Australia gained a 91-run advantage on Day 3 of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, during which England lost six wickets while scoring only 47 runs. Mitchell Starc and Travis Head, who each took two wickets in the session, accelerated England’s collapse as their fight-fire-with-fire strategy against Australia’s short-ball tactic backfired, resulting in their being wiped out for 325 on Friday (June 30). Australia was 12/0 at lunch, with the openers having survived a challenging spell from James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
On another overcast morning at Lord’s, Starc dismissed Ben Stokes in the first over by inducing a leading edge from the England captain with extra spin from a length delivery. Cameron Green caught the ball with his fingertips at wide slip. The next batter, Jonny Bairstow, did not take long to get underway as he swept a full delivery from Starc through extra cover for four.
Australia’s pacers resorted to short-ball tactics once more, with Starc hitting Brook on the glove, Cummins on the helmet grille, and the Australia captain missing the edge while Brook attempted to draw. Starc delivered a short delivery to Bairstow, which he lofted over the fielders. Brook, meanwhile, increased his score to fifty and continued to attempt to play his strokes against the short ones. This ultimately led to his downfall, as Cummins caught him attempting to flat-bat a Starc delivery through the off side.
Bairstow, who displayed significantly more application than the other batsmen, attempted a lofted drive off Hazlewood but could only strike the ball as far as Cummins at mid-on and was dismissed for 16. Ollie Robinson and Broad added 13 before Ollie Robinson attempted to come down the track to Head but could only manage an edge, which Alex Carey held at chest height. Broad was stranded leg-before in the same over after missing a sweep, and a review did not save him. Josh Tongue was the last man out; he was dismissed by Pat Cummins as Australia took a commanding lead.
Usman Khawaja and David Warner were defeated multiple times on both the inside and outside boundaries during a difficult period. Khawaja executed a cover drive for a four off Anderson for the first boundary of the innings, while Warner did the same off Broad for the final delivery of the six-over session.
Brief scores: Australia 416 & 12/0 lead England 325 (Ben Duckett 98, Harry Brook 50; Mitchell Starc 3-88, Travis Head 2-17) by 103 runs.
