{"id":393831,"date":"2026-01-05T20:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393831\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T20:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:21:18","slug":"marnus-labuschagne-prises-farcical-wicket-cam-greens-agony-continues-travis-head-sparkles-quick-hits-from-day-two-of-scg-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393831\/","title":{"rendered":"Marnus Labuschagne prises farcical wicket, Cam Green’s agony continues, Travis Head sparkles \u2014 quick hits from day two of SCG Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marnus Labuschagne picks up a farcical wicket, Cam Green can’t catch a break and Joe Root enters rare air.<\/p>\n

Here are the quick hits from day two of the SCG Ashes Test.<\/p>\n

1. Remarkable Root breaks new ground\"A<\/p>\n

Root notched his second century of the series on day two. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n

England’s best Test batter of all time, Root entered this Ashes series with a gaping hole in his otherwise sparkling CV.<\/p>\n

His first century on Australia soil, scored in the Brisbane Test<\/a>, saw ABC Sport’s Darren Lehmann belatedly christen him an “all-time great,” but heading to Sydney, it still felt like the veteran had so much more to give.<\/p>\n

And Root delivered his very best on day two, after beginning it on 72 not out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barring a nervous little period in the 90s, during which he edged just short of the slips against Michael Neser, Root glided and pushed his way to three figures with consumate ease.<\/p>\n

Joe Root ‘best player outside of Bradman’<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Root is hailed as the greatest cricket player since Don Bradman after adding a second century to his tally this Ashes tour.<\/p>\n

The century was the 41st of Root’s career, drawing him level with Ricky Ponting on the all-time leaderboard.<\/p>\n

Speaking on ABC Sport, Lehmann was no longer in any doubt about the veteran’s place amongst the pantheon of batting greats.<\/p>\n

“He’ll be the greatest player outside of Bradman, statistically,” Lehmann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He’ll break all the records, he’ll beat Tendulkar, he’ll make more hundreds than anyone else and it’ll take a lot of catching because he’s quite fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually out for 160, his mammoth innings made Root the first English batter to score more than one century in a single Ashes series in Australia since 2010-11.<\/p>\n

2. Green can’t catch a break\"A<\/p>\n

Green’s hapless series continued on day two. (Fox Cricket)<\/p>\n

Sometimes things just aren’t going your way.<\/p>\n

And for Green, it must feel like things haven’t been going his way for quite some time.<\/p>\n

The under-fire all-rounder, who hadn’t passed 50 with the bat and had taken just three wickets in the series, was wayward and expensive on day one but was once again trusted with the ball early on day two.<\/p>\n

Charging into the erratic Jamie Smith, Green was in desperate need of something and it seemed he had it, when Smith drove on the up directly to Marnus Labuschagne at cover.<\/p>\n

It was a simple catch and just the kind of gift-wrapped wicket Green would’ve been dreaming of \u2014 but his relief was short lived.<\/p>\n

Smith had barely begun his journey from the middle when the umpire stretched out his right arm \u2014 Green had bowled just his third no ball of the series.<\/p>\n

But seemingly intent on handing Green his much needed breakthrough, Smith almost departed the very next ball.<\/p>\n

Cutting wildly at a wide one, Smith’s thick edge flew helplessly between Alex Carey and a gormless-looking Beau Webster at first slip.<\/p>\n

“When it’s not going for you, it’s not going for you,” former Australia fast bowler Stuart Clark said on commentary for ABC Sport.<\/p>\n

3. Derision and farce surrounds Marnus’s ‘dumb’ wicket\"Australia<\/p>\n

Labuschagne took a surprise wicket on day two. (Getty Images: Gareth Copley)<\/p>\n

With the pitch still not offering much, and with the ball growing softer and softer, Steve Smith, without a frontline spinner at his disposal, was unsure of where to turn.<\/p>\n

