The Ashes: Second Test, Day Four – Player Ratings
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WHAT A DAY FOR ENGLAND!
They came into Day Four of the Second Ashes Test match hoping to take some quick Australian wickets to keep themselves in the game and that’s exactly what they did.
Resuming on 52/4, Australia lost their final six wickets for just 86 runs, meaning they were all out for 138, a lead of 353.
In response, England ended the day on 176/4, needing 178 more runs to pull of what would be one of the biggest victories in Ashes cricket history.
Whilst the odds are still in Australia’s favour, England have given themselves a sniff of victory and have battled so hard.
Here’s how the players performed on an exciting Day Four:
James Anderson - 9
Backed up his performance from the evening session on day three with another display of excellent bowling.
Took the wicket of Nathan Lyon with a short ball before getting Peter Handsomb to nick off.
He then deceived Mitchell Starc with a slower ball to get his first five-wicket haul in Australia.
Only misses out on a 10 for dropping a C&B chance!
Stuart Broad -6
Bowled a hostile spell first up without much success.
Chris Woakes - 10
Backed Anderson up superbly, getting the wickets of Tim Paine and Shaun Marsh, the ball to Marsh in particular was excellent.
Came in as a night watchman and did well to keep out some very good balls from Cummins whilst protecting Joe Root.
Wakes came in for some stick recently but he was superb on Day Four.
Moeen Ali - 3
Too loose once again, giving easy runs away.
Craig Overton - 7
Took an excellent catch in the deep to remove Paine. Only bowled one over and that’s all it took for him to get rid of Hazlewood with a short ball.
Alastair Cook - 2
Survived an LBW shout that should have been given out but was out to Lyon again. He looked all at sea against the spinner once more.
Mark Stoneman - 6
Gave England’s innings a kick-start with three consecutive boundaries from Starc’s bowling. Got to 36 before he edged a ball he probably should have left.
James Vince - 2
Got out driving at a wide ball, a terribly familiar dismissal for Vince.
Joe Root - 10
The captain needed a good innings for England to even stand a chance and that’s why he delivered. A top innings to get through to the end of play on 67*. The only scares were a few LBW shouts that were missing the stumps.
If England are to pull off a famous win, he needs to bat for a long time on Day Five.
Dawid Malan - 7
Battled hard to get to 29 as he built a partnership up with Root. He was roughed up a bit and got some beauties from Lyon but stuck around until Cummins got him with a great ball.
Peter Handscomb - 1
Played a really poor shot to get out.
Nathan Lyon - 8
Got the short ball treatment and was bounced out by Anderson.
Got big turn early on in his bowling innings and was constantly threatening. Got the first wicket of Cook on review with a good ball than spun back into his pads and was the most threatening Australian bowler.
Shaun Marsh- 3
Never looked comfortable, despite his first innings century and got bowled through the gate by Woakes.
Tim Paine - 4
Won’t be happy with the shot that saw him caught in the deep. Kept wicket well, especially to Lyon.
Mitchell Starc - 6
Swung for the fences and got a quick 20 before Anderson deceived him.
Did not bowl well with the new ball and was taken out of the attack when one of his overs went for 15 but came back well to get rid of Stoneman before getting Vince to nick off.
Pat Cummins - 8
Batted pretty well without giving up much of a chance.
Looked the most threatening of the Aussie quick bowlers and bowled a beauty to get rid of Malan after roughing him up with the short ball.
Josh Hazlewood - 5
Didn’t hang around long with the bat.
Has Cook out LBW but the umpire said not out and, for some reason, Steve Smith decided not to review.
Steve Smith - 1
As days for captains go, Steve Smith had one of the worst I can remember
Fresh off the decision not to enforce the follow on on Day Three when the ball was swinging around corners, he didn’t review a plumb LBW shout against Cook before wasting two reviews later on. He also dropped a catch at slip.
His side are still firm favourites to win the game but if they do somehow lose it, serious questions will be asked about the role Smith has played as captain.