Mike Atherton, chief cricket correspondent: On an increasingly gloomy Sydney afternoon, Joe Root grimaced at slip and felt for his back, as if an invisible man had crept up behind him and poked him with a stick. It looked like a spasm and as he walked off to the dressing room clutching it, not to return, it was not hard to reflect on the weighty load he carried on a day when his brilliance stood in contrast to a witless dismissal from Jamie Smith and some dreadfully inconsistent bowling.
Root has never played better in Australia to give England a fighting chance of winning consecutive Tests, albeit in an overall losing cause. He more than doubled his overnight score, going level with Ricky Ponting’s 41 Test hundreds in the morning, before shepherding the lower order, after Ben Stokes, Harry Brook and Smith fell before lunch to a mixture of dismissals that could be described as good, bad and downright ugly.
• Read Athers’ report in full here
Joe Root stopped to talk to the TNT Sports crew and looked to be moving a bit more freely having come off earlier in the day with a bad back.
He said: “I am ok actually, it was a bit embarrassing really. I just started cramping in my back and thank God there are no cameras in the dressing room! It was just precautionary and I should be absolutely fine for tomorrow.
“It was satisfying. The pitch felt good yesterday but felt quite a bit different today as it sped up. There could be a lot of uneven bounce as the Test match goes on and could deteriorate quite quickly at some point. The game is set interestingly. I do not think we got things quite right tonight and it is important to bounce back well tomorrow. Most importantly for us is not panicking or not dwell to much on tonight.”
On his innings: “I work hard at my rhythm and on my consistency and it’s about trying to find a way with the different challenges you face. I don’t hit the ball particularly hard so I need to try and use the pace that is there to get the runs flowing. If I identify a weakness or a shot I feel weaker with, it’s about limiting my use of that shot. I feel like I’ve learned good control over not throwing my hands at balls that are not there for it.”
Smith’s ‘rubbish’ dismissal
Jamie Smith’s dismissal against Marnus Labuschagne doesn’t get any less cringeworthy when watching the clip back. Justin Langer, joining the TNT Sports crew in Sydney, says “I don’t get it, that was rubbish”. Graeme Swann, meanwhile, adds that “it gets worse every time you watch it”. Here it is again:
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Elizabeth Ammon: And that’s stumps for day two with Australia trailing by 218 runs. A rapid fire 91* off 87 by Travis Head, who is really flourishing in the role of opener having started the series supposed to be batting at No5. His run tally for the series is now over 500.
MORGAN HANCOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Elizabeth Ammon: Australia have sent a nightwatchman in — Michael Neser — with around 15 minutes of play left today.
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There were supposed to be 98 overs bowled today to make up for the weather yesterday but they won’t bowl anywhere near that. It will be struggle to bowl the standard 90 despite there being an extra half an hour play in the day (they started half an hour early) — that’s what happens when there is no spin.
Wicket! Stokes removes Labuschagne
The 100 partnership between Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head came from just 104 balls but a wicket falls almost immediately after with Labuschagne edging Ben Stokes to gully.
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Interesting that it came just after the little spat between the two players. It was a full ball that shaped away and a loose drive got a thick edge. Stokes will be delighted with that having just told his Australian counterpart to “shut the **** up” earlier in the over but the England captain doesn’t say a word as Labuschagne departs.
Stokes and Labuschagne exchange words
Elizabeth Ammon: There’s a bit of “chat” going on between Marnus Labuschagne and Ben Stokes – certainly not of the very friendly kind. Stokes is fired up and Labuschagne is chirping at him.
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES
Stokes put his arm around Labuschagne to listen in carefully to what he was saying and the umpire stepped towards them to make sure it didn’t get any more heated.
Simon Wilde: This has been a poor start by England, with boundaries leaking everywhere. They posted a competitive score but have shed runs so freely that their position is rapidly eroding to nothing.
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Josh Tongue and Ben Stokes present some sort of threat but Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse have applied no sort of pressure, so the overall effort becomes diluted. Potts’ shortage of cricket since he played in Canberra more than a month ago has been evident — he has struggled to stick to a line and length, or find a rhythm. It hardly helps the cause when routine catches such as the one Ben Duckett shelled early on go to ground. Australia had a similar problem when the main threat came only from Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, but their attack got their act together towards the end of the England innings. England urgently need to find some stability.
England’s inexperience showing
Elizabeth Ammon: This is a very inexperienced bowling attack and it is showing — just 31 Tests between Brydon Carse (13), Matthew Potts (ten) and Josh Tongue (eight).
It’s been a really loose bowling display and it means, I suspect, that Ben Stokes will feel he has to bowl a fair bit to try and get a breakthrough as this partnership between Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne approaches three figures.
Elizabeth Ammon: Here’s a fun fact for you. Matthew Potts’ last eight Test caps have come against seven different opponents — India, South Africa, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia.
Australia punishing sloppy England
Elizabeth Ammon: Joe Root is struggling with some discomfort in his back and is unlikely to field again for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, England’s seamers are struggling to find the right length and this Australian pair are just milking the runs, going at over five an over.
Mike Atherton, chief cricket correspondent: Joe Root’s highest Test score in Australia has been the centre piece of the second day so far. He made a brilliant 160 — his second hundred of the series — in an England total of 384, which felt competitive but was less than it might have been after Jamie Smith played a terrible shot just before lunch, after which the last five wickets fell for 61.
Root’s innings was flawless and he has rarely played better. His hundred was his 41st in Test cricket, putting him level with Ricky Ponting. Harry Brook and Ben Stokes both fell early on, Brook to a poor shot and Stokes to a good ball from Mitchell Starc, who seems to have the England captain’s number presently, having dismissed him five times this series and 14 times in Test cricket in all.
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Smith got out to Marnus Labuschagne of all people, slapping a bouncer to deep cover, and to the only fielder in front of square on the off-side. It was a terribly judged shot, with lunch and the second new ball approaching. Root was ninth out, brilliantly caught and bowled by Michael Neser who was part of a much-improved Australian bowling performance on the second day.
England were poor with the new ball in response. Matthew Potts has not bowled in a match for five weeks and it showed. He looked rusty but has always struggled a little more against left-handers, of which Australia have two at the top of the order. Ben Duckett dropped a bad catch at square-leg when Jake Weatherald had made 14. That was not a costly drop, as Stokes dismissed him leg-before for 21, but Travis Head, with another half-century, continues to be a thorn in England’s side. He, along with Alex Carey and Starc, has been brilliant for Australia in this series.
The lights are on and the weather is closing in, as it did about this time yesterday. The conditions feel reasonable for bowling, but ten boundaries came in the first 12 overs of Australia’s reply and 17 in the first 21 overs. England’s bowlers have been far too short and wide. The number of times you look up in this series and see an Australian batsman cutting the ball, has been quite unbelievable.
Hello and welcome to The Times’ live coverage of the fifth and final Test of the Ashes.
England made a strong start to backing up their first win in Australia for 15 years last week, posting 384 in their first innings in Sydney. Joe Root led the way for the tourists with a superb 160.