In the shadows of the first break, the ever-enthusiastic Labuschagne was thrown the ball. And surprisingly, it wasn’t his part time leg breaks that were on show, but his even-more-part-time medium pacers.<\/p>\n

With the field spread far and wide, Labuschagne was tasked with delivering some short stuff. It looked to be an almost comical long shot from Smith, and one, it’s safe to say, ABC Sport expert Jason Gillespie wasn’t a fan of.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely ridiculous \u2026 Australia don’t play a frontline spinner and are now using Marnus Labuschagne as a sixth seamer,” Gillespie said.<\/p>\n

But somehow, through the derision cascading from the commentary box, Labuschagne struck as Smith took on a long hop and chipped the ball straight down the throat of Scott Boland at cover.<\/p>\n

It was a bizarre, nonsensical passage of play and one Gillespie could scarcely stomach.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen some dumb cricket this summer, but this takes the cake,” Gillespie said.<\/p>\n

“I’m not sure if anyone has gifted their wicket away, in the history of Test cricket, like Jamie Smith did there.”<\/p>\n

Speaking on Channel 7, former Australia opener Justin Langer was similarly exasperated.<\/p>\n

“Not for the first time this series, Jamie Smith has played one of the dumbest shots you’ll ever see in Test cricket,” Langer said.<\/p>\n

It was Labuschagne’s first Test wicket since March 2022 and his first prised by seam.<\/p>\n

4. English butter-fingers and Weatherald jitters<\/p>\n

After England was eventually all out for 384, it was absolute chaos as Australia begun its reply.<\/p>\n

Brydon Carse’s new ball bowling has been maligned all summer but the industrious paceman was once again entrusted with the fresh rock to begin the evening session.<\/p>\n

And he was all over Jake Weatherald. The out-of-form opener, perhaps already playing for his Test match career, was all at sea, playing and missing, wearing balls on the body and swinging unconvincingly.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Weatherald played a chaotic cameo late on day two. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n

But he was handed his first life up the other end, when his wild edge stung the fingertips of a diving Root in the cordon.<\/p>\n

And in the very next over, Weatherald’s chaotic cameo should have well and truly been over, when, off the bowling of Carse, he was put down by Ben Duckett at mid-wicket.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the BBC, former England captain Michael Vaughan didn’t quite know what to make of it all.<\/p>\n

“This opening spell has possibly been some of the worst Test cricket I have seen,” Vaughan said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know what Jake Weatherald has drunk, some sort of energy drink I imagine.”<\/p>\n

However, that drop only cost England seven runs \u2014 with Weatherald caught plumb in front to a Ben Stokes full ball on 21.<\/p>\n

It was a dismissal all too familiar for Weatherald, who was out LBW after losing his balance for the fourth time in the series.<\/p>\n

5. Head dines out in the evening session<\/p>\n

Up the other end, Travis Head was doing what Travis Head tends to do.<\/p>\n

The punchy southpaw was on from ball one, dining out on what turned into some pretty wayward bowling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tourists once again struggled to find their length against Head, who was more than happy to rock back and clatter boundaries to either side of the wicket.<\/p>\n

He hardly broke a sweat as he pummelled his way to 50 from 55 deliveries, bringing up the milestone with an exemplary cover drive.<\/p>\n

In the process he also became the first Australian batter since Labuschagne in 2022-23 to accrue 500 runs in a summer.<\/p>\n

Labuschagne, meanwhile, was re-finding his best form. The idiosyncratic first drop drove sweetly and clipped pleasingly as it started to look like England, not for the first time in the series, had left a fair few runs out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marnus Labuschagne picks up a farcical wicket, Cam Green can’t catch a break and Joe Root enters rare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13285,64,63,740,1208,17066,46853,73708,43290,85,670],"class_list":["post-393831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ashes","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-england","tag-joe-root","tag-marnus-labuschagne","tag-quick-hits","tag-scg","tag-sports","tag-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393831","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=393831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}