Last Updated on 4 months ago by Charbel Coorey
What a difference a day makes. 24 hours ago, England fans were cockahoop as their much spoken about pace attack dismantled the Australian batting lineup on a bouncy Perth pitch. Bowling beautifully as a unit, England reduced the hosts to 123/9 and took the honours despite only batting 32.5 overs themselves.
England entered day two with visions of taking control of the Test, just like India did last year. They were going nicely until lunch, finishing the first session 59/1 and leading by 99.
Going off past evidence at Perth Stadium, the pitch was only going to get better for batting. Ricky Ponting hit the nail on the head on commentary. “It was about 28 degrees yesterday and looking at it this morning, you could see the cracks but it actually looked like a really good surface for batting,” Ponting said on Channel 7 broadcast.
“We know the history of this venue last year… day two last year, Australia lost 3/37. India then went in for the second-half of the day… were none for 172 at stumps.
“Jaiswal 90 not out, KL Rahul 62, and we know what happened after that… day three is when Virat Kohli made a hundred. So it will definitely get better for batting, but it might just be the second-half of day two where it’s at its absolute best.”
England fail to drive home advantage after taking lead
However, England failed to drive home the advantage in dramatic fashion. The downfalls of Bazball came to the fore once again, with a number of their players perishing playing the dreaded drive on the up. There was a lack of match awareness given the surface was due to improve from a batting point of view. Travis Head and Australia certainly took advantage.
Scott Boland, after a poor first day, came to the party. He dismissed both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in quick succession after lunch. The latter’s dismissal was particularly disappointing, slashing wildly at a length ball after making a start. Harry Brook and Joe Root soon made similar mistakes to deliveries not there for the drive, out courtesy of the outside and inside edge respectively.
From 65/1 and leading by 105, England collapsed to 104/7. The Jamie Smith dismissal was a controversial moment, but focusing on the third umpire is a deflection tactic as England let another promising position slip in an Ashes Test.
A lower order counterpunch from Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse took England past a 200-run lead. Such a total looked defendable in such a low-scoring game. However, the game was over 28.4 overs later as England’s pace attack simply had no answers to the Travis Head onslaught.
In the process, England’s winless run in Australia stretched to 16 Tests.
England fans slam team for horror show on day two of the Perth Ashes Test
“I think that is, by some distance, England’s most embarrassing loss in Australia since 2010-11. No caveats, no excuses, no big mismatch on paper, won the toss, all the buildup over the past few years focussed exclusively on this, all the opportunities within the game. Pathetic,” wrote one fan on X (formerly Twitter).
The likes of Michael Vaughan and Piers Morgan were bitterly disappointed. The latter, who was full of confidence before the Ashes, described the performance as “so disappointing.” Vaughan lamented England making the same mistakes as 2023.
Here are some of the reactions.
England need to bounce back quickly. The second Test, a day/nighter in Brisbane, begins on December 4. A 2-0 deficit likely means series gone for England, so the pressure is on already.
