3 things Australia need to do to bounce back on Day 3 of 4th Ashes Test at Old Trafford
England pushed Australia on the backfoot with their 'Bazball' approach on the second day of the ongoing Old Trafford Test match. The home side bowled the Aussies out for 317 runs in the first innings.
In reply, Zak Crawley's magnificent innings of 189 runs from 182 balls helped the England cricket team reach 384/4 in just 72 overs at stumps on Day 2. They have a first-innings lead of 67 runs with six wickets still in hand.
Considering that the likes of Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes still have their wickets in hand, fans expect England to take a massive lead in the first innings.
Australia will have to do something special to bounce back at Old Trafford. Here's a list of three things which they need to get right.
#1 Australia should use their part-time spinners wisely
The Aussies decided against including a frontline spinner in their playing XI for the fourth Ashes Test match at Old Trafford. Captain Pat Cummins' decision backfired as the England batters destroyed the all-seam attack, batting at a run rate of more than five runs per over yesterday.
Pat Cummins has three part-time spin options in his team. He used Travis Head's off-spin and Marnus Labuschagne's leg-spin on Day 2, but none of the two part-timers could dismiss the England batters. The third option is Steve Smith, who has a couple of three-wicket hauls to his name in Test matches on English soil.
Cricket expert Sanjay Manjrekar mentioned how the Aussies can counter England's Bazball approach by using spinners well. Perhaps, Pat Cummins can decide against giving any overs to pacers and have spinners bowling in tandem at Old Trafford.
"One way to counter ‘bazball’ is having one or two skilled spinners in the attack. Then batters with just power won’t be effective, only skilled batters against spin would. And today those are rare to find. That’s why Aus missing Lyon massively!" Manjrekar tweeted.
One way to counter ‘bazball’ is having one or two skilled spinners in the attack. Then batters with just power won’t be effective, only skilled batters against spin would. And today those are rare to find.
That’s why Aus missing Lyon massively!
#Ashes
#2 Control the number of extras
Australia have conceded 11 no-balls so far in just 72 overs. Captain Pat Cummins has bowled four of them, while all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has bowled four no-balls in just nine overs. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have bowled a combined total of three no-balls.
There have been multiple instances of batters losing their wickets, only to be saved by a no-ball in this Ashes. Perhaps, Australia can reduce the extras and build pressure on their opponents.
#3 Pick up Ben Stokes' wicket as early as possible
While all the remaining wickets are important for the Aussies, perhaps the most important one is of home team captain Ben Stokes. Australia should aim to dismiss Stokes as early as possible.
Stokes has mastered the art of scoring runs with the lower-order batters. If the Aussies let him do that again, the lead may extend to around 200-225 runs. The best way to trigger an England collapse would be to dismiss Stokes early.