{"id":329357,"date":"2025-12-05T12:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329357\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T12:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:14:12","slug":"aussies-ahead-at-gabba-but-could-rue-brain-snaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329357\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussies ahead at Gabba but could rue brain-snaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia’s self-inflicted wounds have left the door open for England in the second Ashes Test when dominance had been there for the taking at the Gabba.<\/p>\n

Australia (6-378) had been sitting pretty at 3-291 in the third session on day two, cruising towards England’s first-innings total of 334 set largely by Joe Root (138no).<\/p>\n

But some batting brain-snaps prevented the day-night masters from truly cashing in and left the game on a knife’s edge when a huge total appeared within reach on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"Paceman<\/p>\n

Paceman Brydon Carse picked up three late wickets to help England keep pressure on Australia. (Dave Hunt\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

A collapse of 3-38 in the final session was particularly egregious, and the damage could have been even worse had England not dropped five catches – four in the final session.<\/p>\n

Steve Smith’s men headed to stumps 44 runs ahead of England, who will be eligible for a new ball early on day three.<\/p>\n

Alex Carey (46no) and the recalled Michael Neser (15no) are unbeaten at the crease after both were given a life following terrible dropped catches by Ben Duckett and Brydon Carse, respectively.<\/p>\n

Cracks are beginning to show in the pitch, so Australia will be eager to finish their first dig with a sizeable lead given a fourth-innings chase is likely to be tough – particularly under lights.<\/p>\n

In only his second Test match, affable openter Jake Weatherald (72) was Australia’s top-scorer as he and Travis Head (33) showed early signs of a potential long-term opening partnership.<\/p>\n

The pair began a pattern of the Australian batting order feasting on some loose English bowling, with the tourists punished for their insistence on shorter lengths.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

Australia’s Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne share a chat during a break on day two. (Dave Hunt\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Weatherald showed off his arsenal of cricket shots, and had a first Test half-century from only 45 balls – the second-fastest by an Australian opener at the Gabba.<\/p>\n

Head skied one to mid on before he could repeat his heroics from the Perth Test, before a Jofra Archer (1-74) yorker smacked Weatherald’s toe and trapped him plumb lbw.<\/p>\n

No Australian could kick on to triple figures the way Root had on day one, despite a handful looking to have had their eyes in as they made starts.<\/p>\n

\"Jake<\/p>\n

Jake Weatherald took the attack up to England on his way to a half-century at the Gabba. (Dave Hunt\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Back in the Test team for the Ashes, day-night guru Marnus Labuschagne had a great chance to break through for a first century since mid-2023.<\/p>\n

He became the first man to pass 1000 day-night runs, weaponising the pull shot and scoring all around the ground.<\/p>\n

But in the first indefensible rush of blood from the Aussies, Labuschagne swatted \u00a0at a Ben Stokes (2-93) delivery well wide of off stump and found himself caught by wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.<\/p>\n

It came after Smith had spilt Head on three runs in the first session.<\/p>\n

The worst offender in England’s wayward start to the game, Carse (3-113) was the unlikely mastermind behind an Australian collapse of 3-38 that put the tourists back in the game.<\/p>\n

Cameron Green (45) stepped back in a misguided attempt at a trick shot, watching Carse’s yorker collected his stumps.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

A brilliant yorker from England’s Brydon Carse brought an end to Cameron Green’s promising innings. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n

Duckett then put new batter Carey down at gully, before Steve Smith (61) left a big score on the table by pulling Carse to new inclusion Will Jacks at square leg.<\/p>\n

Allrounder Jacks took a screamer of a catch to dispatch of Smith, who had looked in ominous touch on his way to an 80th Test half-century.<\/p>\n

When workhorse Stokes bowled Josh Inglis just after Duckett had spilt him in the slips, the tourists were well in touch with the game.<\/p>\n

England can take the new ball after five more overs on day three, with a fast start on Saturday appearing crucial to the hosts’ hopes of keeping in touch with victory.<\/p>\n

No English side has ever come back from 2-0 down to level the Ashes before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia’s self-inflicted wounds have left the door open for England in the second Ashes Test when dominance had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18761,3361,64,63,20341,88648,1208,76304,44226,17066,46853,44,35235,44867],"class_list":["post-329357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alex-carey","tag-arsenal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-duckett","tag-brydon-carse","tag-england","tag-gabba","tag-jake-weatherald","tag-joe-root","tag-marnus-labuschagne","tag-news","tag-steve-smith","tag-travis-head"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}