Ashes | Australia inch closer to history as Stokes-Archer barely keep England alive on one-sided Day 2

Resuming from an overnight score of 326/8, Mitchell Starc began proceedings on Day 2 with purpose as he smashed Jofra Archer for four second ball. The veteran would add four more boundaries over the next 11 deliveries to register his second half-century of the series before Archer finally sent his lef stump cartwheeling. With the end in sight, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland continued to frustrate the tourists for a bit longer, the duo surviving six overs to add 23 runs and take the score to 371, until Archer pinned the former plumb to end with impressive figures of 5/53.

In response, Ben Duckett channelled the same energy with some resplendent strokes early to take the charge to new-ball bowlers Starc and Pat Cummins. By the end of seven overs, the dimunitive opener had already struck five boundaries and the opening partnership read 37 when partner Zak Crawley got served up with an unplayable jaffa by Cummins to resign him back to the pavilion. With the ball still hard and new, the skipper decided to bring on Lyon early with hopes of extracting some turn and bounce but little could he have imagined how the gamble would pay off. It took the offie just three deliveries to have Ollie Pope caught at short midwicket with a hapless stroke, before producing an absolute ripper that spun past Duckett's edge and suddenly left the visitors reeling at 42/3. New batters Joe Root and Harry Brook ensured no further blows were dealt till Lunch, where they headed with the score at 59/3.

Cummins returned to the attack upon resumption and took just an over and a half to get the better of his old nemesis Root by having him nick to the keeper, marking the 12th time he has dismissed the top-ranked batter in Test cricket. Captain Ben Stokes decided the situation demanded for the tempo to be slowed down, and dug in singlemindedly even as Brook continued to play the occassional shot at the other end. The song of ice and fire culminated in an authoritative 56-run stand and seemed destined to take England through to Tea in the ascendancy. With just two overs remaining in the session, Cummins made one last roll of the dice by handing Cameron Green the ball for the first time in the match, and the towering all-rounder needed just two deliveries to draw the outside edge from Brook and send him packing for a quick 63-ball 45.

England resumed the final session at 127/5, with Stokes unbeaten on 19 at a strike rate of 25 and Jamie Smith for company. The duo tried to seize momentum early with a couple of boundaries against Cummins, latter even smashing a sharp bumper for a maximum. However, the very next ball, Smith nearly fended one to slip but Snicko bizzarely disagreed with the assessment, albeit it would not have counted either way considering Usman Khawaja had failed to take a clean catch. Nevertheless, Smith added a couple more boundaries off Green but Snicko's shenanigans came to bite him back quickly enough. Smith tried and comprehensively failed to pull a Cummins short delivery, only for the technology to rule him out for 22 despite replays showing several inches of gap between bat and ball at the instance the spike appeared. Will Jacks fell soon after by inside edging a catch to the stood-up Alex Carey off Scott Boland, 10 balls before the pacer produced an absolute scorcher that cut Carse in half an resigned him to a five-ball duck. With the side thus reeling at 168/8, Stokes dug in even harder while Archer was the one playing the shots, the bowler scoring a spree of boundaries including a cover drive for the ages off Starc. Australia threw everything at them but the duo held firm, adding 45 for the ninth wicket until Stumps with the score 213/8 and the Kangaroos' lead still a substantial 158 runs.

Well played!

Legend!

End of day 2!

Priceless reaction!

Tough day for ENG!

Archer!!!

Yes!

Let's see!

Building partnership!

Controversy!