1h agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 3:57amLive scoreboard: Australia vs England — second Test
6m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:57am
12th over – Boland continues
Three slips and a gully, fine leg, Crawley gets a single.
Yorker from Boland, that’s a brilliant delivery that takes a batter of the calibre of Joe Root to keep it out.
Root clips off his pads and it’s the sub fielder at midwicket who has to give chase, a couple of runs added to the total.
Good ball, angling in just outside off stump and Root had his bat up and out the way. Wasn’t far off the stumps.
FOUR! Lovely shot from Root, exquisite drive down the ground.
That’s the 50 partnership for this pairing, 53 runs off 56 balls. Good recovery from them.
Root fends to point for no run to end the over.
And that will be drinks – time for Chris De Silva to take us through to the first break, which I will refuse to call lunch.
12m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:52am
11th over – Brendan Doggett comes into the attack
Outside off, left alone by Root.
Root cuts at a very wide delivery Weatherald has to chase out to the point boundary, sending the ball back to Carey on the bounce. They run three.
Joe Root on strike now, and he fends back to mid off for no run.
Crawley drives, that’s a nice shot to wide long off. Weatherald chases around and flicks the ball just past Travis Head’s face.
Boland and Starc are both off the ground, as Root fends the last, but Boland comes back on.
16m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:47am
10th over – Scott Boland is going to continue
Crawley is on 32. When he passes 30 in Tests, he averages in the 70’s, according to our friends at Fox. Ominous.
He clips Boland’s first off his pads for a single.
Three slips and a gully as Root walks down the pitch to Boland and clips away for another single.
BEATEN! Good ball from Boland, Crawley has his bat straight and the ball just nipping past the outside of his edge.
Crawley clips to mid on for no run.
Outside off, left alone from Crawley.
Deep square leg comes up to half-distance for Crawley here.
CRAWLEY SWINGS! MISSES! HUGE APPEAL! Did Crawley hit that? The Aussies in the field love it, their enthusiasm taken up by those in the stands. Crawley does not seem bothered and the replay shows why – it hit pad and Crawley himself was a mile away from it.
22m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:42am
9th over – Starc carries on
His last? Perhaps.
Crawley fends to point for no run.
Crawley drives on the up through cover, Jake Weatherald is the man at that strange, 3/4 point position he comes around to field. A couple added to the total.
FOUR! Did Crawley hit that? NO! It’s byes! What incredible carry there from Starc! Carey was at full stretch and the ball was still rising as it went over him by a foot. Incredible. The Gabba trampoline is back.
A dot next up as Starc tightens his line.
FOUR! Driven straight back down the ground, past Starc for another boundary. That wasn’t a million miles away from the way he was dismissed in Perth, but he hit that so much better.
Backward square comes round and into position – a bouncer? It was the double bluff and Crawley takes a single to cover.
27m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:37am
8th over – Scott Boland comes into the attack
Speaking of first overs, it’s Scott Boland!
Joe Root faces up and defends solidly first up.
Outside off, a rising ball left alone by Joe Root there. 138km/h from Boland.
Another rising ball angled in to Joe Root that he fends off his tip toes with an angled bat to point – no run.
Boland goes to the pads and Root clips him to fine leg for a single.
Outside off from Boland and Crawley ignores it.
Crawley fends to point for a single. This is almost verging on sensible batting by England, assessing the less-than-ideal situation they found themselves in and are playing accordingly. Interesting.
27m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:36am
This was a bad option
I’m trying, unsuccessfully, to explain to myself why I went for a drink during Starc’s 1st over…
– Mike
I hope you have learned your lesson.
30m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:33am
7th over – Mitch Starc will have a fourth
Disappointing over from Starc last over. No wicket. Shameful, really.
IN THE AIR! Crawley has a swing and the ball balloons to backward point off the outside edge but falls safe! There is a fielder there and they run a couple.
Outside off, left alone.
Wide from Starc, but Crawley reaches for it a long way and crouches as he plays a really ugly-looking shot.
Crawley drives to mid off, there is no run. Australia has left cover wide open for the England opener, tempting him to throw his hands at a drive. There is a man deep at point, three-quarters of the way to the rope. A defensive option? It’s a funny fielding position.
Crawley drives again, but there is no run to mid off.
Now he pushes to mid on for no run.
Another wicketless over for Starc.
37m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:27am
6th over – Neser continues
A bit wayward last over from Neser. Can he tighten things up?
Not initially, as Crawley clips off his pads for a couple to midwicket.
Neser bowls a bouncer that Crawley backs away from. Looked very high live but not wide. 137km/h from Neser.
BEATEN! Good ball from Neser, nice follow up outside off.
Crawley clips off his pads to wide long on and will pick up a couple more, three runs in fact – this outfield is so much faster than in Perth that Boland had to really put some extra pace into his loping to get that before it hit the rope.
Close from Neser, he puts his arms up in the air, as Root fends next to his front pad into cover for no run.
EDGED! But very soft hands from Yorkshire’s finest and the ball bounces twice before nestling in the gloves of Alex Carey.
41m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:22am
5th over – Starc comes in once more
Nice drive from Crawley but he doesn’t time it and it will be just a single.
Root leaves outside off, bit wide from Starc.
