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The Ashes | 3rd Test | Day 2: Australia regain dominance despite Anderson's masterclass with ball

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Australia rode on some decent effort from the tail-enders to get get back on track in the third Ashes Test in Melbourne after the England bowling attack threatened their dominating position in the game. In the end, though, they managed to take an 82-run lead in the first innings. 

The hosts were reduced to 219/8 when captain Pat Cummins was joined by Mitchell Starc and the two batsmen chipped in with a partnership of 34 runs for the ninth wicket. While Cummins was dismissed for 21, Starc remained unbeaten at 24 as Australia put 267 before getting bundled out. 

Earlier, in the day, Australia started off the proceedings at 61/1 but England bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals to push them on the back foot. Opener Marcus Harris top-scored for the hosts with a score of 76. 

For England, it was James Anderson who bagged a four-wicket haul at the cost of 33 runs in 23 overs while Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood scalped a couple of wickets apiece.  

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SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 1: Commanding KL Rahul inspires dominant start against spiritless Proteas

A lot of the conversations in the build-up to the three-match long Test series between India and South Africa revolved around the performance of batsmen from both sides as the quality of bowling attacks was more of an accepted reality than a contentious fact. It was argued that as was the case during the last Test series between the sides in 2017-18, the outcome of this series too will be dependent on the quality of batting from either side. India’s captain Virat Kohli took that responsibility to another level by asking himself and his batting mates to bat first on a greenish pitch at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. To intensify the onus on batsmen’s shoulders, he and Rahul Dravid went ahead with a five-bowler strategy, meaning that the six-man batting group comprising of Rishabh Pant had no option but to put their hands up if India were to make a promising start to the series. Thankfully for his side, his batsmen heard his clarion call and the opponent pace attack was not well-oiled on the first day of the series. The opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul survived the entire first session but they would be honest to themselves if they admit they did not have to go through as stern an examination they would have expected while coming to South Africa. Before the start of any action, both sides made some brave and controversial selection calls that kept the commentators discussing the game. The hosts preferred the variety that Marco Jansen brought to the table over the tried and tested offerings of bounce from Duanne Olivier. On the other hand, the tourists took a contrasting decision and chose to stick with their experienced hands in Ajinkya Rahane over a prepared Hanuma Vihari and in-form Shreyas Iyer. Coming back to the action of the day, Indian got the same contributions from their openers that they have got accustomed to from the series in England although they were without their best batsman from that series in Rohit Sharma. Mayank Agarwal batted with awareness of his off stump but he was open to take the bait when South African pacers tried to make desperate attempts to pitch the ball up. He hit some crisp boundaries with immaculate footwork while Rahul started his grinding process and waited for the bowlers to lose their steam and passion after the sun broke through the patches of the overcast sky. The hosts resurrected themselves in the afternoon session and stuck to line and length bowling to deny Indian batsmen free-scoring opportunities. The rewards came in the form of wickets of Mayank and Cheteshwar Pujara on consecutive deliveries and Lungi Ngidi came forward as the saviour for the hosts. Two quick wickets threatened to derail the hard work of Indian openers and the incoming Virat Kohli had to make himself counted for the responsibility he had put his team under by choosing to bat first. He was ready for the battle and did not offer his bat at deliveries around the fifth and sixth stump line and Rahul stitched a partnership where pacers were lured to bowl closer and fuller to him. He too was up to the scoring opportunities and played some delightful strokes to keep himself going. However, as has been the case for him in the last two years since his last Test century, he played a flawless innings until the ball he committed his first mistake that turned out to be a fatal one. Ngidi was once again the man for Dean Elgar as the skipper chased one of the many wide, tempting delivery around the 8th stump line. There was no impact of wickets at another end on Rahul’s temperament but Rabada has too much quality up his sleeves to let a batsman have a comfortable feeling at the crease. He found an awkward bounce from the short of a length area of the pitch and notwithstanding his composure and watchfulness around off stump, Rahul was made to work hard by the right-armer. There were many hits and misses and leading edges that sailed over the slip cordon and Rahul was lucky enough to ride through another overseas Test ton—his sixth in overseas Tests overall and second in the year. The man who was selected to play in one of the biggest controversial calls of the day, Ajinkya Rahane, looked the most fluent batsmen from the Indian side and he offered a full-blooded drive to Ngidi’s full balls to announce his intentions. He was very disciplined and played only one waft outside off stump which have been causing of his downfall in the recent past and scored a brisk 40 runs to deny South Africa any sort of way back in the game. India are in a formidable position in the game having won the toss and decided to bat first and although there are a lot of actions left in the first innings itself, they would be ambitious of batting only once in the game. For that to happen though, Rahane will have to bring the same fluency and command he batted on first day while Rahul will have to convert his hundred into a daddy hundred that will push the Proteas to the brink.