Ashes series: Australia take 2-0 lead over England
Australia took a 2-0 lead in the five-Test Ashes series today by beating England by 275 runs and all but ensured the century-old urn will remain Down Under.
Set 468 runs to win, England were bowled out for 192 with 21 overs remaining on the final day of play in the Day/Night Test at Adelaide Oval.
Jos Buttler (26) faced 207 deliveries for England before treading on his stumps to be out hit-wicket in a losing cause. “That’s the attitude we have to harness through the whole game,” England captain Joe Root said. “The fight and attitude was great today and we just have to do more of it.” Australia stand-in captain Steve Smith said England “showed some really good resistance and fight.” “We always felt (it would only take) a couple of balls, there was still plenty of time left. We just tried to stay calm,” Smith said. Only one team has come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series: Don Bradman’s Australians in 1936-37. As holders of the Ashes, Australia need only to draw the next match.
Brief scores: Aus: 473/9 declared (Labuschagne 103, Warner 95) & 230/9 declared (Head 51, Labuschagne 51); Eng: 236 (Malan 80, Root 62, Starc 4/37) & 192 (Richardson 5/42). — AP
11 England’s 192 was 11th sub-200 total this calendar year.
3Jos Buttler batted for more than four hours. His strike rate of 12.56 was the third-slowest in Test history for an innings of 200 balls or more.
23It was Root’s 23rd Test defeat as captain, the most for an England skipper.