Good bounce from Starc, Root has to leap up and fend that one off the upper part of his bat.
Outside off, Root has rediscovered the leave and lets that one go by.
Root jams his bat down and fends back to Starc.
Every ball this over has been over 141km/h from Starc. He’s bowling very, very well.
Root flicks on the jump to backward point, an extravagant shot that can’t be too high-percentage, for no run.
43m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:21am
Pope offers nothing and pays the price
(Getty)
In the second over of the game, former Australia coach Darren Lehmann said on ABC Sport that he wanted to see the likes of Zak Crawley attacking more.
“They’re playing [like] Geoffrey Boycott. That’s a cuttable ball, and in pink-ball, that’s the one that you want to be attacking. You actually want to be flaying that through the point area. It’s almost wide enough to really go at it.”
But Ollie Pope’s shot was neither fish nor fowl, just hanging the bat out there. It certainly wasn’t a “flay” by any stretch of the imagination.
“It was a nothing shot,” Lehmann says.
“Cut shot, probably a little close to him. Little bit unlucky, but Mitchell Starc does it again. All of a sudden you’ve got England on the ropes.”
45m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:19am
4th over – Neser has another
And that’s clipped away by Crawley for a couple down to deep backward square – it might make it all the way but a good stop in the end saves the boundary.
FOUR! That’s a superb shot, Crawley hitting back here for England, clipping off his pads and through midwicket for a boundary that only bounced a couple of times before going over the ropes.
Three slips and a gully wait and there’s another edge is there? Perhaps off the pad, falling well short of Carey.
FOUR! Crushed through cover by Crawley, a lovely shot, all hands and just a bit over-pitched by Neser.
BEATEN! AND AN APPEAL? Neser likes it, but nobody else does. It was close though… No review.
And a quick single to end the over.
49m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:14am
3rd over – Starc comes in to Root
Joe Root clips the first he faces off his pads and gets a couple to backward square leg.
BEATEN! OUTSIDE OFF! Joe Root just prods outside off, his feet rooted to the crease and he is so lucky not to nick that. It’s such bad batting.
EDGED! FOUR! Steve Smith from second slip dived across Marnus at first slip and got a finger tip to it.
51m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:12amBOWLED HIM!
OH MY WORD! IT’S ASTONISHING!
England’s batters simply don’t seem capable of learning!
Ollie Pope dangles his bat outside off and the ball clips his inside edge and he plays onto his middle stump.
It’s another horrendous shot and England are in all sorts ALL READY!
53m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:11am
3rd over – Mitch Starc continues
How much of this is just aura now for Starc? His loping run from in front of the members carries all the menace of an executioner marching to the block where Ollie Pope is waiting, leaving the first outside off. That was 143,1km/h.
Good stop from Carey down the leg side, no bat involved but a fair amount of swing.
57m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:07am
2nd over – Michael Neser steams in
On his home patch, the Queenslander, promoted to the side today comes steaming in and has Crawley leaving the first outside off.
He leaves the next one too, Neser, leaning his close-cropped head back as the ball just missed the outside of off stump.
Bat on ball this time for Crawley. No run to cover.
And a repeat fifth ball of the over too, that just skidding on off the pitch and coming into the right handed batter.
BIG APPEAL! Mostly from those in the members behind the wicketkeeper, the players on the pitch don’t seem interested and Steve Smith waves it away.
59m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:04amEDGED! GOT HIM!
ANOTHER FIRST OVER WICKET FOR MITCH STARC!
Duckett looks behind and trudges off as he edges to first slip. He just poked at that one, no foot movement, a horrendous shot deserving of a golden duck.
A disastrous start for the tourists.
1h agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 4:01am
1st over – Mitchell Starc opens the Test
Mr Pink Ball Test himself has that pomegranate in his paw, ready to roll.
England’s batters – both helmeted, for those so offended by their scooter antics – are out there.
Starc comes steaming in and Zak Crawley leaves outside off, serious carry from Starc to Carey.
BEATEN! Great ball from Starc, outside off and having Crawley squared up.
BEATEN! Crawley presents a square bat and the ball flies past at real pace – 142.2km/h that one.
FOUR! Glorious response from Zak Crawley, his first runs of the Ashes, a sumptuous cover drive straight out of his playbook.
And now he clips off his pads for a single to mid on. Good batting.
Both teams have black armbands on for Robin Smith, as Ben Duckett prepares to face. Three slips and a gully wait with bated breath.
1h agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 3:59am
What to expect
With England mostly asleep at this time of day, a quote springs to mind from Lord of the Rings.
“Whatever luck you live by, let’s hope it lasts the night.”
“Your friends are with you.”
“Let’s hope they last the night”.
Most of England woke up with England’s innings already been and gone in Perth on day one.
It will be 6am in England at lunch. Surely they’ll still be batting here by then…
1h agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 3:55am
Marnus is a seam up bowler these days
Hello Simon, I’m looking forward to a four or five day game – Are Head and Labuschagne the Aussie’s only spin options in this Goatless line-up?
– Mike
So I think that leaves Travis Head to win the Test with the ball as well as with the bat.
We do always forget Steve Smith in these situations, whose leg spin is criminally underrated.