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International Cricket

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

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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

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Australia on a roll after Day 1 of the 2nd Test at Adelaide Oval under the day/night setting at 221/2, it’s nice to see David Warner & Marnus Labuschagne form a bigger partnership by using a mixture of defensive blocks off good balls & vary a couple of strike selections that made England tough to handle.

Although Warner may be unlucky not to escape the nervous 90s on 95 through that catch from Stuart Broad off Ben Stokes, there’s still some question marks though such as Marcus Harris’s batting which didn’t work out well once again in the afternoon session but we’ll wait and see how Michael Neser steps up on his debut Test match after Pat Cummins got in contact with someone who has COVID and was forced to isolate for a week.

For now, let Labuschagne (95) get his 100 tomorrow afternoon when play resumes as well as help stand-in skipper Steve Smith (18) form another big partnership for another 100-150 runs before declaring it & bring out these bowlers with a slightly changed line-up of Mitchell Starc, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson & Nathan Lyon.

England had the early advantage off Marcus Harris thanks to the returning Stuart Broad who later captured another victim in Warner with his catch a while ago after he was dropped during the opening test which gave some relief, but they were helpless for the majority with no way to make Warner & Labuschagne feel vulnerable of their spin & speed plus there’s little support from the field either including that dropped catch from keeper Jos Buttler twice on Labuschagne at 21 & 95*

The away team will have much-needed sleep now for the night & hopefully they wake up refreshed with ideas at least to knock down the remaining Australian batting card first as early as possible, then the pressure is on for their openers to step up in order to help the top & middle order pile the maximum runs they need to help England stay in contention.

#Ashes #Australia #England #Cricket #TestCricket #DavidWarner #MarnusLabuschagne #StuartBroad #InternationalCricket #Adelaide Oval

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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

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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

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That partnership with David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne was one of Australia’s best moments earlier on Day 2, who both remained calm and collective in the middle before they flied plenty of decent shots out of the park that sealed their half-tons. 

Warner & Labuschagne may not have converted into a century going into tea when Australia just overtook England for the lead but Travis Head kept them alive in the middle at No.5 when he proved doubters wrong about his inconsistency & earned his way to a nice ton himself which is a wonderful way Australia’s end Day 2 progress in style.

They lead by 196 runs at 343-7 so Australia should stay at the crease for a little longer with Head still out there & Mitchell Starc can bat a handy amount of runs before we bring out their bowling strikeforce & try to finish that 1st Test with a win.

Meanwhile, England took an early advantage off the inexperienced Marcus Harris thanks to Ollie Robinson, who also blocked Warner towards escaping his nervous 90s on 94 before he launched a free run & clean bowled Cameron Green for a duck.

Although England were unlucky to dismiss Warner earlier on through that no ball from Ben Stokes, who just overstepped the line on his front foot but England looked very lost during the 1st half of today while wiping Steve Smith for 12 &  Australia’s middle-order card wasn’t enough to reserve their slump thanks to the last man standing in Travis Head.

What England has to do now is wrap up this bowling spell ASAP in the AM session tomorrow before they can use most of Day 3 through lunch & tea to catch up with the bat, then they can use Day 4 to set Australia a difficult run total to chase but only if one or two of their decent batsmen can survive long enough.

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Australia won their first ever T20 world cup, after a commanding run chase over New Zealand.

The Aussies won the toss and decided to bowl, a decision that has become pretty common in this world cup due to the dew effect and how the pitch matures. It seemed to be a pretty smart decision early on, with Josh Hazelwood taking the wicket of semi final hero Darrell Mitchell, in the third over. The other opener Martin Guptill scored a slow 28 runs off of 35 balls, before he chipped one to Marcus Stoinis.

But from there on it was the Kiwi captain who took control of the innings. After a slow start, Kane Williamson exploded through the middle overs, hitting thirteen boundaries including three sixes in a spectacular innings. Williamson was able to score his 85 off of just 48 deliveries. It was a spectacular innings, that led New Zealand to finish on 172-4, after Jimmy Neesham smacked a six towards the close of play.

It meant Australia had the difficult task of chasing 173 on a slow pitch. Their run chase was made a lot more difficult when they lost captain Aaron Finch for just five runs in the third over. But from there, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh put on the match winning partnership of 92, before Warner was bowled out by Trent Boult.

While Australia came into the tournament with some incredible batsmen like David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch, it was ten year veteran Mitchell Marsh who provided the match winning performance. Coming in with Australia down 15-1 after a slow start, Marsh provided a controlled but impressive innings which led his side to victory.

Marsh had been dropped in the run up to the tournament, but was reinstated into the team as the tournament began, and provided the most important innings of his career in the final. Marsh hit some beautiful shots before Glenn Maxwell took Australia past 173, with seven balls to spare.

Top 3 Performances

3. Kane Williamson produced what was thought to be a match winning performance. His T20 ability is often overlooked, but the captain did everything to try to lead his team to victory today, narrowly falling short of defending their total.

2. While Williamson batted excellently, Josh Hazlewood showed why he is one of th best t20 bowlers in the world once again, taking 3 wickets for just 16 runs, including the wicket of Williamson. It was a bowling performance that meant no other New Zealand batter could properly help their captain

1. Mitch Marsh produced his greatest ever performance. Australia’s batting had been a worry coming into the tournament, with questions all across their line-up. But Marsh put to bed any questions about him being in the team. Marsh never looked worried as he hit a match winning 77 which included four big sixes. It was a performance no one expected, but came at exactly the right time for Australia.

This is the Aussies first ever t20 world cup victory, despite winning five world cups in ODI cricket. Australia lost in 2010 to England, but took care of things today. It means they go into the 2022 world cup which is hosted in Australia as holders, looking to defend their crown at home.

New Zealand need to regroup after a difficult loss in the final, but they will go into the world cup next year with a good squad that should have some crucial additions like Lochie Ferguson and Finn Allen come back into the squad to give them a good shot at the world cup in 2022.

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