The picture of Perth returned to the Gabba. England lost two consecutive Tests in the Ashes. After the first match, Australia won the second match by eight wickets. Mitchell Stark was the player of the match. He took eight wickets in two innings.
England could barely stand in both innings. Despite losing, they still have a chance in the series. Because three Tests remain.
In the Gabba Test, England batted first and scored 334 runs. Joe Root scored a century in the first innings. This was his first century on Australian soil. Alongside him, Zak Crawley scored 76 runs. From the Aussie camp, Mitchell Stark single-handedly brought down the opposition's batting. He took six wickets. Neser, Boland and Brendan Doggett took one wicket each.
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Australia batted in the first innings and scored 511. Though no one scored a century, Jack Weatherald (72), Labuschagne (65), Steve Smith (61), Alex Carey (63), Mitchell Stark (77) scored runs. With their dominance, they managed this huge score and took a lead of 177 runs.
Bazball fails again
Facing the dominance of the opposition's pacers and batters, England had no choice but to score big runs in the second innings. But in trying to do so, they collapsed for just 241 runs. They set a target of 64 runs. Apart from Ben Stokes' 50, no one else scored big runs. For Australia, Neser alone took five wickets. Mitchell Stark and Scott Boland took two each. Brendan Doggett took one.
Chasing 64 runs, scoring these runs was easy for Australia. Given the form they were in, the fight was easy. They achieved it in just 10 overs, losing two wickets.
In this match, just as Joe Root ended his century drought on Australian soil by scoring a century, he also witnessed an unwanted record by losing this match. Joe Root topped the list of not winning a single Test match on any country's soil. Until now, Kapil Dev was on the list. He did not win 15 Tests on Pakistani soil. Now Joe Root did not see victory in 16 Tests on Australian soil. In 2022, that is, before the Bazball era in English cricket, Joe Root scored 25 centuries. Where England lost only one match. After that, Root has scored 15 centuries and his team has lost five times. As a result, overall, England has been going through tough times since Bazball.
The next match is on December 17 at Adelaide Oval. If England loses this match, they will lose the series.
