the most of that new ball tomorrow with flawless fielding by their side after a exhausted 2nd half run today as they still have a 58 run lead at 220-2 if not there’s still another easy way to go 1-0 up in this Ashes series, while England need Root (86*) & Malan (80*) to keep their head up by converting these centuries, climb out of the run trail & stay there for longer that will at least turn into a draw or an outside shot of winning the 1st Test.

#AUSvENG #Australia #England #TheAshes #Cricket #TestCricket #TheGabba #InternationalCricket #MarkWood #TravisHead #JoeRoot #DawidMalan

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail